ample, has seen a downturn in sales due to retail
closures, though its partner HoMedics has begun
using its supply chain to develop N 95 masks for
health care workers.) Forbes estimated that the
Marley estate generated $ 20 million in 2019 ,
third among posthumous musicians.
“My father was an entrepreneur, so his legacy
is also one of entrepreneurship,” says Ziggy. “But
entrepreneurship with morality, and also charity.
Because he would always give back. It’s not about
becoming the richest, or whatever. It’s about doing
good business and helping people. The money is
never the driving force. It is a side effect of our
entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship is more
about being independent of control of others, not
being under the control of anyone but yourself.”
It hasn’t always been easy for the family as
it has attempted to protect and promote Bob’s
brand. He famously died without a will in 1981
— apparently because of Rastafarian beliefs
— which led to a protracted legal battle over
his estate that left control of the Marley image
contested for over a decade. In the early ’ 90 s,
the Jamaican Supreme Court ruled that Marley’s
widow and 11 heirs should control his name and
image, and Cedella eventually took over the op-
eration. Through the years the family has battled
piracy, fraudulent merchandise, unlawful uses of
Bob’s name and more.
“I’ve been doing it for so long that it’s not toughanymore,” says Cedella, laughing. “I like to work
with people who I genuinely like — it’s a small list
of people. And that’s really by choice. We keep
it tight, and a lot of the partners we have we see
more like family. We’re very selective, and that’s
been good to us so far.”
Yet it’s not just the popularity of his music and
what he stood for — Bob Marley’s music is worth
more, too. In 2018 , Primary Wave Music Publish-
ing acquired an 80 % stake in Marley’s publishing
catalog from Island founder Chris Blackwell, in a
deal worth $ 50 million, and now also works with
the estate and family on branding and marketing
deals. The specifics vary widely, but a synch for a
Marley song could go for $ 25 , 000 for a TV place-
ment or anywhere from $ 250 , 000 to $ 1 million
for ad campaigns, says a representative. Another
brand marketing executive says his song catalog is
one of the most valuable there is.
“When we had the opportunity to work with
the songs of Bob Marley, I mean, it’s like, you got
to pinch me,” says Primary Wave chief marketing
officer Adam Lowenberg. “The challenges are for
us to always keep ourselves in check: not to go for
something that is not in line with what Bob sung
about or represents, and not to come to the fam-
ily with quote-unquote ‘cheesy’ ideas. We’re not
going to call them and say, ‘Hey, let’s do a line of
lunchboxes with Bob Marley’s face on them.’ ”
For Bob’s 75 th birthday year, Primary Wavehas kicked into high gear. “Could You Be Loved”
is featured in a long-running ad for the Jamaica
Tourism Board, which debuted late last year and is
still running. “Three Little Birds” has had four TV
placements, including in The Handmaid’s Tale and
For All Mankind, while “One Love” landed on Ha-
waii Five-O and will be used in a major brand’s ad
campaign later this summer. The Grammy Week
events with Island Records included sponsorships
with Mastercard and Amazon, plus the premiere
of the new “Redemption Song” music video
produced by YouTube and UMe. Still to come are
a series of covers from a Primary Wave-backed
songwriting camp, plans for an all-star tribute con-
cert and a possible immersive experience in Las
Vegas that’s now on hold due to the coronavirus.
“Up until five years ago, we were doing a lot
of release-oriented celebrations,” says Bruce
Resnikoff, chairman/CEO of UMe, which has been
behind the new music videos for “Redemption
Song” and “Three Little Birds,” as part of Univer-
sal’s wide-ranging content deal with YouTube that
was announced last June. That deal came with a
pledge to upgrade 1 , 000 music videos for Uni-
versal Music Group artists to high-definition in
order to maximize exposure of (and pull in more
revenue from) that catalog, while some artists, like
Marley, have seen their songs get brand-new mu-
sic videos where they hadn’t existed before. “Whatreally happened was a change in the industry with (^) MUR
AL^ B
Y^ CL
AUD
IO^ P
ICA
SSO
AND
KR
AVE
OF^
CP^1
/GH
ETT
O^ YO
UTH
S^ FO
UND
ATIO
N
42 BILLBOARD • APRIL 25 , 2020
8fea_coverstory_marleys_lo [P]_27879288.indd 42 4/22/20 3:34 PM