Warner Music Group (WMG) and the estate of David Bowie have signed
a global, career-spanning partnership for Bowie’s timeless recorded
music catalog. With this landmark new deal, Warner Music will now
have worldwide rights to five decades of Bowie’s transcendent,
culture-shifting work. Expanding on Warner Music’s current
agreement with the estate, which encompasses Bowie material from
1968 to 1999, the new licensing agreement will include the entirety
of Bowie's 2000-2016 creative outpouring. Heathen, Reality, The
Next Day, and the worldwide No.1 album ★ (pronounced Blackstar) are
among the acclaimed works that will come into the Warner Music fold
in 2023.
Much of Bowie’s catalog became part of the Warner Music family
in 2013, when WMG acquired the historic London-based Parlophone
Label Group. Since then, Warner Music and the Bowie estate have
jointly embarked on an extensive, award-winning program of releases
highlighting the astonishing, game-changing evolution of his
career. This includes Five Years, which won the NME Award for Best
Reissue in 2016; Conversation Piece, which earned the 2021 Making
Vinyl Packaging Award for Best Book + Media Package; and the lauded
Glastonbury 2000 live audio & video set (2018).
Prominent among the flow of recent Bowie releases has been the
acclaimed Era series of box sets, each one covering a key period in
Bowie’s career. Launched in 2015, there have been four Era sets
released to date. The fifth Era box, Brilliant Adventure (1992 –
2001), is slated for release this fall, with details to come.
Guided by Bowie’s vision for his catalog, Nigel Reeve – Warner
Music’s SVP, Content Development & Marketing, Global Catalog,
has worked in close partnership with the Bowie estate to curate and
present a landmark release campaign celebrating Bowie’s
unparalleled legacy, with many more exciting releases on tap.
Max Lousada, CEO, Recorded Music, Warner Music Group said: “It’s
an incredible honor to have been chosen as the stewards of one of
the most important and dynamic bodies of creative work in modern
culture. The impact of Bowie’s repeated reinvention and endless
experimentation continues to resonate around the world – through
the genres he transformed, the timeless songs and sounds he
invented, and the immeasurable influence he’s had on music, art,
and fashion. We’re excited that our expanded partnership with the
Bowie estate will help us deliver innovative, career-spanning
projects and attract new generations to his extraordinary musical
universe.”
Kevin Gore, President, Global Catalog, Warner Recorded Music
added: “To be entrusted with this phenomenal body of work is truly
gratifying. For the past eight years, we’ve enjoyed a wonderful
relationship with the Bowie estate, collaborating on a fantastic
series of releases. Nigel and our entire catalog team have taken
great care to be thoughtful and steadfast in our promise to stay
true to his artistic vision, while revealing previously unheard
music and framing his genius in fresh contexts. With the addition
of his immensely powerful later work to the Warner Music portfolio,
we’re looking forward to bringing Bowie’s music to fans across the
globe for many years to come.”
Access accompanying image here. Photo Credit: (c)
Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC.
David BowieDavid Bowie was born in 1947.
Between the late-'60s and the mid-‘70s, he experimented with
multi-media, recording the albums The Man Who Sold The World, Space
Oddity, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Diamond
Dogs, Station to Station, and Young Americans. The track “Fame,”
taken from the latter album, was his first U.S. No 1.
In 1976, he relocated to Berlin, recording Low and Heroes with
Eno and Tony Visconti. In 1980, he made his Broadway debut in The
Elephant Man and released the Visconti co-production, Scary
Monsters and Super Creeps, followed in 1983 by the Nile
Rodgers-produced Let’s Dance. Between the mid-‘80s and early ‘90s,
he worked with his band Tin Machine, collaborated with the dance
company La La La Human Steps, and wrote music for Hanif Kureishi's
Buddha Of Suburbia.
1992 brought one of rock’s first CD-ROMs, Bowie’s Jump. In 1994,
reunited once again with Eno, he produced the experimental Outside
album, followed by Earthling in 1997 and hours… in 1999, the year
he became a Commandeur dans L'Ordre des Arts et des
Lettres.
Bowie’s next project was a further recorded collaboration with
Tony Visconti, 2002’s Heathen. The accompanying live dates in
Europe and America saw full performances of both Heathen and 1977’s
classic Low. A year later, the Reality album was launched
with the world’s largest interactive “live by satellite” event,
followed by the rapturously received and critically acclaimed “A
Reality Tour” of the world.
2006 saw Bowie return to acting, with the Chris Nolan-directed
The Prestige (#1 at the box office) adding to such cinematic
highlights as Nic Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, Martin
Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Tony Scott’s The Hunger,
and Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. In May 2007,
Bowie was the inaugural curator of the highly successful 10-day
“High Line” arts and music festival in New York. That June, he was
honored at the 11th Annual Webby Awards (known as the “Oscars of
the Internet”) with the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for
pushing the boundaries between art and technology.
Later in 2007, Bowie starred as himself in an acclaimed episode
of Extras, Ricky Gervais’ series on HBO. 2012 saw the erection of a
plaque in Heddon Street, London (the scene of the Ziggy Stardust
cover shoot) to commemorate the extraordinary influence of Ziggy
Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and, of course, David
himself.
Further excitement accompanied the 2012 announcement that the
David Bowie Archive had given unprecedented access to the
prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum for an exhibition to be
curated solely by the V&A in London. It was the first time a
museum had been given access to the David Bowie Archive. The
exhibition went on to break records in the U.S., Berlin, and
France.
On January 8, 2013, quite without fanfare and out of the blue,
David Bowie released a new single entitled “Where Are We Now?” and
announced the release of a new album. The Next Day was Bowie's
first new studio album in 10 years. Critically lauded across the
world, it features songs that are now widely seen as amongst his
best.
In 2014, to celebrate his 50th year in music, the compilation
Nothing Has Changed was released, and yet again Bowie surprised
everyone by releasing the seven-minute jazz murder ballad “Sue (or
In a Season of Crime),” a collaboration with the Maria Schneider
Orchestra. Bowie ended 2014 by revealing “Tis A Pity She Was a
Whore,” an uncompromising piece that pointed to a possible future
of even further experimentation.
Spring 2015 brought the announcement of the off-Broadway theatre
production, Lazarus, a collaboration between Bowie and renowned
playwright Enda Walsh. Directed by Ivo Van Hove, Lazarus also
played in London at the King's Cross Theatre to rave reviews.
★ (pronounced Blackstar) was Bowie's 28th studio album, released
on his 69th birthday, January 8, 2016. Co-produced by Bowie and
Visconti, and featuring backing from local NYC jazz saxophonist
Donny McCaslin and his quartet, ★ was released to overwhelming
acclaim, garnering many of the best critical notices of Bowie’s
entire career. ★ was the first David Bowie album to hit No. 1 in
the U.S., topped the charts in more than 20 countries, and won five
Grammy Awards.
On January 10, 2016, David Bowie died peacefully surrounded by
his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. His body
of work, multi-generational influence, and legacy of fearless
innovation and endless reinvention will live on forever.
Media ContactsJames StevenWarner Music
Groupjames.steven@wmg.com
Jason ElzyWarner Music Global Catalogjason.elzy@wmg.com
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