--- title: "Private Equity Buys Into Max Martin's Hit Catalog, Including Two Taylor Swift Songs" description: "HarbourView Equity Partners, a music-rights fund backed by Apollo, has bought the publisher's share of select songs from the Max Martin–Shellback collective Wolf Cousins — handing it royalties on Taylor Swift's 'Style' and '…Ready For It?' and hits by Ariana Grande, The Weeknd and others. The reported price runs into the low nine figures." category: "Companies" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/companies author: "Marcus Feldman" published: 2026-06-25T18:42:00.000Z updated: 2026-06-25T18:42:00.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/private-equity-buys-into-max-martin-s-hit-catalog-including-two-taylor-swift-son tags: ["music-rights", "private-equity", "harbourview", "max-martin", "royalties"] --- # Private Equity Buys Into Max Martin's Hit Catalog, Including Two Taylor Swift Songs HarbourView Equity Partners, a music-rights fund backed by Apollo, has bought the publisher's share of select songs from the Max Martin–Shellback collective Wolf Cousins — handing it royalties on Taylor Swift's 'Style' and '…Ready For It?' and hits by Ariana Grande, The Weeknd and others. The reported price runs into the low nine figures. A pop song can be an investment, and a private-equity-backed fund just bought a slice of some very famous ones. ## The deal HarbourView Equity Partners has acquired the **publisher's share** of select compositions from Wolf Cousins, the songwriting collective built around Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback, [Music Business Worldwide reported](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/harbourview-acquires-publishers-share-of-select-songs-from-max-martin-and-shellbacks-wolf-cousins-collective/). The deal gives HarbourView a cut of royalties from a deep bench of streaming-era hits, including Taylor Swift's "Style" and "…Ready For It?" and songs by Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Imagine Dragons and Ellie Goulding, [per Fortune](https://fortune.com/2026/06/25/private-equity-cut-of-taylor-swifts-biggest-pop-hits-max-martin-sale/). The price is in the "low nine-figure range" — north of $100 million — according to reports HarbourView declined to confirm. Warner Chappell Music continues to administer the catalog. ## How music rights work Every song has two layers of ownership. The **master recording** is the specific audio file, typically owned by an artist or label. The **composition** is the underlying melody and lyrics, owned by the songwriter or their **publisher**. When a song is streamed, played on the radio or licensed for a film or ad, the composition generates **royalties** that flow to whoever holds the rights. HarbourView bought the *publisher's* share of these compositions; Martin and Shellback keep their *writer's* share. In practice, that entitles HarbourView to a portion of what these songs earn every time they are streamed, performed or licensed — a stream of income that can run for decades. ## Why investors want songs Music catalogs have become a sought-after asset class because streaming turned royalties into predictable, recurring cash flow — bond-like income that doesn't move with the stock market. Established hits "trade at a higher multiple" precisely because their earnings are stable and well-understood after years of data, music valuation specialist Barry Massarsky told Fortune. There's also a practical upside to consolidation: when one owner holds multiple writers' shares of the same song, it is far easier for a film studio or advertiser to license it. HarbourView, founded in 2021 and backed by Apollo Global Management, manages roughly $3.9 billion and has amassed 70-plus catalogs covering tens of thousands of songs, alongside rivals such as Hipgnosis, Primary Wave and KKR-backed BMG that have spent billions buying songwriters' rights. ## What it means for Swift The deal does not touch Taylor Swift's own master recordings or her songwriter royalties. She co-wrote both songs and keeps her writer's share, and she has separately re-recorded much of her older work as "Taylor's Version" to regain control of her masters. Because publishing rights attach to the composition itself, HarbourView's share applies whichever version is streamed — a reminder of how durable, and how layered, music has become as a financial asset. (One note: the original headlines around the deal sometimes name "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space"; the Swift songs confirmed in this transaction are "Style" and "…Ready For It?") ## Sources - [Private equity gets cut of two of Taylor Swift's biggest pop hits through Max Martin's catalog sale](https://fortune.com/2026/06/25/private-equity-cut-of-taylor-swifts-biggest-pop-hits-max-martin-sale/) - [HarbourView acquires publisher's share of select songs from Max Martin and Shellback's Wolf Cousins collective](https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/harbourview-acquires-publishers-share-of-select-songs-from-max-martin-and-shellbacks-wolf-cousins-collective/)