| Universal Music Publishing Group | |
| Predecessor: | BMG Music Publishing PolyGram Music Publishing MCA Music Publishing |
| Foundation: | |
| Location City: | Santa Monica, California |
| Location Country: | U.S. |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Industry: | Music industry |
| Services: | Music publishing |
| Parent: | Universal Music Group |
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a global music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Publishing has been ranked the #1 music publisher in market share by Billboard for multiple consecutive quarters.[1]
The company is home to major songwriters and artists, including Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Rosalía, Steve Lacy, Elton John, Adele, SZA, Harry Styles, Post Malone and more. UMPG has recently made historic catalogue acquisitions, including Bob Dylan, Sting, and Neil Diamond.[2] UMPG's catalogue consists of over four million songs, with offices in 40 countries.[3] [4]
UMPG was formerly known as MCA Music Publishing until it merged with PolyGram in 1998 when Seagram acquired PolyGram for $10.4 billion.[5] PolyGram's music business was merged into Seagram's MCA Records. The merger was effected in January 1999, forming a new company named Universal Music Group. The merger also included both record labels' music publishers.[6] The PolyGram catalog included Dick James Music, Welk Music, Cedarwood Publishing, and Sweden Music.[7] MCA had been in the music publishing business since 1964, when it acquired Lou Levy's Leeds Music.[8]
In August 2000, UMPG acquired Rondor Music from Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss for roughly $400 million. It included former music publishing arms of A&M Records, I.R.S. Records, Stax Records, and Shelter Records, as well as Sea of Tunes. The purchase added 60,000 copyrights to Universal's library.[9]
In 2006, Universal Music Publishing Group acquired BMG Music Publishing from Bertelsmann Music Group for €1.63 billion, back then the third largest publishing group in the world, making Universal Music the largest music publisher in the world. It included the catalogs of Éditions Durand and Casa Ricordi and former music publishing arms of Benson Records and Zomba. As part of the acquisition of BMG Music Publishing, Universal divested the catalogues of Zomba UK (and the European rights to Zomba USA), Rondor UK, 19 Music and BBC to a new company named Imagem (now part of Concord Music Publishing).[10] Sony/ATV Music Publishing overtook Universal Music Publishing as the world's largest music publisher in 2013 after acquiring EMI Music Publishing.[11]
On May 7, 2013, UMPG acquired American music publisher Criterion Music Corporation.[12]
On January 1, 2015, Jody Gerson was named the chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group, becoming the first woman CEO of a global music company and the first female to run a major music publishing company.[13] [14] Gerson made history as the first publishing executive and first woman to be named Billboard's 'Executive of the Year' for their Power 100 list. She was also named Variety Hitmakers' Executive of the Year in 2019.[15] In December 2015, she was named Executive of the Year by Billboard Magazine in its Women in Music issue.[16]
In March 2023, UMPG was ranked No. 1 on Billboard's Publishers Quarterly on the Hot 100 for the third consecutive quarter, which is taken from official Hot 100 chart data. Additionally, the portfolio publisher made history holding more than 30% market share for the past three quarters, a record that has not been achieved by any publisher since 2014.[17]
On February 27, 2024, TikTok announced that its license to use UMPG's catalogue would expire on March 1. At the beginning of February 2024, Universal Music Group had removed its entire recorded catalogue from the app.[18]
UMPG is the music publishing partner of many film/TV studios globally, including Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Disney Europe (and other territories), Viacom, Amazon, HBO, DreamWorks, DreamWorks Animation, Legendary Pictures, MarVista Entertainment, NBC, and Sesame Workshop, among many others.[19]
UMPG administers the 60,000 title Rondor Music Catalog and also owns or administers a multitude of others including: Interscope and Def Jam Music, WildBrain, Amazon MGM Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, All Nations Music, Charlie Daniels, Casa Ricordi, Matraca Berg, DreamWorks Animation, HBO, Paramount Global (excluding CBS and Showtime Networks), Warner Bros., Sesame Street, Lionsgate,[20] Disney Music Group,[21] Forerunner Music, Epitaph Records, Greenwich/Barry, Momentum Publishing, and John Philips. UMPG also owns or administers the works of Leonard Bernstein and Henry Mancini, and Dsign Music.
UMPG has 48 offices across 40 countries around the world. Universal Music Publishing Group Australia & NZ is based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.[22] Marianna Annas, former Head of ABC Music Publishing until January 2020, is Vice President, Commercial & Creative at the company,[23] [24]