Max Martin and Shellback, the songwriter/superproducer duo responsible for many of the biggest hits of the past 30 years, have inked new partnership with HarbourView, the company announced on Wednesday. HarbourView is set to acquire the publisher’s share of the Wolf Cousins catalog.
The catalog includes stakes in iconic hits like Taylor Swift’s “Style” and “…Ready For It?,” Ariana Grande’s “Problem,” The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” Imagine Dragons’ “Believer,” and DNCE’s “Cake by the Ocean.”
HarbourView and Wolf Cousins didn’t disclose financial details of the agreement.
“At HarbourView, we invest in culturally relevant intellectual property and the visionary creators behind it,” Sherrese Clarke, Founder and CEO of HarbourView Equity Partners, said in a statement. “Max Martin and Shellback continue to hold their place as hitmakers in contemporary music, and through Wolf Cousins they have built an extraordinary creative ecosystem spanning generations and genres. We are proud to partner with them and help steward the legacy of this remarkable catalog.”
Martin and Shellback are two of the most celebrated hitmakers in the music industry and have worked with each other for decades on hits for the likes of Swift, P!nk and Usher among many more. Martin himself has the second-most Billboard number one singles of all time, behind only Paul McCartney, and has helped define the sound of modern pop music as a writer on songs like Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time,” Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” and NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me.” That continued into the later 2000s on hits like Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl.”
The duo’s earlier hits before the establishment of Wolf Cousins in the 2010s don’t appear to be included in the deal. Among the hitmakers part of the Wolf Cousins are Ilya Salmanzadeh, Tove Lo and Ludvig Söderberg.
“Wolf Cousins was founded to bring songwriters and producers together in an environment built on collaboration, mentorship and creative development”, Shellback and Max Martin said in a statement. “HarbourView’s long-term vision and respect for creators make them a natural partner for this body of work”.
HarbourView has been active in the catalog acquisition space as of late, having just closed a deal on Chaka Khan’s catalog earlier this month, as THR first reported. The company has also made deals with the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and Christine McVie to name a few.
