Universal Music Group
The largest music company in the world and one of the recording industry's Big Three.
via Wikipedia: Universal Music Group · see source
Universal Music Group, usually shortened to UMG, is a Dutch-American music corporation organised under Dutch law. Its corporate base sits in Hilversum, Netherlands, while day-to-day operations are run from Santa Monica, California. Ranked as the biggest music company anywhere, it forms the "Big Three" of record labels together with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. The company listed on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange on September 21, 2021, at a valuation of €46 billion. By April 2024 its catalogue held more than three million recordings and four million compositions, making it one of the most important rights holders in recorded music and publishing.
Quick Facts
- Former name
- Decca Records (USA business), MCA Music Entertainment Group (1989–1996)
- Founded
- 1934 (American branch of Decca Records)
- 1989 (as MCA Music Entertainment Group)
- 9 December 1996 (Current form)
- Headquarters
- Hilversum, Netherlands (corporate); Santa Monica, California
- Country
- U.S. (operational)
- Industry
- Entertainment, Music
- Services
- Music publishing
- Owners
- Bolloré family (28.3%)18.4% directly and 9.9% through Vivendi
- Tencent Music (11.4%)
- Others (60.3%)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
UMG traces its roots to the American branch of Decca Records, formed in September 1934, and borrows its name and logo from Carl Laemmle's Universal Pictures. MCA Inc. merged with American Decca in 1962. Matsushita Electric agreed to buy MCA in November 1990, and Seagram took 80 percent of MCA in 1995. On December 9, 1996, the music division received the Universal Music Group name. Seagram bought PolyGram in May 1998 and folded it into UMG in early 1999, before its entertainment assets passed to Vivendi in 2000. Vivendi later added BMG Music Publishing, completed on June 25, 2007. The biggest expansion came with the purchase of EMI's recorded music business, closed on September 28, 2012, after regulators forced the sale of labels such as Parlophone and Chrysalis Records.
Reader's Guide
For anyone following a label roster, UMG is best understood as an umbrella over many imprints. After absorbing EMI, its British operations were grouped into five label units: Island, Polydor, Decca, Virgin EMI and Capitol. Lucian Grainge became CEO in 2011 after Doug Morris stepped down, and he later took over as chairman. In 2014 the Island Def Jam Music Group was broken up so that Island Records and Def Jam could run as separate labels. Ownership is spread out: Tencent bought stakes in 2020 and 2021, Pershing Square Holdings took ten percent before the IPO, and the Bolloré family still holds 28 percent.
Did You Know?
- During World War II, Universal gave more than 200,000 historic master recordings to the Library of Congress instead of recycling the metal.
- In 2008 the company agreed to license its catalogue to Spotify, then a new streaming service, for use outside the U.S.
- In August 2013 UMG became the first company to hold all 10 of the Top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.
- SoftBank offered $8.5 billion for UMG in May 2013, but Vivendi turned the bid down.
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