BMG extends global TV partnership with Fremantle

The partnership between BMG and TV producer/distributor Fremantle – best known in Australia for the exclusive tie-in with soap Neighbours under which BMG provides repertoire from its publishing and recordings rosters – has been extended globally.

This includes a worldwide publishing and administration agreement for Fremantle’s catalogue of over 15,000 owned and co-published music copyrights.

They cover music in Fremantle’s biggest shows such as American Gods, The Price Is Right, Family Feud, The Apprentice, Take Me Out, Grand Designs, Neighbours and Wentworth.

The deal with Neighbours was struck in November 2018.

It saw names from BMG’s Australian roster as Winston Surfshirt, Running Touch, San Cisco, Montaigne, Felix Riebl, Washington and Eves Karydas have their music featured on the show, as well as international signings such as George Ezra, Jesper Lindell, Graham Candy and Jack Savoretti.

The long-running Australian soap is estimated to have a viewing audience of 8 million to 10 million in the UK alone.

Fremantle gets to use BMG’s royalty portal, myBMG, benefitting from its accounting transparency, the central management and tracking of income from multiple international territories, and a faster royalty pay-through.

The new deal also expands Fremantle’s agreement with BMG’s production music business to a global partnership.

Fremantle’s music publishing revenue has grown by 12% since 2017.

“We have grown our music catalogue significantly over the past three years and BMG have been a proactive partner, helping to maximise our music publishing revenue,” Steve Euesden, music publishing manager at Fremantle Media, said.

“Our agreement with BMG Production Music has been a valuable resource to our production and creative teams, and this renewed and now global partnership will create further opportunities to work together across Fremantle’s network of international production territories.”

Alistair Norbury, BMG’s president of repertoire & marketing UK, said the label is “excited to deepen our relationship with creative powerhouse Fremantle. 

“We anticipate immense benefit from the extension of the deal and are confident that our partnership can become even more successful under the renewed agreements,” he said.

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with our sister company and extend the range and depth of the relationship,” Dan Pounder, EVP & commercial director at BMG Production Music, added.

“We are working to enhance our creative services and exploitation of the joint venture library increasing the revenue opportunities for Fremantle and enhancing how we can service the deal including the better use of technology and smart marketing.”