A hot ticket in 1988 when one half of Wham! announced himself as a solo artist, George Michael’s The Faith Tour is doing the business again nearly 40 years later.
Sony Music Entertainment has today (November 6) released the new live album, George Michael: The Faith Tour, which accompanies a concert film of the same name.
The film – featuring rediscovered 35mm footage shot at his Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy show in the French capital – premiered last month at BFI IMAX Waterloo.
The venture is a key part of the four-decade-plus relationship between the artist and publisher Warner Chappell Music (WCM), and is the latest chapter in an ongoing campaign to curate and reissue the late star’s music.
WCM care deeply about protecting and celebrating George’s songwriting legacy
David Austin
“Faith was a seismic moment in George’s life,” David Austin, Michael's ex-manager, co-director of the concert film, and creative advisor to the George Michael Estate, told Music Week of the tour’s significance. “[It was] the record where he boldly claimed his artistic independence and connected with audiences on a truly global scale.”
“Reliving those concerts, and that iconic era, through the film and soundtrack has been a really special experience, and it’s one we couldn't be prouder to share with his fans," Austin continued. "It's been a joy to partner with Warner Chappell Music on this project. They care deeply about protecting and celebrating George’s songwriting legacy.”
Here, Ashley Winton and Olivia Nelson, SVP and VP respectively in the publisher’s creative services team, dig into this latest project in an exclusive chat...
How did The Faith Tour and the Paris concert become earmarked for release?
Ashley Winton: “We work really closely with the George Michael team, and it was a special moment for George Michael. He had such vision – not only with the songs, but with the style, the fashion and the music videos. So it's a really great moment to celebrate him and his vision for himself. We're really focused on not just looking at his icon status as an artist, but how we can amplify his legacy as a songwriter. It's been great to have found this footage from the original tour. Whenever there are things that have never been explored before, it makes a great conversational moment for everyone. This whole project has allowed us to find ways to talk about George as a songwriter. Our creative services team at Warner Chappell is unique for a music publisher; we really believe in proactively being a partner for our writers. We’ve really leaned into how the next generation of fans discover George Michael through the songwriter lens.”
Olivia Nelson: “We were excited when we found out about this film, and the idea of this being a multi-year campaign/the 40th anniversary of the Faith album being next autumn. It’s an opportunity to really focus in on George’s songwriting legacy.”
What have you been able to do through the film and live album?
ON: “We’re engaging with new audiences as well as his superfans. To kick this off, back in May, we created a lyric mural in Shoreditch featuring lyrics from Father Figure. It was a really cool photo opportunity, but it also encouraged people to think about the song and stream it. We wanted to get George even more in the forefront of people’s minds ahead of Faith’s anniversary. In the past few days, we've had a lot more activity around George. In New York, we had a playback, which was really a nice moment. And then we did a similar focus event in London, targeted towards superfans. We had about 70 fans come out and experience the album in spatial audio and did a Q&A with David Austin and Andy Morahan, who both directed the film, and Chris Porter, who mixed the album. It was just really special getting to hear from them about the process of finding this footage and turning it into this amazing IMAX movie. Our role as the publisher is to find the songwriting lane in this, so the Q&A also discussed how George took that leap from Wham! into this solo project through the lens of his songs and lyrics.”
AW: “Songwriting is very personal. When you listen to lyrics, it's like snapshots of what people are experiencing in their lives. George talked about how Faith was particularly personal to him. It was a very special moment in his career.”
We work across the board to find ways to convert casual fans into listeners through storytelling
Ashley Winton
In terms of bringing new audiences to George Michael’s songs, how would you say the film helps?
AW: “We're in an era, especially coming out of COVID, where people are looking for experiences. With concert films – particularly when you, sadly, don't have the talent around – it’s a great way for fans to experience their work. We find a lot of fans are bringing their children to an artist they love through a film. It can be a family-friendly way to spend time together. But we look at a lot of different ways to connect to the next generation of fans with activations and strategic partnerships. A sync really helps too. A moment in a TV show or in a film can take off on TikTok, so we'll do a lot around that to tie it back to the song and the songwriter. We work across the board to find ways to convert casual fans into listeners through storytelling and explaining who these people are, so, yes concert films can really help. But there are a lot of different ways, and we're also always looking at what's happening next. You have to meet new fans where they are; you can't expect them to just come searching for you.”
ON: “We’ve been thinking about content creators and tastemakers from younger audiences that we could bring in, so we're constantly asking: who are the music commentators for those generations? Who is into fashion and might know George that way? We’ve engaged people with appreciation for the time period and everything George stood for – whether they were there at the time or are coming to it now. At both playbacks, we saw multiple generations.”
With the anniversary of Faith itself coming next year, is a previously unheard live album useful for galvanising the hardcore fanbase?
AW: “The biggest thing with any release is: ‘why do people need to know about this now?’ So finding this footage and having something new to work around is very exciting."
With a catalogue like this, with superfans all over the world, it's always a multi-pronged approach
Olivia Nelson
Presumably, it is the start of the 40th anniversary celebrations for Faith?
AW: “There’s nothing we can announce yet, but there’s a lot in the works that we're looking at with the estate and the label. This is a great way to kick it off.”
ON: “Without being able to go into detail, we're always thinking about that fan engagement piece. With a catalogue like this, with superfans all over the world, it's always a multi-pronged approach. So we'll continue to think about what we can do in the digital space and potential partnerships, especially knowing we have this amazing milestone coming up and this new release taking us into next year.”
David Austin praised your role as a publisher, particularly “protecting and celebrating George's songwriting legacy.” What principles guide that?
AW: “We really look at publishing as an active relationship, not just passive income. When you're looking after a songwriter's life's work, it does feel like a moral responsibility. We say often that we are like custodians of these catalogues, and we want to grow them to be around for the next 40 years and beyond. The magic of music publishing is that there are lots of ways that you can reintroduce songs to people time and time again. But it has to be authentic; it's not about exploiting songs for the sake of driving revenue. We've been very lucky to have partners like David Austin. There's a real interest to innovate, but it’s also about not losing the artist’s or the song’s identity. It’s a new world out there, and there's so much that can be done as long as you're in it for the right reason. Part of protecting the legacy is making sure people continue to hear the music by bringing in new fans.”
ON: “One of our biggest principles is trust. We’ve been the proud publishing partner of George's catalogue for four decades, so we really do take that seriously. For this project in particular, the amount of trust that David has shown in us has been earned through our commitment and dedication to really finding those opportunities. With David, I think we have got to such an amazing place where he empowers us to promote George and his legacy as a songwriter. It's been incredible, especially with this project, to bring the songwriting side to the forefront, and we'll continue doing that going into next year.”
The end of the year has become a very George Michael time thanks to Last Christmas. Does that help you with the timing of this solo release?
AW: “We’ve done a lot over the last three years around Last Christmas. Last year it hit No.3 in the US for the first time, so as long as people are talking about George, it all helps. They’re all entry points; we have to help with discovery.”
ON: “If we can connect for listeners the writer of Last Christmas as the writer of Careless Whisper, and the icon at the centre of this release, then that's kind of the dream for our team. It's all an extension of George Michael and his catalogue, so it always helps.”
PHOTO: Universal Pictures Content Group/Crosswalk/Michael Putland
