Multimedia Music Acquires Rights To Scores Of ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’, ‘John Wick’ Franchises, TV’s ‘The Good Wife’, ‘ICarly’ & More

Dade Hayes
·4 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Multimedia Music, an emerging player in the film and TV music rights arena, has finalized three separate deals to acquire works by composers Tyler Bates, David Buckley and Michael Corcoran.

The exact value of the transactions was not disclosed, but each is understood to be in the eight-figure range.

More from Deadline

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘John Wick’ - Credit: Disney/Marvel; Lionsgate Films
‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘John Wick’ - Credit: Disney/Marvel; Lionsgate Films

Disney/Marvel; Lionsgate Films

Bates composed scores for the Guardians of the Galaxy and John Wick franchises. His other work includes Deadpool 2, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, and TV shows like Californication and The Punisher.

Buckley’s catalog includes scores for films such as Nobody, Greenland, Jason Bourne, The Nice Guys, The Town, The Forbidden Kingdom and episodic series The Good Wife and The Lincoln Lawyer.

Corcoran is known for scoring teen and children’s programming. The Multimedia acquisition covers his scores for iCarly, Victorious, Henry Danger and Liv and Maddie.

Multimedia Music, which is backed by an investment of $100 million from Metropolitan Partners Group and Pinnacle Bank, last February announced the acquisition of original scores by nine-time Oscar nominee James Newton Howard.

Amid the streaming music boom, the value of music rights has been skyrocketing, with major artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and many others closing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the past couple of years. Film and TV scores, which are key elements of franchise-building, are likewise seeing a surge in demand. The battle for global streaming supremacy among Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Warner Bros Discovery, NBCUniversal, Paramount and others has been a tailwind for the sector.

Hope
Hope

“We are huge fans of Tyler, David and Michael’s work,” Multimedia Music founder and CEO Phil Hope said in a statement. “They are amongst the most active composers in the business today and to acquire such amazing content from their catalogues is an honour for Multimedia Music.”

Buckley’s agent, Rich Jacobellis of the Fortress Talent Management, saluted “the professionalism of Multimedia Music and how they handled David’s work. The way the deal was negotiated and quickly closed speaks volumes for how James and Phil operate. Their knowledge of this space is second to none.”

Gibb
Gibb

James Gibb, founder and U.S. partner at Multimedia Music, said the company is aiming to assemble “the best independent library of film music rights in the world and the addition of works from these iconic composers gets us closer to that goal.”

Bates is a guitarist, songwriter and record producer in addition to composing scores for films, TV series and video games. His entry into the world of film scores came when he produced the audio backdrop for Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead. Bates has gone on to compose music for 11 feature films that have opened at No. 1 at the box office.

Bates - Credit: Courtesy of Multimedia Music
Bates - Credit: Courtesy of Multimedia Music

Courtesy of Multimedia Music

In 2015, Bates co-wrote and produced Marilyn Manson’s album The Pale Emperor, playing lead guitar on Manson’s live tours over a four-year stretch. His video game scores include Killzone: Shadow Fall, God of War: Ascension, Army of Two 40th Day, Crossfire, and most recently, Far Cry: New Dawn. He also created the music for Cirque Du Soleil’s first live-action thriller, R.U.N, which premiered at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Buckley - Credit: Courtesy of Multimedia Music
Buckley - Credit: Courtesy of Multimedia Music

Courtesy of Multimedia Music

Buckley is currently scoring Kandahar, starring Gerard Butler. In television, the Emmy nominee followed his work on The Good Wife by handling spinoff The Good Fight, which streams on Paramount+. Other TV and streaming credits include Mercy Street, Brain Dead, The Gifted, The Stranger, Stay Close and Evil.

His first involvement with film music was as a cathedral choirboy performing on Peter Gabriel’s score for Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. Over his career, he has written music for films including Wonder Woman, the Fifty Shades franchise, Big Eyes and American Hustle, and his music was featured in David O. Russell’s Joy.

Corcoran
Corcoran

Corcoran is a record producer and musician in addition to his work as a composer. He has won multiple Gold and Platinum RIAA awards, and is an 11-time BMI award winner for Zoey 101, Drake and Josh, iCarly, Henry Danger, Victorious, Shake It Up and Sam and Cat. Corcoran’s Trolls soundtrack went double platinum and he is an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award winner for Shake it Up.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.