“Live From Abbey Road” (LFAR), the fly-on-the-wall music-TV series recorded at the iconic London recording studios, looks set to extend the resources used for filming A-List artists to unsigned acts.
Michael Gleason, LFAR’s co-producer, tells Billboard.biz that after two seasons of featuring major international acts, his company (also called Live From Abbey Road) will include a significant number of emerging acts in the planned third series.
“We’ve done established artists, so we now want to feature four to five artists that no one has heard of,” he says. “We’re going to have people go out to gigs to scout for them.”
The first season of the 12-part TV series, which featured superstars performing three songs, was sold by TV-program distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) to broadcasters in 145 territories last year.
The TV networks included U.K. commercial network Channel 4 and the U.S.-based Sundance Channel. And the artists included Paul Simon; Corinne Bailey Rae; Primal Scream; Kasabian; Josh Groban; the Good, the Bad and the Queen; the Feeling; the Killers and Gnarls Barkley.
Channel 4 and sister network More4, plus Sundance have agreed to air the second series on June 19. This series also comprises 12 episodes, with Sheryl Crow, Grammy award-winner Herbie Hancock, Stereophonics, James Blunt, Kate Nash, Hard-Fi, and Mary J Blige among the performers.
“Revealing how music is made in this unique environment gives viewers a real insight into the profession,” said David Ellender, FME’s CEO, in a statement. “There is just nothing like this at the moment.”
