The Audible Original will be released globally in November 2022

LONDON, UK – 3 November 2022: Audible, a world-wide leader of spoken-word entertainment, today announced a collaboration with Mercury Studios, a division of Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, for a scripted musical podcast, Crush Hour, launching globally this year.

Crush Hour is the first scripted musical podcast venture from Mercury Studios and Audible’s first scripted musical podcast originating out of the U.K. This will be the first time Audible, Mercury Studios and Universal Music Group have collaborated on a joint venture, bringing the best in class music and audio entertainment together.

Created and written by Freya Slipper, directed by Chris Foggin (Fisherman’s Friends, Traces), and composed by Chris Read, Crush Hour is a musical romantic comedy that presents a series of heart-warming and hilarious chance encounters between a group of connected strangers via London’s transport links. The musical podcast will be released in the run up to Christmas, with an all-star British cast to be announced soon.

The full original soundtrack to the series will also be released by UMG’s Decca Records in line with the podcast’s November 17th launch date, with the full cast singing the original soundtrack recorded from Audible’s state of the art studios in London.

Aurelie De Troyer, Head of Content UK & Canada at Audible, said: “It’s been a wonderful process to collaborate with the teams at Universal Music and Mercury Studios – combining both our expertise in this field has resulted in some exceptionally exciting audio entertainment. This is our first musical podcast coming out of the UK for a global release and is the perfect listen for the festive period. The cast is fantastic and the music is truly joyous. We can’t wait for you all to hear it!”

Marc Robinson, Co-President at Mercury Studios, said: “It has been brilliant working with Audible in premiering a new musical in the audio podcast space. Crush Hour comes from the storytelling, songs & vision of a very talented team. Working with them and everyone at Audible has been a fantastic and inspiring journey. We are thrilled to be bringing Crush Hour in all its musical glory to the world this Christmas.”

About Audible

Audible, an Amazon company, is a leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day.  Audible.co.uk content includes more than 700,000 audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals. Audible has millions of members around the world who subscribe to one of 10 localised services designed for customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US. Audible members download nearly 4 billion hours of content annually and listen across a wide range of supported devices.

About Mercury Studios

Mercury Studios is a full-service production studio originating, producing, selling, distributing, and investing in scripted, unscripted, and live content. Editorially independent, Mercury Studios is powered by Universal Music Group and represents the world’s leading catalogue of music-related content.

Current projects include If These Walls Could Sing, the untold story of the world-famous Abbey Road Studios, directed by celebrated British photographer and filmmaker Mary McCartney for Disney+; Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, a feature documentary from Oscar-winning director/producer Joseph Patel (Summer of Soul), adapted from Vikki Tobak’s best-selling book;  “My Life as a Rolling Stone,” a four-part docuseries of intimate portraits of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts and Shania Twain:  Not Just a Girl, a career documentary about the superstar that is available on Netflix; and Mars.

Mercury Studios’ Miles Davis: Birth of The Cool was recently honored with two Emmys for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary and Outstanding Sound. ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas also received a 2021 Grammy Award nomination for Best Music Film. The feature documentaries are part of the Mercury Studios library, consisting of nearly 2,000 hours of programming.

About Decca Records

Decca is one of the world’s iconic record labels. The logo has been associated with some of recorded music’s defining acts: David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Vera Lynn, Luciano Pavarotti and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few.

From early Rodgers and Hammerstein to Hans Zimmer and James Horner; from hit movie musicals to high profile televised events such as the Olympics, TV series ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ and award-winning period drama ‘Downton Abbey’ – Decca has a strong association with soundtracks. The label has a long history of best-selling releases such as ‘Gladiator’, ‘Braveheart’, ‘Shine’, ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy and more recently the highest-charting Bond soundtrack ‘No Time To Die’, the Oscar-winning soundtrack to ‘The Shape of Water’, ‘Judy’ performed by Renée Zellweger, The National’s ‘Cyrano’, Jonny Greenwood’s ‘Spencer’ and ‘Minions 2’ featuring the acclaimed new single from Diana Ross (ft. Tame Impala) alongside a star-studded tracklisting.

The label has also been instrumental in the launch of Mercury Classics Soundtrack & Score, a new boutique record label dedicated to supporting the careers of composer artists in the film world. Decca is home to such diverse and distinctive artists as Ludovico Einaudi, Aurora, Gregory Porter, Melody Gardot, Jacob Collier, Isobel Waller-Bridge, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and The Lumineers.

About Universal Music Group

At Universal Music Group, we exist to shape culture through the power of artistry. UMG is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms, and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans. For more information, visit www.universalmusic.com.

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