WAVE RIDER SHOOTS THE CURL

The team at Primary Wave is filled with seasonal cheer after another year of major catalog acquisitions. The company spent some $700m buying catalogs this year and has quietly amassed close to $4b in assets overall—putting it in the upper tier of music companies with respect to both valuation and ownership of legendary music.

We’ve been telling you about its deals all year long, but we should also mention that PW has long been in the vanguard of imaginative brand extensions, exemplified during this yuletide season by its Bing Crosby Christmas Cookie (confected in partnership with Funny Face Bakery). Our requests for a HITS-branded rye bread, however, have evoked a lukewarm reaction at best.