The lead singer for legendary rock band The Strokes, Julian Casablancas, has decided to sell stakes in the band’s catalog to the music publishing and management company Primary Wave. This makes Casablancas the latest of many prominent artist in recent days who have sold stakes in their catalogues, including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and many others.

Details from Primary Wave about the purchase were recently given to Rolling Stone. It has been noted that the agency has not released information about how much they paid Casablancas in the deal, or how much of a stake the company now owns of the band. They did state that they now posess Casablancas’ stakes in the master rights and publishing rights of many of the band’s greatest hit tracks, including “Reptilia,” “Last Night” and “Someday.” The sale did not include any work that Casablanca has done outside of The Strokes.

Primary Wave has been one of the largest companies involved in the now booming market of buying discographies from famous artists, both living and deceased. The company has purchased stakes in the discographies of such artists as Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, Prince and a long list of others.

Julian Casablancas has remained the frontman, singer and main songwriter of the rock band since its formation in 1998. The band has remained continually active, recently being scheduled to perform at Primavera Sound, but were forced to cancel this performance due to a case of Covid-19 in the band. In 2020, the band released their sixth full length album, The New Abnormal.

Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna