New Music Documentaries Coming Your Way in 2024-2025
It seems as if there is another new documentary announced about an artist every day lately! So, we decided to create a round-up of some of the most exciting docs on the horizon and keep updating it as new ones are announced. Let us know in the comments which ones you are most excited to watch!
ABBA
Title: ABBA: Against the Odds
Release date: Now Available (May 11, 2024)
Where available: The CW
Short synopsis: The new documentary details ABBA’s huge rise to fame, including the bad parts of that fame including feeling objectified as women and dealing with fame as parents.
STAX Records
Title: STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A.
Release date: Now Available (May 20, 2024)
Where available: HBO and Max
Short synopsis: Unlike many of these documentaries about musicians, this one focuses on a record company. Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee became one of the most influential studios of soul music and launched the careers of stars such as Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. The HBO documentary will showcase how the record company broke racial barriers through footage and interviews.
The Beach Boys
Title: The Beach Boys
Release date: Now available (May 24, 2024)
Where available: Disney+
Short synopsis: Disney+ has confirmed that The Beach Boys, a documentary about the band includes never-before-seen footage and new interviews. The documentary will include interviews with band members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, and Bruce Johnston plus other artists including Lindsey Buckingham. Former band members Carl and Dennis Wilson, Blondie Chaplin, and Ricky Fataar will also be included in the new film. It is directed by Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny.
Cyndi Lauper
Title: Let the Canary Sing
Release date: Available Now (June 4, 2024)
Where available: Paramount+
Short synopsis: The biopic follows Lauper’s career from her beginnings as a Catholic school girl to hitting it big in the ’80s and beyond. Lauper said about the film, “Over the years I’ve been asked to do a documentary about my life and work, but it never felt like the right time. Until now. When I first met Alison Ellwood, I knew right away I could trust her to tell my story honestly, which was incredibly important to me, and she succeeded in that. I’d like to thank Alison, the producers, and all of the amazing documentary participants who agreed to be interviewed!”
De La Soul
Title: Chapter 3
Release date: June 7, 2024
Where available: Livestream on De La Soul’s YouTube, Facebook and X pages
Short synopsis: The group shared, “Chapter 3 chronicles the iconic studio sessions leading up to the 2023 re-release and remaster of De La Soul’s catalog, one of the most storied music collections in hip-hop. These sessions marked the first time in almost three decades that Posdnuos, Dave, Maseo, and producer Prince Paul ventured into the same studio together in service of a De La Soul project. Chapter 3 captures the journey of these four grown men with a legacy to protect, as well as the memories and moments that helped them build it. The documentary provides an intimate look at the creative process, camaraderie, and passion that has defined De La Soul’s enduring legacy.”
Music Streaming
Title: How Music Got Free
Release date: June 11, 2024
Where available: Paramount+
Short synopsis: Eminem and LeBron James have teamed up to produce a documentary showcasing just how music got free or how music streaming services became commonplace. The documentary made its debut at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The two-part series features interviews with musicians plus the story of how illegal file sharing and downloading in the ’90s and 2000s led to changing the music industry forever.
Stevie Van Zandt
Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Title: Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple
Release date: June 22, 2024
Where available: HBO
Short synopsis: The documentary about musician, actor and activist Stevie Van Zandt first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is making its way to HBO. The film focuses on his job playing with Bruce Springsteen as well as his time with Artists United Against Apartheid.
Celine Dion
Title: I Am: Celine Dion
Release date: June 25, 2024
Where available: Prime Video
Short synopsis: The new documentary looks back on her long and successful career and opens up about her recent battle with stiff person syndrome. In a new clip, she is seen getting emotional about having to take a step back from performing due to her health struggles.
Melissa Etheridge
Title: Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken
Release date: July 9, 2024
Where available: Paramount+
Short synopsis: The two-part docuseries will focus on Etheridge’s original song inspired by letters she received from women in Topeka Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in her hometown in Kansas. Etheridge works to help incarcerated women with addictions after losing her son to an opioid addiction. The docuseries explores topics of substance abuse, trauma, grief and healing, and of course, music.
