UMusic Media network launched to ‘Connect Brands and Partners’ -MBW

Universal Music Group for Brands (UMGB), the global partnerships division of Universal Music Group (UMG), has unveiled its UMusic Media Network – a media and data platform designed to connect brands and partners with exclusive media from UMG.

UMG says that the UMusic Media Network offers brands access to its inventory of music video content, and spans its social media platforms.

The platform will allow brand partners to exclusively access premium content, as well as UMG’s data and insights.The network also offers users the opportunity to “hypertarget” audiences at scale “through the most exciting music videos and artist driven content,” says UMG.

Partners will be able to tap into UMG official music videos, songs and lyric videos, original content, behind-the-scenes and artist vlogs, and lifestyle content from UMG-owned platforms such as Rebel Labs, Mercury Studios and Polygram Entertainment.

Additionally, the network offers branded content and partnership opportunities across the company’s labels and artists, says UMG.

UMG’s consolidated digital properties draw more than 150 million unique visitors monthly across desktop, smartphones and tablets in the US, the company claims.Leading the UMusic Media Network is Richard Yaffa, Executive VP, Global Head of UMGB, and Morgan Buksbaum, Senior VP of Media and Properties at UMGB.

Richard Yaffa, Executive VP, Global Head of UMGB, said: “The UMusic Media Network brings together UMG’s unmatched artist roster, marketing capabilities and resources to empower brands and partners directly.

“Through this cutting-edge new platform, UMG artists can create destination programming exclusively for brands, giving our partners the ability to hyper-target culturally relevant content where they have not been able to do before.

“When advertisers connect with culturally relevant content and associate their brand with our artists, consumers feel greater brand affinity and engage with those ads more actively.”

Michele Anthony, Executive Vice President, UMG, added: “The UMusic Media Network combines the unique collective resources that only UMG, as the world’s leading music-based entertainment company can provide to partners, creating an unrivalled service that leverages and delivers the reach, power and influence that great music and artist content can bring, while creating value for our artists, labels and our partners.”

Last week MBW discovered that UMG, via its Universal Music Production Music division, had launched a new sample service called Usample.

According to the Usample website, the service offers a catalog of around 7,000 “rare” tracks, that, Universal says, come “from the depths of the [UMG] archive, digitised for the first time since the original pressings”.

The website also says that Usample’s AI software allows it to isolate or remove parts such as vocals or drums from historical tracks and then provide associated stems on request.

In 2021, eight of the world’s top ten-selling artists on the IFPI global charts were signed to or distributed by UMG labels, says the company, including BTS, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Glastonbury 2022 headliner Billie Eilish.