If you thought we were at peak biopic, you may have been wrong — as a new deal suggests you should probably expect many more films and documentaries about music legends in the future.
Warner Music Group (WMG) is “close to an agreement” with Netflix to create movies and documentaries based on the company’s artists and songs, according to Bloomberg. WMG, which shut down its internal division that produced film and TV shows earlier this year and is looking to outsource that work, the report claimed.
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Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference on Wednesday (Oct. 8), WMG CEO Robert Kyncl did not confirm a pending partnership but laid out numerous reasons why the company should work with a global streaming platform. “Our company has a tremendous catalog: Prince, Madonna, Fleetwood Mac,” Kyncl said. “It just goes on and on and on. The stories we have are incredible, and they haven’t really been told. We’re like Marvel [Comics] for music.”
Kyncl, who as a Netflix executive helped the company launch its streaming service in 2007, added that “it makes a lot of sense for us to partner with a company that can bring it to life all around the world.” Netflix, which has more than 300 million subscribers in over 190 countries, would provide WMG with a massive audience for video content without the additional costs involved with theatrical releases.
Netflix has created numerous music-focused documentaries, including Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revenue: A Bob Dylan Story; Miss Americana, a look at Taylor Swift’s career and personal life; Quincy, a history of celebrated producer and musician Quincy Jones; and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé.
Music biopics have become an increasingly popular piece of content as companies have invested billions of dollars in artist catalogs and name and likeness rights. The 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody “turbocharged” demand for Queen’s catalog and played a role in its lofty $1.27 billion valuation when it was purchased by Sony Music in 2024. The 2022 film Elvis boosted the value of the late singer’s estate from $600 million in 2020 to $1 billion in 2022, a source told Billboard. Likewise, the upcoming Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen biopics could help Sony Music improve its return on its investments in those artists’ catalogs.
But the time required to develop films means the payoff — synch royalties and increased streams and radio play — aren’t immediate. As Natalia Nastaskin, chief content officer at Primary Wave, told Billboard in 2024, that lag time could mean the peak of music biopics “may take several years.”
