Somethin' Else is a London and New York content agency, specialising in content strategy and production across video, television, audio and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. It was founded in 1991 by

Jez Nelson Jeremy Nelson MBE (born 1 April 1964) is a jazz broadcaster and television producer. Education Nelson was educated at Dulwich College (a boys' independent school in Dulwich, South London) and at King's College London, where he first began to D ...

, Chris Philips and

Sonita Alleyne Sonita Alleyne, (born 1968) is the Barbados-born British co-founder and former CEO of Somethin’ Else, a cross-platform media production company. Alleyne is a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, ...

, and was acquired outright by Sony Music Entertainment in 2021, after a number of joint venture projects between the two, with the company being part of Sony Music's Global Podcast Division.

History

Somethin' Else is a media production company set up in 1991. The company's first production was the '' Gilles Peterson Show'', created for the UK's independent radio network in 1993 and currently broadcast by BBC 6 Music in a Saturday afternoon slot. It is responsible for producing a number of radio programmes for BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1xtra, BBC Radio 2 and 6Music with ''The Kitchen Cabinet'' and ''

Gardeners' Question Time ''Gardeners' Question Time'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme in which amateur gardeners can put questions to a panel of experts. History The first programme was broadcast in the North and Northern Ireland Home Service of the BBC at 22 ...

'', made for BBC Radio 4 and ''

Kermode and Mayo's Film Review Kermode is a surname of Manx origin. It may refer to: I Surname * Robert Kermode (1812–1870), Tasmanian politician * P. M. C. Kermode (Philip Moore Callow Kermode, 1855–1932), Manx antiquarian and historian * Alexander Kermode (1876–1934) ...

'' produced for BBC Radio 5 Live for 21 years. It is the BBC's biggest multi-platform supplier, and as well as producing over 35 weekly radio shows for the corporation, it makes television for BBC 4 and iPlayer and creates social media for the BBC's music radio brands. Television projects have included the modern day version of ''

Jazz 625 ''Jazz 625'' is a BBC jazz programme featuring performances by British and American musicians, first broadcast between April 1964 and August 1966. It was created by Terry Henebery, a clarinetist recruited in 1963 as one of the new producers for ...

'' for BBC Four, a jazz music programme originally broadcast by BBC 2 in the mid 1960s. In addition to the BBC, other past and present clients of Somethin' Else have include the

TOPMAN Topman is a UK-based multinational men's fashion retail brand founded by Burton Group (later renamed Arcadia Group) in 1978. Along with its women's clothing counterpart Topshop and the rest of Arcadia Group, Topman went into administration i ...

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, Interflora, Swarovski, ITV,

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

Boots UK Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand an ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

Chivas Regal Chivas Regal () is a blended Scotch whisky manufactured by Chivas Brothers, which is part of Pernod Ricard. It was founded in 1786, with its home being in the Strathisla distillery at Keith, Moray in Speyside, Scotland, and is the oldest contin ...

FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

, Wrigley,

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

and The

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...

. Somethin' Else is involved in the social media production of ''

The BRIT Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

'' as well as a number of productions for

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

such as ''

Guitar Star ''Guitar Star'' is a talent show that has aired on Sky Arts from 9 June 2015 to 2 August 2016 and is presented by Edith Bowman, with judges Huey Morgan, Nitin Sawhney and Helen Sanderson, as they scour across the UK to unearth a world-class guita ...

'', ''The Ronnie Wood Show'' and Brian Johnson's ''A Life on the Road''. In 2017 it was the only company in the UK to feature in Campaign Magazine's School Reports and Broadcast Magazine's Top 100. On 16 June 2021,

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

announced that the company had acquired ''Somethin' Else''. On 1 April 2022, the last ever episode of ''

'' was broadcast by the BBC, with Somethin' Else announcing that the replacement show, called ''Kermode and Mayo's Take'', would be a twice weekly podcast series featuring film and television reviews, with the ''Take 2'' podcast being exclusive to subscribers.

People

Somethin' Else's board is

, Steve Ackerman (MD), Paul Burdin (FD) and Ben Kerr. The chairman is Tom Barnicoat (former COO at

Endemol Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

group) and Jon Wilkins (founder of Naked) and Lindsey Clay (CEO Thinkbox) are non-executive directors.

