MUMBAI: NBC and Columbia Records have agreed to a recording rights deal for the soundtrack of NBC’s new musical series Smash and series star Katharine McPhee also signed a solo recording deal with Columbia Records.

Smash on NBC stars Debra Messing, McPhee and Oscar winner Anjelica Huston. The arrangement guarantees worldwide, digital and physical rights to the first season of "Smash" with successive options to subsequent seasons.

"A musical series should naturally be accompanied by a soundtrack deal, and NBC is very excited to be working with the best. Our Columbia Records partners will guide the soundtrack of ‘Smash’ into a big component of the show’s success. The music will be a driving force of what promises to make a tremendous impact for NBC in January and we couldn’t have asked for better expertise and strategy than this company will provide," said NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt.

Columbia/Epic Label Group chairman Rob Stringer added, "We are thrilled and proud to be chosen by NBC to work on their amazing new show. Music is at the heart of ‘Smash,’ and with our wonderfully creative broadcast partners, we will develop innovative strategies to present this music to a huge audience."

Smash is a musical drama that celebrates the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theater as it follows a cross-section of dreamers and schemers who all have one common desire — to be a Smash. The soundtrack will be both original compositions by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the Tony and Grammy Award-winning songwriters of Broadway blockbusters such as Hairspray and Catch Me If You Can, as well as covers of a variety of existing hits that will combine to tell the narrative of this musical series.

Smash centers on a desire to create a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe — written by the songwriting duo of Tom (Tony Award nominee Christian Borle, Legally Blonde: The Musical) and Julia (Emmy Award winner Messing).