BBC sells ‘Doctor Who’ music rights

Posted Filed under

BBC Worldwide has sold over 1,000 copyrights to music from a number of hit TV shows, including Doctor Who.

As well as Murray Gold’s Doctor Who score, the new deal sees music company BMG acquire the rights to theme tunes and music from the likes of Wolf HallLuther, Mrs Brown’s Boys and Frozen Planet.

BMG’s roster features David Bowie, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and Iron Maiden, in addition to owning a range of music catalogues including Blondie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Take That, Robbie Williams, Nirvana, Duffy and Iggy Pop.

Executive vice-president of BMG UK, Alexi Cory-Smith commented: “It is a real honour to be entrusted with these great BBC works. Shows like Luther, Doctor Who and Mrs Brown’s Boys and many others in this catalogue are household names. We are committed to providing them with similarly unrivalled service and transparency.”

Doctor Who 9 Peter Capaldi Twelfth guitar

BMG now have “the right to exploit the music for commercial use by companies including advertisers, studios and ad agencies,” The Guardian reports, although “the BBC will retain a tight rein on ensuring its assets are not exploited negatively.”

The director of radio and music at BBC Worldwide, Dominic Walker said: “We’re looking forward to working with BMG to ensure the value of these compositions continues to be properly and appropriately recognised.”

Doctor Who soundtrack albums have been released by Silva Screen for each season since 2005. An album featuring the music for last year’s Season 9 has not yet been announced.