LOS ANGELES, CA (CelebrityAccess) – Music giant BMG is expanding into the film business.
With the company’s Joan Jett documentary “Bad Reputation” having already premiered at Sundance earlier this year and a documentary on David Crosby currently in the works, BMG has become the most recent major music company to make the leap into producing films as labels and music publishers seek new revenue streams beyond the scope of album sales and streaming royalties.
With the vast majority of young people now utilizing sites like Netflix and Hulu for their entertainment needs, the majors have begun to recognize both film and television as valuable tools to not only grow their audience but to promote their current acts.
Following the box office success of films such as the N.W.A biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” which was released by Universal Pictures in 2015, BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch has described the company’s foray into music-related video content as a “strategic move.”
“From YouTube to the rise of the music documentary to the increasing emphasis of Spotify and Apple Music on video content, technology is transforming music into a visual medium. These are early days, but increasingly we expect video content to develop into a formidable addition to BMG’s strategic offering to artists and songwriters alongside music publishing and recordings.”
The company has already secured Oscar-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe to direct its upcoming Crosby biopic, with documentaries on Marc Bolan and T. Rex, and legendary Jamaican record label Trojan also in the works.
