Netflix and Warner Music Group to Team Up on Music Documentaries on WMG Artists and Songwriters
Warner Music Group and Netflix have formed a creative partnership under an exclusive multi-year first-look deal that will see the streamer make documentary series and films on the long-running music company’s artists and songwriters.
WMG is partnering with Unigram, run by Amanda Ghost and Gregor Cameron, to serve as the production arm for WMG’s long-form programming. WMG and Unigram will work to develop each project in collaboration with the artist or their estates, according to the announcement.
No artists were named in the initial announcement, but Warner’s roster over the decades has ranged from Prince and Fleetwood Mac to Led Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell, as well as more current artists like Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, although it does not necessarily retain rights to all of the recordings in its vast discography.
While countless music documentaries about hundreds of artists have been made in the decade since streaming took hold, the appetite for them does not seem to be abating and Netflix has produced dozens of them. Full-career documentaries are largely tapped, however, for example, “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” which premiered on Netflix last year, was a fascinating if hagiographic recounting of the band’s initialy 18-month meteoric rise — a chronologically focused approach that could be used for any number of artists’ careers.
Robert Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group, says, “The combination of Warner Music Group’s IP with Netflix’s global reach is an incredible opportunity to introduce new fans to our artists and songwriters all around the world.”
Adam Del Deo, VP, Documentary Films & Series added, “We’ve seen how music inspires incredible fandom on Netflix so we’re excited to partner with Warner Music Group and the best-in-class artists they work with to bring even more indelible music storytelling to our members.”
Unigram’s Ghost was originally a songwriter (including James Blunt’s ubiquitous 2007 hit “You’re Beautiful” and tracks for Beyonce and Jordin Sparks) and moved into the industry proper with a troubled 20-year stint as the head of Epic Records in the U.S. from 2009-10. She formed Unigram with Cameron five years later and has worked on such films as “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” “Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story” and others, although a project with Rebel Wilson titled “The Deb” ended in lawsuits.
WMG is partnering with Unigram, run by Amanda Ghost and Gregor Cameron, to serve as the production arm for WMG’s long-form programming. WMG and Unigram will work to develop each project in collaboration with the artist or their estates, according to the announcement.
No artists were named in the initial announcement, but Warner’s roster over the decades has ranged from Prince and Fleetwood Mac to Led Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell, as well as more current artists like Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, although it does not necessarily retain rights to all of the recordings in its vast discography.
While countless music documentaries about hundreds of artists have been made in the decade since streaming took hold, the appetite for them does not seem to be abating and Netflix has produced dozens of them. Full-career documentaries are largely tapped, however, for example, “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” which premiered on Netflix last year, was a fascinating if hagiographic recounting of the band’s initialy 18-month meteoric rise — a chronologically focused approach that could be used for any number of artists’ careers.
Robert Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group, says, “The combination of Warner Music Group’s IP with Netflix’s global reach is an incredible opportunity to introduce new fans to our artists and songwriters all around the world.”
Adam Del Deo, VP, Documentary Films & Series added, “We’ve seen how music inspires incredible fandom on Netflix so we’re excited to partner with Warner Music Group and the best-in-class artists they work with to bring even more indelible music storytelling to our members.”
Unigram’s Ghost was originally a songwriter (including James Blunt’s ubiquitous 2007 hit “You’re Beautiful” and tracks for Beyonce and Jordin Sparks) and moved into the industry proper with a troubled 20-year stint as the head of Epic Records in the U.S. from 2009-10. She formed Unigram with Cameron five years later and has worked on such films as “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” “Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story” and others, although a project with Rebel Wilson titled “The Deb” ended in lawsuits.