Jean-Michel Jarre hands recorded catalogue and future works to BMG

Jean-Michel Jarre has extended his agreement with BMG to cover his recorded catalogue and future recordings. The company confirmed the exclusive licensing arrangement on 17 September 2026, according to Billboard.

Under the deal, BMG will represent the French electronic music artist and composer's recordings on an exclusive licensing basis across various territories. That means BMG is the sole company licensed to exploit those finished tracks in those markets, while Jarre retains underlying ownership. Future works are included in the same pact.

The extension builds on a longer business history between the two sides. BMG already controlled the sound recordings, the performed versions listeners hear, of Jarre's first three albums after it bought independent label Francis Dreyfus Music in 2012. It then acquired his music publishing catalogue in 2022.

That publishing deal covered the songwriting rights, the words and melodies separate from the recordings, for works including Oxygène and Équinoxe, alongside his writer's income stream, the royalties paid to a songwriter when songs are used. BMG described that 2022 purchase as its biggest single deal forged in France.

BMG is led by chairman Thomas Coesfeld and chief executive Bob Valentine, with Alistair Norbury serving as senior creative adviser to the chief executive, according to Hits Daily Double.

Jarre's album sales exceed 85 million. He became the first Western musician to perform in China in 1981, and he was awarded Commander of the Legion d'Honneur in 2021.

For listeners, this means publishing and recordings now sit closer together inside one company. A publishing owner collects when a song is covered, broadcast or streamed as a composition. A recordings representative collects and manages when that specific performance is licensed and released. Bringing both under BMG simplifies where permission is sought and where royalties flow.