‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ Producer Millennium Inks Deal With Music Rights Firm Kobalt

Andreas Wiseman
·3 min read

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EXCLUSIVE: The Expendables and The Hitman’s Bodyguard producer Millennium has inked a music rights deal with major publisher Kobalt Music Group.

Under the agreement, Kobalt will administer all of Millennium’s music rights, including licensing, collections, creative services, and accounting. In addition, Kobalt’s recording division, AWAL, will be used for marketing and distribution of select original song and score releases from Millennium.

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The two companies will work to find opportunities across Millennium’s film and TV projects and Kobalt’s roster, which includes artists such as Childish Gambino, Dave Grohl, Enrique Iglesias, Kelly Clarkson, FINNEAS, Lionel Richie, LAUV, Stevie Nicks, Marshmello, Max Martin, Elvis Presley, The Weeknd, Roddy Ricch and Ozuna.

An objective for the partnership is to license Millennium’s music across media including film, TV, advertising, games, podcasts, and the internet. One of Millennium’s first releases on AWAL is Rita Wilson’s original song Everybody Cries from their movie The Outpost.

The deal was negotiated on behalf of Millennium Media by Jeffrey Greenstein, President, Jonathan Yunger, Co-President, Ryan Svendsen, Head of Music, and Lonnie Ramati, Executive VP Business Affairs, with Christine Belden, VP Global Film and Television, and Robert Brown, VP Business Affairs, on behalf of Kobalt Music Group.

Said Millennium Media’s Head of Music, Ryan Svendsen: “As musicians continue to successfully crossover to visual media opportunities, we want to be a resource for them ranging from original song opportunities to scoring. We are excited to create synergies between our slate and facilities with Kobalt artists. Millennium has a strong catalog with beautiful music from composers ranging from Brian Tyler to Atli Örvarsson to Benjamin Wallfisch. The sync world has been exploding and we want to be a catalogue and resource as productions and content continually demand music to accompany that.”

Added Christine Belden, VP Global Film and Television at Kobalt: “We feel passionate about service and collaboration with our film and television clients and are confident we can add value to Millennium’s catalog and create mutually beneficial opportunities. I look forward to working with Ryan across all of Kobalt Music Group’s divisions to exploit their original music, as well as connecting our writers and artists to Millennium productions in unique ways.”

Millennium’s The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is due to roll out August, 2021.

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