The business of music is changing, and the stakes have never been higher. Following Primary Wave’s $1 billion acquisition of Kobalt, Primary Wave CEO/founder Larry Mestel and Kobalt CEO Laurent Hubert join Billboard On The Record host Kristin Robinson in an exclusive interview to break down the deal and what it means for the future of music publishing. They discuss how their new business arrangement will work, how many millions they’ve each spent on music catalogs this year and why it seems acquisitions and mergers have become the music industry norm in 2026.
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Kristin Robinson: We’re here to talk about the fact that Primary Wave has acquired Kobalt, and you’re the CEO of Primary Wave, you’re the CEO of Kobalt.
Larry Mestel: We’re one of the largest music companies in the world now, probably the largest owner of legendary music. It’s Prince and Bob Marley and Stevie Nicks and Whitney Houston and James Brown. We provide a very unique service, which is, hey, you want a bio film, we can produce it. You want a documentary, we can produce it. You want a Broadway show, we can produce it. You want an immersive experience, we’re creating eight right now.
I think one of the most unique and interesting things that you guys have done is the Whitney Houston slot machines.
Larry Mestel: Yeah. We’re making more money for the estate of Whitney Houston than the entire estate was generating six and a half years ago when we bought into the estate.
150,000 songs being uploaded every day, how does that change the nature of what you guys do?
Laurent Hubert: This is a topic that we talk about almost every day, and it’s a challenge.
The music industry in recent years has started to see a lot of these kind of acquisitions and mergers of major companies, and I’m wondering why you think these acquisitions and this consolidation is happening now.
Larry Mestel: Well, I think you’re gonna see a lot more.
Today we have an exclusive first press interview about one of the biggest acquisitions in music in 2026. Primary Wave has officially bought Kobalt, and the deal is reported to be well over a billion dollars. This is a big deal in the music publishing world or the side of the business that’s focused on songwriters, and that’s because Primary Wave, one of the most dominant players in older catalog music acquisitions, is now going to be the owner of Kobalt, which is arguably the biggest frontline or essentially current music independent publisher in the game.
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