History
UMPG was formerly known as MCA Music Publishing. MCA had been in the music publishing business since 1964, when it acquired Lou Levy's Leeds Music.[5] In 1979, MCA acquired ABC Records and its catalog was added to MCA Music Publishing. In the 1990s, MCA Music Publishing expanded by acquiring catalogs such as All Nations Music and the publishing of Interscope Records and Manny Records.[6]
MCA merged with PolyGram in 1998 when Seagram acquired PolyGram for $10.4 billion.[7] 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.[8] The PolyGram catalog included Dick James Music, Welk Music, Cedarwood Publishing, and Sweden Music.[9]
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.[10]
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).[11] Sony/ATV Music Publishing overtook Universal Music Publishing as the world's largest music publisher in 2013 after acquiring EMI Music Publishing.[12]
On May 7, 2013, UMPG acquired American music publisher Criterion Music Corporation.[13]
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.[14][15] 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.[3] She was also named Variety Hitmakers' Executive of the Year in 2019.[16] In December 2015, she was named Executive of the Year by Billboard Magazine in its Women in Music issue.[17]
In 2018 Disney Music Publishing and UMPG expanded their business relationship to the continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Israel and Ireland, as well as countries in the Caribbean and Africa.[18]
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.[1][19]
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.[20]
