Rolling Stones renew Universal Music Group deal; more Eagle Rock home videos announced

July 9, 2018

by Carla Hay

The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones backstage at Deportiva in Havana, Cuba on March 25, 2016. Pictured from left to right: Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards (Photo by Dave J Hogan)

The Rolling Stones and Universal Music Group (UMG) have renewed their partnership that covers the band’s recorded music, audio-visual catalogues, archival support, global merchandising and brand management, according to an announcement made by UMG. The Rolling Stones have been signed to UMG since 2008. The company has been consistent about releasing reissued or archival Stones content every year. For example, in June 2018, UMG released the Rolling Stones reissue box set “The Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971-2016.”

UMG-owned Bravado will continue to  handle the Rolling Stones’ global merchandising rights, retail licensing, brand management and e-commerce on behalf of the band. Bravado will also continue working closely with the band and management to “identify new and innovative opportunities for creative collaboration within the worlds of art, fashion, retail, sport, lifestyle and touring merchandise. Recent examples of those collaborations are the Rolling Stones’ merchandising deals with Paris Saint Germain FC,  Colette, Selfridges and Zara.

In addition, UMG will “provide the Rolling Stones with archival support and dedicated space for the band’s physical media assets, musical instruments and equipment across the company’s ecosystem of vaults positioned around the world,” according to the announcement.

UMG-owned Eagle Rock Entertainment will also re-issue several concert films from the Rolling Stones’ archives including: “Atlanta” (1989); “Steel Wheels” (1989-90); “Voodoo Lounge” (1994); “Bridges to Babylon” (1997-1998); “Four Flicks” (2002) and “Bigger Bang” (2005-2006).

On July 13, 2018, Eagle Rock releases the Rolling Stones home video “From the Vault: No Security—San Jose 1999.” The concert was filmed in April 1999 at the San Jose Arena (now known as the SAP Center) in California, as part of the the band’s “No Security” tour.  Over the course of the 20 songs performed in the home video, fans will get to see extended jams of songs such as “Out of Control,” “Midnight Rambler” and “It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll (But I Like It).”

During the Rolling Stones’ 1997-1998 “Bridges to Babylon” tour, they walked on a bridge in the middle of the crowd, midway through the concerts, to perform on a smaller stage in the round at the center of the venue. The “No Security” tour continued that concept, and it’s clear the band enjoyed giving high-fives and and reaching out to fans in the audience as they made their way to and from the more intimate stage to perform a trio of songs: “Route 66,” “Get Off of My Cloud,” and “Midnight Rambler,” one of the highlights of the Rolling Stones’ blues-loving musical roots.

By the 1990s, the Rolling Stones—lead singer Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood and drummer Charlie Watts—had become a well-oiled corporate touring machine, but it’s clear that, then and now, they love performing and haven’t lost their high level of energy and ability to massively entertain an audience. Their are moments of spontaneity in this concert, such as when guitarist Richards impishly took over from Chuck Leavell to play keyboards during the last part of “Honky Tonk Women.” Jagger played guitar on “Some Girls” (which featured reworked lyrics that are less controversial than the original song lyrics), “Saint of Me” and “Respectable.”

The show also includes crowd-pleasing hits that have become staples at Stones concerts, such as “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Honky Tonk Women, “Paint It Black,” “Start Me Up,” “Brown Sugar” and “Sympathy for the Devil.” Other songs included in the concert are “Bitch,” “You Got Me Rocking,” “I Got the Blues,” and Richards singing lead on “You Got the Silver” and “Before They Make Me Run.”

Nearly 20 years after this concert was filmed, the Rolling Stones are still one of the world’s biggest touring acts. (The band wrapped up the “No Filter” tour of Europe on July 8, 2018.) And although the Rolling Stones have not released a studio album of new songs since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang” (and it’s unknown when they will release an album of new songs), this renewed deal with UMG is a clear sign that there will be a steady stream of other Rolling Stones content and merchandise for years to come.

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