Sergi Reitg, Premium Content Director, Sony Music Iberia & Strategic Projects Latin Iberia

Taking advantage of the huge roster of artists it represents internationally, and especially thinking about all the potential stories that could be told from and by the music industry, Sony Music is currently running its Media Content division in Spain, Portugal, the US and Latin America (including Mexico and Brazil), and is dedicated to develop audiovisual projects in association with local production companies in each territory.

What is the main objective of this new division?

Sergi Reitg (SR) – It’s a revolutionary idea. Even though the company had done a few things like shooting concerts, the purposes were promotional. In this case, we are conceiving it as a stand-alone business unit: we produce and develop relevant stories related to the world of music and work with all kinds of formats, such as movies, documentaries, entertainment and even animation.

Fernando Cabral (FC) – One of Sergi’s first projects was the Sabina documentary, Sintiéndolo Mucho. It’s really exciting to know that an artist like him has undergone his whole musical career with our company, so I couldn’t imagine a better project to thank him than making a movie about him.

How does your business model work?

SR – It works like a production company. Sony Music doesn’t have a channel to air its productions, it’s a studio-like model. We do have something that studios usually don’t have, which is the talent (the artist) and the necessary rights to produce the audiovisual piece (the music). This is really difficult to have, so it increases the value of our project in the market.

Usually, we don’t do the production ourselves, but work in collaboration with different production partners and then sell it to the market, including streaming platforms, TV operators, AVOD, FVOD, pay TV, everything.

Do you develop the projects or commission them?

SR – We explore the two models. Sometimes we develop the projects internally by hiring screenwriters and creative talent; in other cases, a production company brings us an idea that we find interesting, we redefine it together and then get to the final project that will be commercialized by us. We participate in the production process, to the extent agreed, and then manage the distribution.

What can you comment on the new C. Tangana documentary This Excessive Ambition (Esta ambición desmedida)?

SR – C. Tangana is one of our most relevant artists, he has a style of his own. For a long time he had been wanting to develop this documentary. In this case, it was he who started the production with his team. At first, he didn’t know if it would be a documentary or a film. We talked with them for a long time and together we defined the project had to include a lot of music and, in May, we agreed that Sony Music would be the project’s distributor, while C.Tangana’s Little Spain was in charge of the production.

We sold the rights of This Excessive Ambition to Movistar and also did the adaptation of the production to cinematic format. In fact, it was premiered in the last San Sebastian Festival and thanks to an agreement with Avalon it will also launch on cinemas in Spain towards the end of October. Of course, we are also offering for the international market.

Sergi Reitg, Premium Content Director, Sony Music Iberia & Strategic Projects Latin Iberia

Taking advantage of the huge roster of artists it represents internationally, and especially thinking about all the potential stories that could be told from and by the music industry, Sony Music is currently running its Media Content division in Spain, Portugal, the US and Latin America (including Mexico and Brazil), and is dedicated to develop audiovisual projects in association with local production companies in each territory.

What is the main objective of this new division?

Sergi Reitg (SR) – It’s a revolutionary idea. Even though the company had done a few things like shooting concerts, the purposes were promotional. In this case, we are conceiving it as a stand-alone business unit: we produce and develop relevant stories related to the world of music and work with all kinds of formats, such as movies, documentaries, entertainment and even animation.
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