(CelebrityAccess) — Reelin’ In The Years Productions, one of the world’s leading sources for archival footage of musical artists and entertainers announced it has secured a deal with WDR mediagroup, the commercial subsidiary of German public broadcasting giant to license their archive of footage.
The deal includes all of the music-related footage produced by WDR between 1960 and today, much of which has not been seen since the time of the original broadcast.
Covering more than six decades, the archive includes material from more than 2,000 concerts, along with numerous variety shows featuring appearances by internationally recognized artists, amounting to more than 30,000 individual performances.
The content included in the deal covers material from WDR’s long-running musical program Rockpalast, which started in 1974 and continues today. In all, more than 2000 complete concerts have been broadcasted on the program, including the likes of Tom Waits, Coldplay, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Beastie Boys, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Foo Fighters, The Smiths, Grateful Dead, and Radiohead, among numerous others.
Other content in the WDR archive includes a 50 minute performance in a television studio by Aretha Franklin ahead of her 1938 tour; and John Coltrane’s earliest known on camera performance as a bandleader.
WDR also produced a number of variety shows in the 1980s & 1990s featuring artists such as Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Eurythmics, Sheryl Crow, The Kinks, Tina Turner, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Foreigner, Yes, Rod Stewart, Whitney Houston & George Michael.
“We look forward to working with the very experienced Reelin’ In The Years Productions,” says Michael Loeb, CEO of WDR mediagroup GmbH. “They know how to bring high-quality music footage forward to new audiences.”
