Amazon is creating a new TV show based on Bob Dylan songs
The report says Amazon, in partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment, has won the rights to use any of the themes and characters found in Dylan's more than 600 songs for its upcoming TV series called "Time Out of Mind," named after the artist's 1997 album.
The shows will be written and produced by Josh Wakely, an Australian director who's also in charge of Netflix's Beatles-inspired series, "Beat Bugs," the report said.
It's unclear what exactly the show will be about as details on the show's characters and plot remain unknown. The WSJ report says the plot and characters will draw inspiration from Dylan's songs, with two songs likely being featured in every episode.
Amazon's deal with Dylan is the latest in the company's efforts to boost its video offerings.
Amazon's original TV series "Transparent" and "Mozart in the Jungle" have won Golden Globe awards recently, while the e-commerce business was the biggest spender at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Amazon is also expanding its videos to non-Prime members, as it released its first-ever ad-supported, free original TV show in February.
Amazon offers free live-streaming video to its Amazon Prime members, and has quickly become the second largest for-pay video streaming service behind Netflix in the US.
Some analysts estimate Amazon is spending billions of dollars on its video and music contents. The goal is to draw more people to Prime, Amazon's annual membership service that's comprised of more loyal and higher-spending users.
Although we don't know what the Dylan song-inspired shows will entail, it'll likely have some sense of political and social themes. Dylan's songs are known to have a lot of social and political implications, often through very surreal lyrics.
Here's a taste of some of his songs' lyrics:
Title: "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
Title: "Hurricane"
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game