AMM Industry Intelligence — Friday, June 26, 2026
Opening Note 🎶
One of the year’s biggest composer assignments was confirmed, a major Netflix documentary launched with a same-day a as standalone score release, and the score-plus-songs streaming playbook delivered one of its clearest case studies yet. Two of the most consequential music-for-media festivals close this weekend in France. Here’s what the week’s developments mean for the business of music.
AMM Hot Takes
Warner Bros. confirms Rupert Gregson-Williams for Practical Magic 2. Susanne Bier’s September 11 theatrical sequel reunites Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, and Dianne Wiest, with Season Kent and Gabe Hilfer (MAS) overseeing music supervision.
Why it matters: A high-profile franchise sequel with a marquee composer creates meaningful opportunities for soundtrack releases, catalog exposure, and long-tail music placement.
Netflix pairs The American Experiment with a same-day score release. John Dragonetti’s score for the Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman-produced documentary series debuted alongside the five-part Netflix release.
Why it matters: Treating documentary scores as standalone catalog rather than companion content continues to strengthen the commercial value of nonfiction music.
A.R. Rahman scores Emirati psychological thriller Baab. Rahman’s latest collaboration with director Nayla Al Khaja expands his international body of work into the growing MENA film market.
Why it matters: Cross-border scoring partnerships continue to broaden opportunities for publishers, supervisors, and composers working in emerging global markets.
Cannes Lions and Annecy conclude this week. The advertising, animation, and entertainment conversations taking place across both festivals now move from presentations to production.
Why it matters: Many of the partnerships, scoring assignments, soundtrack opportunities, and licensing conversations initiated this week are likely to surface as announced projects over the coming months.
Worth Watching
Documentary scoring continues to emerge as one of the steadiest areas of screen-music work.
Streaming platforms continue investing in nonfiction programming, creating consistent opportunities for composers, publishers, and rights holders. Faster production schedules, recurring relationships with documentary producers, and increasing support for standalone soundtrack releases make the category an attractive long-term business lane.
For composers, agents, and music attorneys, the takeaway is practical: documentary scoring offers a dependable way to build catalogs, strengthen publisher relationships, and generate continuing royalty opportunities alongside original commissions.
Inside the Deal
The score-plus-songs streaming playbook—and what
“Every Year After” reveals about the business.
Amazon MGM’s Every Year After demonstrates an increasingly sophisticated music strategy by pairing Tom Howe’s original score with Gabe Hilfer’s carefully curated licensed soundtrack.
Rather than functioning as a single music budget, the production treats original score and licensed songs as complementary assets serving different storytelling purposes while creating separate commercial opportunities.
Business implications
Ownership: Commissioned cover recordings create new masters that productions can control and license.
Revenue: Original score and licensed songs generate distinct publishing, performance, and licensing opportunities.
Budget strategy: Producers have a stronger business case for commissioning original recordings alongside licensed catalog.
Long-term value: Productions build music assets that continue generating value well beyond the initial release.
Why It Matters
Music is increasingly being treated as an investment rather than simply a production expense. Projects that intentionally develop both score and soundtrack catalogs are creating additional long-term value for producers, publishers, composers, and rights holders.
Market Signal
Streaming platforms are placing greater long-term value on original music catalogs.
The release of The American Experiment alongside its standalone score album reflects a broader trend: streaming services increasingly recognize that original music can continue generating value long after a program premieres.
For the industry, the lesson is straightforward.
When platforms invest in properly released soundtracks, complete metadata, publishing administration, and long-term catalog management, everyone in the creative chain benefits—from composers and publishers to production companies and audiences discovering the music independently of the screen.
The question is no longer whether original music deserves standalone treatment, but which companies are building the strongest long-term catalog strategies.
Featured Release
The American Experiment
— Original Score by John Dragonetti (Netflix Music)
Released alongside the five-part documentary series directed by Brian Knappenberger and executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, Dragonetti’s score illustrates how documentary music is increasingly receiving the same standalone treatment traditionally reserved for film and prestige television.
Why it matters: Documentary scores are steadily becoming recognized as valuable catalog assets, creating additional opportunities for composers, publishers, and rights holders beyond the original production.
Industry Events
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity concludes Friday, while the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Mifa Market wrap Saturday.
Both events continue to shape the creative and commercial pipeline for advertising, animation, film, and streaming projects. Many of the composer assignments, music supervision opportunities, soundtrack releases, and licensing announcements that emerge later this year will trace their origins to conversations taking place this week.
AMM Weekend Recommends
Listen: John Dragonetti’s The American Experiment score as an example of documentary music evolving into standalone catalog.
Listen: A.R. Rahman’s Baab for another example of cross-border scoring in a growing international market.
Watch: John Carney’s Power Ballad with an ear toward how music functions as narrative structure rather than accompaniment.
Stream: Every Year After and study the interaction between original score and licensed songs throughout the series.
Track: The Ivors Composer Awards submission period and other upcoming composer recognition programs.
Follow: Cannes Lions and Annecy wrap-up coverage as projects announced this week move into active production.
Reporting from American Music + Media — Where Music Meets the Screen.