PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC PARTNERS WITH THE GRAMMY NOMINATED,
MULTI-PLATINUM SELLING ROCK BAND SKILLET
THE DEAL INCLUDES THE BAND’S MUSIC PUBLISHING, AS WELL AS THEIR RECORD ROYALTIES ACROSS FIVE ALBUMS RELEASED FROM 2003 – 2016
SONGS INCLUDE “WHISPERS IN THE DARK,” “COMATOSE,”
“MONSTER,” “HERO,” “FEEL INVINCIBLE, “AWAKE AND ALIVE,” AND OTHERS
NEW YORK, NY (May 17, 2023) – Primary Wave Music, the world’s leading independent publisher of iconic and legendary music in the world, announced today their partnership with the award winning, rock band Skillet. The deal will see the publisher acquire the multi-platinum band’s music publishing, as well as their record royalties across five of their critically acclaimed albums released from 2003 through 2016.
Albums included in the multi-million-dollar deal are the band’s fifth studio album Collide, the 2006 platinum selling album Comatose, the Top 5 and multi-platinum selling 2009 release Awake, their critically acclaimed 2013 album Rise, and their 2016 gold selling, ninth studio album Unleashed. Songs across those five releases include some of the band’s biggest hits over their nearly two-decade long career, such as the “Whispers in the Dark,” “Awake and Alive,” “Feel Invincible,” “Monster,” “Hero,” and “The Resistance.” Their repertoire of songs, which have been described as “melodic, catchy, and uplifting” by Metal Injection and have garnered more than 1 billion streams on Spotify alone. Their music has been featured by Marvel, NFL, NHL, MLB and has become a staple of the WWE.
Terms of the deal also include access to Primary Wave’s marketing team and publishing infrastructure, which includes digital strategy, licensing, synch opportunities, and film & TV production.
Of the partnership, John Cooper of Skillet said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with the Primary Wave team, what a wild, amazing ride it’s been with all of these songs! Grateful for the past and look forward to what’s ahead!”
Samantha Rhulen, SVP, Business & Legal Affairs at Primary Wave Music added, “This has been an exciting deal for me to handle on a personal level because when I was in-house at Atlantic Records 20 years ago, I did the original deal to sign Skillet to Lava Records. What the band and Zach have been able to accomplish since that time is truly impressive and everything has now come full circle to bring them into the Primary Wave family.”
SKILLET is one of the best-selling rock bands of the 21st century. The two-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated, Pandora Billionaires Club members, and multi-platinum rockers have an undying spirit that has humbly asserted and affirmed them as one of this generation’s most successful rock acts. However, as all classic underdog stories do, it happened quietly under the radar. By 2019, they not only garnered a pair of GRAMMY® Award nods and sold over 17 million albums worldwide, but they also took home a Billboard Music Award for the double-platinum Awake. Its breakout single “Monster” is 5x platinum and remains “one of the most-streamed rock songs of all-time.” 2016’s Unleashed bowed at #3 on the Billboard Top 200. Hitting #1 on Rock Radio, the lead single “Feel Invincible” cracked 643 million global audio streams and went double platinum. Meanwhile, the gold-certified Unleashed became their fourth consecutive album to achieve gold, platinum, or double-platinum status. Their 2019 release Victorious included the top ten rock radio hit “Legendary,” which lived up to its name with over 108 million streams. To date, ten original tunes earned RIAA recognition in tandem with high-profile syncs by everyone from WWE and Marvel to ESPN and NFL. Between selling out arenas in 26 countries and four continents, the group performed on CONAN and graced the pages of USA Today and The New York Times. Skillet debuted their first graphic novel, EDEN: A Skillet Graphic Novel with Z2 Comics, which became the publisher’s best-selling book of all time, followed by EDEN II: The Aftermath. Skillet’s latest project, DOMINION, is one of the highest charting rock and metal albums of 2022 and available now.