Monster brings music to MipTV

Fleetwood Mac pictured in 1977

Irish distributor Monster Entertainment will offer a host of music-themed series and specials at MipTV next month.

The first series, Memory Lane (26×60’), is a combination of a docuseries and concert footage, featuring acts including Fleetwood Mac, Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos and Chris Isaak.

Monster picked up Memory Lane from Beyond Entertainment as part of an agreement through which Monster has taken over distribution of Beyond’s music catalogue.

Also in series is the eighth season of Video Killed the Radio Star (13×22’), which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the most iconic videos from some of the biggest stars in music, such as Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Talking Heads and Pink Floyd.

Video Killed the Radio Star was commissioned by Sky Arts in the UK and has also aired on Sky’s counterpart channels in German-speaking Europe, Italian-speaking Europe and New Zealand, and on networks including Globosat in Brazil, ABC and SBS in Australia, and SVT in Sweden.

The third series on Monster’s MipTV slate is long-running live music show Other Voices, which is returning for its 19th season on Irish pubcaster RTÉ. In addition to the main series, Monster is offering one-off special Other Voices: Fontaines DC (1×60’), which features the Irish rock band.

Monster is also offering a number of one-off and two-part shows from Beyond, including Blitzed (1×90’ or 2×45’), which premiered on Sky Arts in the UK and Ireland earlier this month. The programme tells the story of the London club from which 1980s superstars like Boy George & the Culture Club, Ultravox, Sade and Spandau Ballet emerged.

Also in the line-up is Waiting: The Van Duren Story (1×79’), a documentary that follows two Australian directors trying to track down Van Duren, a singer who was once feted to become a worldwide superstar but vanished without a trace.

Golden, meanwhile, is a 1×120’ concert film that follows Kylie Minogue on her 2018 UK tour, while Blood & Thunder: The Sound of the Alberts (2×58’) follows the life of Ted Albert, the founder of Albert Records and one of Australian music’s unsung heroes.

Also focusing on the Australian music scene are The Angel’s No Way, Get F*#ked, F*#k Off, a 1×52’ fly-on-the-wall doc that follows the 2008 reunion tour of iconic rock group The Angels, and Friday On My Mind (1×52’), which sees the members of the Easy Beats gather together for the first time to tell their story in their own words.

Finally, Cigar Box Blues: The Makers of a Revolution is a 1×30’ examination into how these DIY instruments, rooted in American blues music, have revolutionised the lives of musicians around the UK.