Tony Khan Explains His Pattern Of Licensing Music For AEW Shows

Speaking recently with Battleground Podcast, AEW owner Tony Khan offered some details on the decision to use licensed songs at the promotion’s events, despite the increased costs that come along with the choice (per Wrestling Inc). Khan explained his view that licensing the media provides AEW with continuing production value igoing forward, despite the sometimes high initial investment price. You can find a few highlights from Khan on the topic and watch the full interview below.

On how he views each music licensing deal: “That’s why I wanted to pay the extra and go the extra mile to get ‘Walk’ by Pantera. Pantera was great and worked with us and we worked out a reasonable deal. I compare music licenses and wrestling to trades in pro sports. It’s like, you can do your best, but every trade is its own transaction, it has to be between, at least two willing parties.”

On the spectrum of deals that can result from this pursuit: “Sometimes people ask for money that I don’t think is reasonable, other times we have gotten deals that I thought were very fair.”

On the ongoing benefits of licensing music: “Every great moment where we’ve licensed music, we still have that music, I paid for the rights in perpetuity. I’ve had a lot of other opportunities to license music and work with a lot of great artists. We’ve done all kinds of great stuff, and hopefully, someday all of that will be available for people to watch in perpetuity on the library forever.”