Following Primary Wave Music’s acquisition of Cars frontman Ric Ocasek’s publishing catalog last year, the company has acquired the bandmembers’ artist royalties as well. No further terms of the deal were announced.
Included in the deal are some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Just What I Needed,” “You Might Think,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Drive,” and others. Released in 1984, “Drive” was the band’s highest charting single, soaring to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon release. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
The Cars were one of the most successful and influential bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in many ways were the first group to bring a new wave sound to American airwaves. While Ocasek and Cars bassist/vocalist and longtime musical partner Benjamin Orr had struggled for many years without success, in 1978 the Boston-based band hit it big — and fast. Spearheaded by the Top 40 success of “Just What I Needed,” the band’s self-titled debut (produced by late Queen collaborator Roy Thomas Baker) went on to be certified six-times platinum in the U.S. alone, and five more platinum albums followed — peaking with 1984’s blockbuster “Heartbeat City” — before the group went on hiatus after the release of their 1987 album “Door to Door.” Orr died of cancer in 2000, but the group reunited for another album in 2011 titled “Move Like This.” The Cars have continued in various incarnations without Ocasek ever since; he died in 2019 at the age of 75.
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“Together with last year’s partnership for Ric Ocasek’s publishing, Primary Wave is uniquely positioned to preserve and honor the legacy of The Cars” said Samantha Rhulen, SVP of Business and Legal Affairs at Primary Wave. She continues, “Their music has left a lasting imprint on culture and continues to inspire fans and musicians around the world. It’s a privilege to be entrusted with this partnership.”
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