05/28/2024
Reelin’ In The Years Productions signs an exclusive representation deal with two major interview archives spanning nearly 60 years.
Reelin’ In The Years Productions, the premier source for footage of musical artists, entertainers and history makers is proud to announce it has signed a deal to exclusively represent the rights to thousands of audio interviews contained within two prestigious archives, Rockline and Rock’s Backpages.
ROCKLINE
Rockline, a nationally syndicated live radio interview program that aired from 1981 – 2014, featured interviews with rock & roll’s leading artists. The archive contains over 2,200 episodes and nearly 3,000 guests. Rockline’s unique format allowed the listeners to call in live and ask questions which was an invaluable tool to connect fans with their Rock & Roll heroes. The host, Bob Coburn, was dubbed The Godfather of Rock & Roll due to his unrivaled knowledge of music. Because of his knowledge, and the respect that the artists gave him, Rockline became an important and influential program, which was awarded Billboard Magazine’s “Best Syndicated Show” over 10 times.
Rockline featured a wide array of talent including such iconic artists as Bob Dylan, Guns & Roses, U2, Elton John, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Aerosmith, George Harrison, The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Fleetwood Mac, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Cheap Trick, Allman Brothers, Heart, Rush, Van Halen, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Paul McCartney, Green Day, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Pat Benatar, & Soundgarden.
When Lynette Bishop Coburn, Managing Director for Rockline was asked to elaborate on the archive and why she chose Reelin’ in the Years Productions to represent this library, she replied “Bob Coburn’s interviews on Rockline are an essential part of rock music history. We are thrilled to collaborate with Reelin’ in the Years Productions. David Peck and his team are renowned for their extensive archives of music and entertainment footage. This collaboration will ensure that Rockline’s invaluable interviews with iconic music artists are preserved and shared allowing their legendary voices to be heard for generations to come through documentaries, television programs, streaming services and other media platforms.”
ROCK’S BACKPAGES
The Rock’s Backpages audio archive contains thousands of in-depth audio interviews conducted by legendary music journalists from the 1960s– today. These unique recordings were never intended to be heard by the public at large and were usually recorded on a portable device such as a cassette recorder. As these interviews were not conducted for broadcast media, the artists were far less guarded and offered candid reflections and personal insights, whereas in interviews for public consumption they might be less forthcoming.
One of the many unique aspects to this archive is that it not only contains interviews with music’s biggest artists of the last 60 years, but there are many interviews with important non-performers such as songwriters, producers, engineers, record company executives, managers, rock photographers and other significant figures in the world of music.
Some of the thousands of audio recordings contained within this library include interviews with artists that sadly are no longer with us such as Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Sid Vicious (S*x Pistols), David Crosby, Keith Moon (The Who), James Brown, Freddie Mercury (Queen), Little Richard, Tom Petty, Marvin Gaye, Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead), Johnny Cash, George Michael, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Joey Ramone (Ramones), Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac), Joe Strummer (Clash), Sinead O'Connor, Maurice & Robin Gibb (Bee Gees), Donna Summer, Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Luther Vandross, Frank Zappa, Mike Nesmith (Monkees), Merle Haggard, Walter Becker (Steely Dan), and Marc Bolan.
Speaking on their new business relationship, Jasper Bowie, Marketing & Communications Manager for Rock’s Backpages, commented, "We see in David Peck someone who shares our values in terms of archiving high quality, unique material from the annals of music history, so it's great to be able to work with him and Reelin' In The Years Productions to make our trove of exclusive audio available to more filmmakers and projects.”
David Peck, President Of Reelin’ In The Years Productions observed, “While we’ve been a leader in licensing music footage, in recent years, the value that audio interviews have brought to the documentary filmmaking community has been invaluable. Many recent directors have relied heavily on audio interviews to tell a deeper story in their films while using other imagery such as still images and stock footage to drive the narrative. Being able to offer the interviews from the Rockline & Rock’s Backpages archive will be a huge asset to the documentary filmmaking community.”
Reelin’ In The Years Productions (winner of FOCAL’s 2020 “Footage Library of The Year Award”) is the premier source for footage of musical artists, entertainers and history makers. Their unique archive houses over 30,000 hours of music footage spanning 100 years (which also includes interview and B-roll.) In addition to their one of a kind music footage archive, they also have available for licensing 10,000 hours of in-depth interviews with the 20th century’s icons of Film and Television, Politics, Comedy, Literature, Art, Science, Fashion and Sports. The interviews, filmed between 1952-2024, are from smaller interview based archives and also legendary talk shows around the world, including those hosted by Sir David Frost, Merv Griffin, Mike Wallace, Dennis Miller, Sir Michael Parkinson, Rick Dees and Brian Linehan.
