Primary Wave Music has reached an agreement with the estate of disco icon Donna Summer, announced on June 10, 2026. The deal covers Summer's music catalog and recordings, and gives Primary Wave a share in her name, image and likeness (NIL) rights. Financial terms were not made public.
What changes hands
The announcement presents the deal as a partnership: the estate will work alongside Primary Wave on Summer's catalog and recordings, and the two will share in her NIL rights. No stake size was disclosed. Primary Wave says it plans new marketing, branding, digital and sync initiatives, as well as film and television projects built around her legacy. Summer died in 2012 and, according to Primary Wave, sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.
The catalog
- I Feel Love (1977): inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry; sampled by Beyoncé in 2022.
- Hot Stuff: a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 that won the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
- Bad Girls: four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and an American Music Award winner.
- MacArthur Park: another No. 1 single.
- No More Tears (Enough Is Enough): Top 10 duet with Barbra Streisand.
- Last Dance, On the Radio, She Works Hard for the Money and Love to Love You Baby: further signature hits.
Summer was the first female artist to score four No. 1 songs in 13 months and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2013) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2025).
Why it matters
Primary Wave keeps adding heritage estates at a fast pace. Just before this deal it announced a catalog and NIL partnership with Intocable (June 1), bought the album-art collection of Aubrey Powell (May), struck a partnership with Pete Townshend reportedly valued at over $100 million (April), and signed deals with the Harry Chapin and Eartha Kitt estates earlier in 2026.
The catalog plus NIL model is becoming a standard structure for estate deals, because it lets the buyer monetize the full brand (biopics, documentaries, merchandise, licensing) and not only the royalties. For heirs, a partnership format can bring in an active marketing partner while the estate stays involved in how the legacy is managed.