The Deals: Primary Wave Albums to Be Turned into 'Artist-Personalized' Games; Merlin Signs Karaoke Licensing Agreement

The music industry continues to expand through innovative collaborations and licensing arrangements. This week, Primary Wave Music has announced a partnership with Game My Fan, a platform that directly connects music with fans through interactive experiences. The collaboration will convert both classic and new albums from Primary Waves catalog into artist-personalized mobile games, opening a fresh avenue for fan engagement and revenue generation.

Game My Fan integrates music with mobile gameplay in real time, dynamically adjusting visuals and challenges to match each songs tempo, rhythm, and mood. Music acquired through the games is exclusively playable on the platform, ensuring that artists retain control over their content while offering fans a unique, immersive experience. Powered by Reactional Musics personalization technology, the games allow players to unlock songs, join artist communities, and access exclusive merchandise, tickets, and content.

Customization of these games can be achieved within weeks, with revenue shared equally with the artists. Primary Wave and its rights holders maintain full control over release schedules, marketing, and pricing. The first release under this initiative is Cant Get Enough: A Tribute to Bad Company, a tribute album celebrating the bands Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, featuring covers by artists including Blackberry Smoke, The Struts, Dirty Honey, Black Stone Cherry, and Joe Elliott & Phil Collen of Def Leppard.

Natalia Nastaskin, Chief Content Officer at Primary Wave, stated that the partnership allows artists to explore new ways of distributing their music, creating a direct-to-fan product category that generates additional revenue, increases margins, and offers a unique sales channel.

Merlin and Singa

Merlin has entered into a licensing agreement with karaoke technology company Singa, making thousands of original master recordings from Merlins member companies accessible on the platform. This deal provides new revenue opportunities for Merlins artists while giving karaoke fans authentic access to a wide variety of songs, using original masters rather than soundalike versions.

Warner Music India and Ultra Music

Warner Music India has signed an exclusive global distribution deal with Ultra Music. The agreement grants Warner Music India control over distribution for Ultras catalog of more than 14,000 tracks, spanning Bollywood soundtracks as well as regional, folk, and devotional music. The deal also covers exclusive distribution rights for all future releases from Ultra Music.

SongTools and OFFstep

SongTools, a provider of marketing and advertising technology for music creators, has partnered with OFFstep, ONErpms artist and label platform. SongTools solutions will be integrated into OFFstep as the Audience Growth Suite, offering artists automated playlist submissions, digital advertising deployment, smart links, and real-time analytics to enhance fan engagement.

Spiridellis Bros. Studios and Parry Gripp

AI-driven animation studio Spiridellis Bros. Studios has teamed up with musician Parry Gripp to transform his music catalog into a new family entertainment universe, called the Parryverse. The partnership will produce digital shorts, TV content, games, toys, and live experiences. Spiridellis Bros. will release Parryverse content across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Gripps songs, which previously powered more than 70 StoryBots episodes sold to Netflix, will serve as the foundation for this expansive project.

Analysis: Expanding Music Engagement Through Innovative Platforms

The recent wave of partnerships in the music industry reflects a clear trend toward interactive and diversified revenue streams. Primary Wave Music’s collaboration with Game My Fan exemplifies how artists and rights holders can leverage mobile gaming to engage fans while maintaining control over content distribution and monetization. By converting both classic and new albums into artist-personalized games, the initiative offers unique fan experiences while sharing revenue directly with creators.

Similarly, Merlin’s licensing deal with Singa and Warner Music India’s distribution agreement with Ultra Music highlight a strategic focus on accessibility and global reach. Merlin’s artists gain new revenue opportunities through karaoke-based engagement, while Warner Music India secures control over a diverse catalog spanning regional and devotional music, ensuring consistent global distribution for future releases.

On the marketing and promotional front, the integration of SongTools’ Audience Growth Suite into OFFstep provides artists with automated tools to enhance fan engagement, including playlist submissions, digital advertising, and real-time analytics. This underscores the growing importance of technology in bridging the gap between creators and audiences.

Finally, the partnership between Spiridellis Bros. Studios and Parry Gripp demonstrates how music can extend into cross-media storytelling. Transforming Gripp’s catalog into the “Parryverse” for digital shorts, games, and live experiences signals an emerging trend where music functions as a foundation for multimedia entertainment ecosystems.

Overall, these developments suggest that the music industry is increasingly prioritizing interactivity, control, and cross-platform innovation to enhance fan engagement and generate diverse revenue channels.

Sources:

• The Deals: Primary Wave Albums to Become ‘Artist-Personalized’ Games; Merlin Signs Karaoke Licensing Pact