Blues Brothers
Audible
Title: Blues Brothers: The Arc Of Gratitude
Release date: July 25, 2024
Where available: Audible
Short synopsis: Dan Aykroyd is uncovering the full story of the Blues Brothers in a new Audible original featuring interviews with Jim Belushi, Paul Shaffer and more, plus an unheard interview with the late John Belushi.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for SUFH
Title: Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
Release date: October 2024
Where available: Hulu and Disney+
Short synopsis: The synopsis reads, “These conversations follow Springsteen closely as he develops the story he wants to tell with this tour’s setlist – interspersed with rare archival clips of The E Street Band, underscoring themes of life, loss, mortality and community. In this way, it serves as an essential and never-before-seen chapter in an autobiographical series spanning Springsteen’s memoir ‘Born to Run,’ ‘Springsteen on Broadway,’ and the films ‘Western Stars’ and ‘Letter to You.’”
’80s Hair Metal Bands
IconicPix Music Archive/Paramount+
Title: NÖTHIN’ BUT A GOOD TIME: THE UNCENSORED STORY OF ‘80S HAIR METAL
Release date: Late 2024
Where available: Paramount+
Short synopsis: The new three-part docuseries will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ and follow the wild days and nights of the hard rock bands in the 1980s with interviews from those who lived it including Bret Michaels, Steve-O, Stephen Pearcy and many more. It is based on the book titled Nöthin But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ‘80s Hard Rock Explosion by rock journalists Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock and was directed by Jeff Tremaine.
Led Zeppelin
Title: Becoming Led Zeppelin
Release date: TBD
Where available: Theaters
Short synopsis: The British rock band Led Zeppelin is getting their first official documentary titled Becoming Led Zeppelin. The movie, part documentary and part concert film, debuted at the Venice Film Festival back in 2021. It has since been completed and is set for a theatrical release sometime this year after being acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. It features new interviews with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones plus never-before-seen footage of concerts and personal videos and photos. Much of the concert footage is from 1969.
Luther Vandross
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Title: Luther: Never Too Much
Release date: Sometime in 2025
Where available: CNN, OWN and Max
Short synopsis: The documentary about singer Luther Vandross premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has now been picked up by CNN Films and OWN. The doc features interviews with stars such as Jamie Foxx and Mariah Carey and tells the personal journey of Vandross, who sadly died in 2005 at the age of 54.
Frank Sinatra
Keystone/Getty Images
Title: My Way
Release date: TBD
Where available: TBD
Short synopsis: The new documentary is now screening at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinema de la Plage. Directed by Thierry Teston in collaboration with Lisa Azuelos and narrated by Jane Fonda, the film explores Frank Sinatra’s long-lasting legacy through his iconic song “My Way.” Producer Patrick André said about the movie, “A record-breaking song, ‘My Way’ has had the most beautiful voices to carry it from its birth at the end of the ’60s to the present day. Despite this omnipresence, no film related to the song had been made for 30 years, and we therefore wanted to transmit this incredible and little-known story to younger generations who know nothing about the trajectory of this song.”
John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Everett Collection
Title: One to One: John & Yoko
Release date: TBD
Where available: TBD
Short synopsis: The documentary will focus on the lives of Beatles‘ John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono during the year 1972, mainly during Lennon’s One to One Concerts at Madison Square Garden. It features fully restored footage of the shows and remixed audio by their son, Sean. It also includes previously unseen video and audio of Lennon and Ono.
Lilith Fair
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Title: Lilith Fair
Release date: TBD
Where available: TBD
Short synopsis: Dan Levy and Elevation Pictures are teaming up to create a documentary about the groundbreaking 1990s all-women festival called Lilith Fair. Artists such as Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Erykah Badu and many more came together to host a concert featuring all women artists on July 5, 1997. The documentary will share interviews and never-before-seen footage from the event. It was inspired by the 2019 Vanity Fair article called Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair.
We will continue to update this article with more upcoming documentaries, so stay tuned!
Pop Music Legends
August 2017
Dedicated to the sights, sounds and stories of the golden age of pop.
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