Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande Hits Among Songs in Max Martin's Catalog Sale

Max Martin, one of the most prolific hitmakers in modern pop music, has sold off a significant portion of his songwriting catalog in a major new deal. The Swedish producer, along with longtime collaborator Shellback, has reached an agreement with investment firm HarbourView Equity Partners that gives the company ownership of a substantial selection of compositions from Wolf Cousins, the songwriting collective the two producers established. The catalog being acquired includes some of the biggest pop songs of the past decade, written for artists spanning multiple genres and generations.

The list of songs involved in the transaction reads like a survey of 2010s pop radio. It includes two Taylor Swift tracks, "Style" and "...Ready for It?," along with several Ariana Grande hits, including "Problem," "Into You," and "No Tears Left to Cry." The deal also covers The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face," Imagine Dragons' "Believer," Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do," Tove Lo's "Habits (Stay High)," and DNCE's "Cake by the Ocean." Given the commercial scale and cultural footprint of these songs, the acquisition represents one of the more significant publishing deals in recent memory, even though neither party has confirmed exactly how much money changed hands.

According to sources who spoke with Variety, the price tag for the deal likely falls somewhere in the low nine figures, though HarbourView itself declined to verify that figure, citing a general policy of not disclosing financial terms for its acquisitions. That kind of confidentiality has become standard practice in the music catalog business, where valuations are often closely guarded even as the deals themselves draw public attention because of the artists and songs involved.

HarbourView's founder and CEO, Sherrese Clarke, framed the acquisition as part of the company's broader mission to invest in culturally significant intellectual property and the people behind it. She described Martin and Shellback as hitmakers who continue to shape contemporary music, crediting the pair with building an expansive creative ecosystem through Wolf Cousins that spans different eras and styles of music. Clarke positioned the deal not just as a financial transaction but as a commitment to preserving and managing the long-term legacy of the catalog moving forward.

Martin and Shellback offered their own statement on the partnership, emphasizing the collaborative spirit behind Wolf Cousins since its founding. They explained that the collective was originally created to bring songwriters and producers together in a setting centered on collaboration, mentorship, and creative growth, and said HarbourView's long-term outlook and respect for creators made the company a fitting partner for this catalog.

Wolf Cousins itself extends well beyond just Martin and Shellback, functioning as a hub for a wider network of Scandinavian songwriters and producers who have shaped much of mainstream pop over the last fifteen years. The collective includes names like Ilya Salmanzadeh, Oscar Holter, Tove Lo, Ludvig Söderberg, Jakob Jerlström, Oscar Görres, Ali Payami, Robin Fredriksson, and Mattias Larsson, many of whom have writing and production credits stretching across multiple genres and decades of chart-topping music.

This acquisition adds to what has become a long list of high-profile catalog deals for HarbourView since the company's founding in 2021. The firm has steadily built a reputation as one of the more aggressive buyers in the music rights space, previously striking deals with the estate of Quincy Jones, the band Slipknot, singer Kelly Clarkson, and the estates and rights of Christine McVie and Pat Benatar, among numerous others. In total, HarbourView has now acquired stakes in more than 70 different music catalogs, reflecting the continued surge of investor interest in music publishing as a long-term asset class.