Selected projects

Radio and podcasts

* ''Kermode and Mayo's Take'' expected May 2022 onwards *''

'' (BBC Radio 5 Live), 2001–22 (produced from 2011) *The Penguin Podcast *''BBC Radio 1's

Essential Mix The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music producer ...

'' (BBC Radio 1), 1993–present *The weekly audio edition of ''

'' – In 2014, editor

John Micklethwait Richard John Micklethwait (born 11 August 1962) is editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, a position he has held since February 2015. A British journalist, he was previously the editor-in-chief of ''The Economist'' from 2006 to 2015. Life and car ...

claimed that German President Angela Merkel listens to the audio edition in her car *''

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brown ...

'' (BBC Radio 6 Music) *''

'' (

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

), 2009–present *''The Radio 1 Rock Show'' (

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

) *''The Kitchen Cabinet'' (

) *''Essential Classics'' (

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

) *''1914 Day By Day'' ("BBC Radio 4") *''

The Selector ''Selector Radio'' is a weekly two-hour Radio program, radio show produced by Folded Wing for the British Council. It covers a variety of music genres, ranging from Grime (music genre), grime, Indie rock, indie, Soul music, soul, and dance and f ...

'' (

NME Radio NME Radio is a radio station operated under ''NME'' magazine branding, that broadcast an alternative music format. It first began broadcasting on 24 June 2008 and ceased on 25 March 2013. The station was then revived in 2018 on NME's website. Ther ...

), 2001–2010 *''Jazz on 3'' (

) *''The Surgery'' (

) *''

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...

Rocks Blackpool'' (Combined

iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

and

) *'' Papa Sangre'' (iOS), 2010 *''The Nightjar'' (iOS), 2011 *''Papa Sangre II'' *''Audio Defence: Zombie Arena'' *''

6-0-6 ''606'' (pronounced six-oh-six) is a weekend early evening football phone-in programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live throughout the British football season. It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. T ...

'' (BBC Radio 5 Live), 2010–2015 *''The Treehouse – with

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fam ...

and Louise Pepper'' (

Podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

) *''The Last Post'' (

) - offshoot of and co-production with

The Bugle ''The Bugle'' is a satirical news podcast, created by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman in 2007. It is currently hosted by Zaltzman and a rotating cast of co-hosts including Alice Fraser, Nish Kumar, Anuvab Pal, Hari Kondabolu, Tom Ballard, and ...

Television and Video

*''Brian Johnson's A Life on the Road'' (

) *''Guitar Star'' (

) *''The Ronnie Wood Show'' (Sky Arts) *''Topman TV'' *Online video content for Swarovski, Interflora, Orangina. *''Extreme Festivals'' for BBC Radio 1 on BBC iPlayer *''Northern Soul: Living for the Weekend'' (

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

) *''Guin and the Dragon'' (

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

) *''Between the Lines'' (

BBC Learning {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 BBC Learning can refer to the following: * A department of the BBC North Group division (formerly part of Interactive Factual and Learning), part of BBC Television * The portal website created by BBC Learning * A w ...

) *''Ten Pieces'' (

) *''Foxy TV'' for Foxy Bingo

Social Media and digital

*Social Media for ''The

BRIT Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

(the most tweeted about TV show of all time)'' *Social Media for ITV shows including Saturday Night Takeaway, The Voice and Dancing on Ice *Social Media for BBC Radio brands (Radio 1, 1Xtra, Asian Network, Radio 2, 6 Music) *''Footballers United'' *Immersive

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016. In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...

experience for the South African Tourist Board

Awards

Somethin' Else has won Cannes Lions, eight BAFTA awards and multiple Sony

Radio Academy The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair ...

Awards. They were awarded Children's Company of the Year award in the 2013 and 2015 Children's BAFTAs. In 2016, the agency also won a

Marketing Week ''Marketing Week'' is a website focused on the marketing industry, based in London, that grew out of what was a weekly, and latterly monthly, print magazine. History and profile ''Marketing Week'' was launched in March 1978. Its co-founders were ...

award for 'Most Compelling Content' for their game Silverpoint for Absolut Vodka, and a Broadcast Digital Award for Best Social Media Campaign for its work on the BRIT Awards.

References

External links

* – official site * {{Sony Music Television production companies of the United Kingdom Radio production companies Mobile game companies 2021 mergers and acquisitions