Baz Luhrmann’s record label cuts deal with RCA/Sony
Australian film maker Baz Luhrmann’s record label Bazmark has struck a partnership with RCA Records/Sony Music Entertainment.
It will release the music from his film, TV and theater projects, and also sign up new artists and acquire the rights to recordings.
Soundtrack albums from his movies between 1996 and 2013 are estimated to have sold over 20 million globally. These albums were made with long time collaborator, Australian music designer Anton Monsted.
Romeo + Juliet sold eight million worldwide, 3.3 million in the United States.
Moulin Rouge! (2001) shifted over seven million and yielded the Grammy-winning #1 single Lady Marmalade featuring Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Lil' Kim and Mya.
The Great Gatsby: Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film, which was executive produced by Jay-Z, debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of over 100,000. It became the second best-selling soundtrack album of 2013 in the United States, with 538,000 copies sold for the year.
Strictly Ballroom won the BAFTA award for Best Original Film Score forMelbourne-born David Hirschfelder and made John Paul Young’s Love Is In The Air a hit all over again.
Luhrmann’s next project, the 13-episode The Get Down, about the rise of hip hop in the streets of New York, was snapped up by Netflix for release in 2016.
According to Billboard, the RCA/Sony deal came as a result of The Get Down, which was produced by Sony Pictures Television. RCA’s President and COO Tom Corson and CEO Peter Edge had been interested in securing its soundtrack rights. That led to discussions about Bazmark, first with Luhrmann’s manager in London, and then in Sydney with the director.
Luhrmann said, "My current work is all music-driven, and all of it requires classics or new music artists. I'm going to try to build a home that has a great foundation, and I hope it has longevity. I would feel useful if just one or two artists found their creative road through the home we're about to build."
Luhrmann has been involved in co-writing and producing the soundtracks. In fact, in 1999 he and Monsted set up Bazmark Music as a music publisher and record label. Its first release Something For Everybody was a collection of ambient-styled recordings of themes from his films. It yielded his spoken word novelty hit Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen), a hit in Australia.