BMG BINGES
ON NETFLIX

BMG, fresh off its deal to acquire Nashville’s Broken Bow Music Group, has another big announcement—an exclusive pub deal with Netflix.

We know what you’re thinking: Netflix writes songs? What can’t it do? Fact is, the streaming-TV giant owns a substantial trove of songs, score and other musical content for its original series, films, docs and whatnot. BMG will manage and administer the company’s pub rights outside the U.S.

As the company has expanded its original programming—Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Daredevil, The OA, etc.—its music library has increased significantly. Netflix is in more than 190 countries and claims some 93 million subscribers.

“It’s an understatement to say that we are excited to be working with Netflix,” said Zach Katz, BMG President, U.S. Repertoire & Marketing, “though it’s an overstatement to say we’re excited to see HITS covering it.” Katz added that the deal “highlights the particular strength of [Deputy General Counsel, BMG U.S.) Keith Hauprich and his film and TV publishing team.”

“We were particularly impressed by the commercial and technology expertise of BMG, and are excited to see what opportunities we can develop together,” said Dominic Houston, Director of Music Licensing at Netflix.

Netflix joins BMG film and TV roster that includes The Weinstein Company, Activision Blizzard Studios, Turner Broadcasting and NFL Films.

Alternative Fact: Netflix is currently in talks with Marvel to develop a music-publisher superhero series, The Licensors. In episode one, "Sync or Swim," our heroes cut a deal with Netflix, which then decides to do a series about them, the first episode of which has them inking a deal with Netflix. Online fans have complained that it’s “not meta enough.”