UMG to Distribute Image Titles in Select Territories

CHATSWORTH: Music and music-related urban programming from Image Entertainment’s portfolio will be distributed in Europe, Africa, South America and the Middle East by Universal Music Group, with a five-year agreement signed.

The deal includes the entire Image Entertainment catalogue of music and music-related urban titles as well as upcoming titles in both genres. It covers DVD, Blu-ray, digital and television broadcast rights. Universal Music Group has wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries.

“Universal Music Group has incredible muscle in these regions, and we are confident our programming will get proper marketing and sales exposure through all forms of distribution,” said Barbara Gomperz-McCarney, the executive director of international sales and operations for Image Entertainment. “In addition, UMG has an infrastructure to sell directly to television networks which will be of great benefit to us.”

Olivier Robert-Murphy, the VP of international of universal strategic marketing at Universal Music Group International, added: “Image Entertainment’s company strategy and repertoire are closely aligned with our vision of bringing premium audiovisual content—especially live concerts—to fans around the world through traditional and innovative exploitation channels. Over the years, Image has created an incredible lineup of live performances from artists such as Elvis Presley, The Bee Gees, Cher, The Who, James Brown and Ray Charles. Image was one of the first companies to bring experiences of concerts, events and comedians to people’s living rooms.”