Madonna returns to Warner Music for career-spanning global catalogue deal

Madonna returns to Warner Music for career-spanning global catalogue deal

Madonna and Warner Music Group have announced a career-spanning global partnership that includes a new agreement for her entire recorded music catalogue. 

With global sales of over 300 million records, Madonna is the best-selling female artist of all time, with countless accolades that include seven Grammy Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

This partnership marks the revitalisation of a decades-long relationship with Warner that began with the release of Madonna’s debut single in 1982. The deal encompasses her entire Sire/Maverick/Warner catalogue, including global smash albums such as Madonna, Like a Virgin, True Blue, Like a Prayer and Ray of Light. 

It also includes her three most recent studio albums, MDNA, Rebel Heart, and Madame X, which will join the Warner catalogue beginning in 2025. They are currently released via Universal Music, including Interscope in the US and Polydor in the Uk.

All in all, the new pact includes 17 studio albums plus singles, soundtrack recordings, live albums and compilations. The deal was announced on Madonna's 63rd birthday.

Warner Chappell Music also globally administers all of Madonna’s songwriting work. 

2022 will mark the  40th anniversary of Madonna’s recording debut. This new deal heralds the launch next year of an extensive, multi-year series of catalogue releases that will revisit the groundbreaking music that made her an international icon. 

For the first time, Madonna will personally curate expansive deluxe editions for many of her landmark albums, as well as introduce unique releases for special events, and much more. The series of releases will be overseen by Warner Music’s catalogue team, led by Kevin Gore, president of global catalogue, recorded music, with the first release to be announced soon. 

I am delighted to be embarking on this next chapter with Warner Music Group to celebrate my catalogue from the last 40 years

Madonna

Thel deal was executed by Madonna’s longtime manager Guy Oseary at Maverick, Allen Grubman of Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sachs PC, her business manager Richard Feldstein of NKSFB, and Max Lousada, CEO, recorded music, Warner Music Group.

Madonna said: "Since the very beginning, Warner Music Group has helped bring my music and vision to all my fans around the world with the utmost care and consideration. They have been amazing partners, and I am delighted to be embarking on this next chapter with them to celebrate my catalogue from the last 40 years.”

Guy Oseary said: “Over the past 30 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet and spend time with many of Madonna’s incredible fans, and this new partnership will bring to fruition what so many of them have been patiently waiting for: a celebration of her groundbreaking catalogue. My partner Sara Zambreno and I are working closely with Warner Music Group to bring new life to these iconic works.”

Max Lousada added: “We’re honoured to be forming a dynamic new partnership with an incomparable superstar whose influence on our musical and artistic landscape is immense and immutable. Madonna has changed the course of pop and dance music, while taking live performance to new heights of drama and invention. At the same time, she uses her fame to amplify some of the most important social issues and movements of our time. Constantly and fearlessly challenging convention, her four decades of music are not only an extraordinary body of work, but a playbook for creative and cultural evolution.”

On October 8, Madonna will be releasing her documentary film, Madame X, exclusively on Paramount+, the streaming service from ViacomCBS, and MTV Entertainment Studios in the US, Latin America, Australia, the Nordics and Canada. Fans outside of these markets can watch the documentary on MTV.

author twitter FOLLOW Andre Paine


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