It was sold to Primary Wave Music at a price of US$90 million, which provided resources for the eventual realization of the musician's wish to provide scholarships to impoverished children.

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Ben Sisario and Steve Knopper

Since the death of James Brown 15 years ago, the soul and funk icon's plan to leave most of his legacy to scholarships for underprivileged children has been delayed due to a large number of lawsuits. But under a new commercial transaction clause, the mission of funding these scholarships has taken a big step forward.

Primary Wave Music, a New York company that specializes in real estate marketing and song catalog marketing, is buying the assets of Brown's real estate, including music rights, real estate, and control of Brown's name and likeness.

Larry Mestel, the founder of Primary Wave, made a similar deal for half of Whitney Houston's estate and owns Prince's greatest interest-conceived A series of new projects to commemorate Brown’s legacy and promote his music to a new generation of fans. He said these may include Broadway musicals, TV shows, and the construction of a Graceland-like museum attraction at the Brown Mansion in South Carolina.

"James Brown is one of the greatest musical artists of all time and one of the greatest legends in the music industry," Mr. Meister said in an interview. "This is very suitable for what we do like gloves."

The transaction price was not disclosed, but it is estimated to be approximately US$90 million. Russell L. Bauknight, a public accountant who has served as the personal representative or executor of the estate since 2009, stated that the proceeds from the transaction will be used to grant the Brown Scholarship Trust "permanently". He said that once the estate is closed, he will continue to work with Primary Wave as a member of the board of directors dealing with some of Brown’s assets.

"It's time for Larry's expertise to take it to the next level," Mr. Bucknett said. "We think this is more of a forward-looking partnership."

The deal includes asking Primary Wave to contribute "a small portion" of what Mr. Mestel describes as future transactions to scholarships for underprivileged children in South Carolina, where Brown was born, and Georgia, where he grew up.

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The Primary Wave deal is a major move to realize Mr. Brown's dream of funding a scholarship, which was postponed by one of the longest and most controversial legacy conflicts in the entertainment industry. The infighting included numerous lawsuits filed in state and federal courts, costing millions of dollars in legal fees, and leaving a puzzling public record.

"This is a big trouble you have never seen before," Henry McMaster, the current governor of South Carolina, told the New York Times in 2014 when he was involved in the affairs of Brown Manor as the state attorney general for seven years.

Part of this entanglement involves Tommie Rae Hynie. Brown married the singer in 2001 but later learned that he was married to another man. Although her spouse is unidentified, Ms. Hayney and Brown's five children tried to shelve his will after Brown's death and negotiated a settlement, allowing them to obtain a large amount of inheritance.

They found a compassionate attorney general in Mr. McMaster, and a state judge approved their agreement in 2009—until the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected their settlement four years later, calling it For the "dismemberment of Brown's carefully crafted estate plan." (In 2020, the court unanimously ruled that Ms. Hayney is not Brown's wife.)

For more than a decade, Brown's heirs and estate administrators, including Mr. Bucknett and former executor Adele Pope, have been arguing about the value of his estate in court. Mr. Bowknight estimated that it was about US$5 million, but Ms. Pope, who was removed from her job in 2009, was estimated to be US$84 million. When asked whether the recent sale did not support Ms. Pope’s valuation, Mr. Bucknett defended Brown at the time of his death and said it was accurate. He added that the value of the estate has been growing over the years, citing his efforts to hire industry professionals who advise him.

The deal with Primary Wave has been brewing for nearly four years, and Mr. Bauknight said he had discussions with “many players”. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but Mr. Bucknett said that the only beneficiaries of the estate are two education trust funds-one for Brown’s grandchildren with a limit of approximately $2 million and the other for South Carolina. And poor children in Georgia. Acquired most of Brown’s inheritance-and the inheritance is not a party to Brown’s "termination" or revocation of copyright in songwriting.

In order to negotiate the acquisition of Brown’s estate, Mr. Meister recruited a legal heavyweight in the music industry, John Blanca, who was Michael Jackson’s long-term lawyer and one of the executors of Jackson’s estate.

"It's complicated," Mr. Blanca said of the deal, "because James Brown is complicated."

The Primary Wave transaction left a long-term legal battle between Mr. Bauknight and Ms. Pope up in the air, and both accused the other party of trying to profit from the estate.

Their pending cases-one is the lawsuit brought by Ms. Pope against the estate, the other is the lawsuit brought by Mr. Bauknight and others against her-are on appeal. Mr. Bucknett said that the scholarship cannot be paid until it is decided or resolved.

Dylan Malagrinò, a professor at the Charleston Law School in South Carolina, said that any claims against the estate “must be resolved before you start allocating funds. It freezes everything.”

Mr. Bucknett said that he hopes to award the first batch of scholarships before the end of next year. Ms. Pope’s lawyer declined to comment.

For Primary Wave, this deal is the latest deal in a highly competitive market for popular music catalogs and artist heritage. Its competitors include the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which bought the music rights of Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and others, as well as major music conglomerates-which bought the catalogs of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon-and a new wave of private equity giants . Invest billions of dollars in new transactions.

Mr. Mestel said that the advantage of Primary Wave is its expertise in marketing and branding. For example, for the Houston Manor, the company participated in hologram tours, cosmetic production lines, biopics, and Broadway shows.

He said the company has approximately $1.8 billion in assets and $1 billion in cash "reserves" that can be used to announce new transactions. Recently, it has announced deals almost every week, including the legacy of Bing Crosby, Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass, and music deals with Jeff Porcaro of Toto.

"Although other investment companies have announced that they have raised billions of dollars," Mr. Mestel said, "but we are announcing the billions of transactions that are about to be completed."