The Wolf Cousins catalog built by Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback has been partly sold to HarbourView Equity Partners, in a deal that transfers the publisher’s share of selected songs linked to some of the most recognisable pop hits of the 2010s and 2020s.
Wolf Cousins catalog deal covers major global pop songs
HarbourView Equity Partners has acquired the publisher’s share of selected compositions from Wolf Cousins, the songwriting collective founded by Max Martin and Shellback. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The catalog includes stakes in songs recorded by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Imagine Dragons, DNCE, Ellie Goulding, Tove Lo and Demi Lovato. Among the best-known tracks mentioned in the deal are Swift’s “Style” and “…Ready For It?”, Grande’s “Problem”, “Into You” and “No Tears Left To Cry”, The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face”, Imagine Dragons’ “Believer”, Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High)” and DNCE’s “Cake By The Ocean”.
Several compositions connected to the catalog also appear in & Juliet, the stage musical built around Max Martin’s songwriting work, which has run in London’s West End and on Broadway.
The sale does not appear to include Max Martin’s earlier hits
The agreement does not appear to cover the earlier works that made Max Martin one of the most influential figures in modern pop music before Wolf Cousins was established in the 2010s.
That means songs such as Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time”, Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”, NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me” and Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” are not presented as part of the transaction.
This distinction matters because the deal concerns a specific publishing share connected to Wolf Cousins, rather than the full career catalog of Max Martin and Shellback. Wolf Cousins operates within a broader Swedish songwriting ecosystem linked to MXM and Warner Chappell, with Warner Chappell continuing to administer the catalog.
A Swedish pop machine built on collaboration
Max Martin and Shellback said Wolf Cousins was created to bring songwriters and producers together in an environment based on collaboration, mentorship and creative development. They described HarbourView’s long-term vision and respect for creators as a natural fit for the catalog.
The collective has included writers and producers such as Ilya Salmanzadeh, Oscar Holter, Tove Lo, Ludvig Söderberg, Jakob Jerlström, Oscar Görres, Ali Payami, Robin Fredriksson and Mattias Larsson.
For Sweden, the sale is another sign of the global value of its pop production infrastructure. From the Cheiron Studios era to the current generation of Stockholm-linked producers and songwriters, Swedish pop has become one of the country’s most visible cultural exports.
Max Martin, born Martin Sandberg in Stockholm, is one of the most successful songwriters in Billboard Hot 100 history. He is widely reported as having the second-highest number of Billboard number-one singles among songwriters, behind only Paul McCartney.
HarbourView expands its music catalog strategy
HarbourView has become an active investor in music and entertainment rights, acquiring assets connected to artists and creators across genres. Recent deals have included assets linked to Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones, Stefflon Don and Slipknot.
For investment firms, publishing catalogs offer long-term revenue from streaming, radio, licensing, film, advertising and stage productions. For songwriters and producers, selling a catalog share can provide immediate capital while transferring part of the future income stream to a specialist rights owner.
The Wolf Cousins agreement therefore fits a wider trend in the music industry: songs are increasingly treated as durable intellectual property assets, not only as cultural products. In this case, the deal also highlights how Nordic songwriting continues to shape global pop well beyond the Scandinavian market.
For Max Martin and Shellback, the transaction marks a new chapter for a catalog that helped define the sound of mainstream pop over the past decade. For Sweden’s music sector, it reinforces the international commercial weight of a creative system built on studios, writing camps and long-term collaboration.
