According to Music Business Worldwide, Grammy- and Mercury-prize nominated singer KT Tunstall of Scotland has announced she is selling 50 percent of her publishing catalog rights to Primary Wave. In addition to half of the publishing rights, the deal also includes a 50 percent share of the musician’s royalty earnings from her master recordings, which are still regularly distributed and circulated by a number of music labels around the world.

The announcement around Tunstall’s music catalog and publishing rights comes after Primary Wave acquired the music publishing catalog of iconic musician Dan Wilson and singer/songwriter Leo Sayer. Before that, the company made major headlines for purchasing a majority stake in the publishing rights of legendary singer, songwriter, producer and former Fleetwood Mac member, Stevie Nicks. Other recent artists selling parts or all of their catalogs include Shakira, Neil Young, Lindsey Buckingham, Jimmy Iovine and Ryan Tedder, among others.

As for Tunstall’s part of the deal, the artist gains access to marketing and publishing platforms, including digital marketing strategies, licensing and film and TV production, among other systems. Tunstall has a number of global hits in her catalog including “Other Side of the World,” “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See,” with the latter two both appearing on the singer’s debut album Eye to the Telescope from 2004. “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” ultimately reached number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, propelled by a rollicking performance on the famed British show Later… with Jools Holland. 

“Suddenly I See”–likely the singer’s most recognizable record to date–has been licensed for a number of film and TV shows of the years, perhaps most notably in the opening sequence of the acclaimed 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. The film was a runaway hit and earned Streep another Oscar nomination and was key in catapulting Hathaway to a household name. The song would help Eye to the Telescope eventually be certified Platinum in the U.S. and go on to sell millions of albums worldwide.

To date, Tunstall has released six full-length studio albums and four live albums. Most recently, she released her fourth live album Live at the Barrowland Ballroom Glasgow was released in 2019 and featured an all-female backing band.