NME reports that Universal Music Group and Amazon have announced an expanded global relationship. The two companies have said that they will be working closely together to “explore new and enhanced product opportunities” that will benefit artists and create better experiences for fans. UMG will also be collaborating with Amazon as they expand in audio, including further innovations in audiobooks, audio and visual programming as well as live-streamed content.
In addition, the two companies will be working to address, among other things, unlawful AI-generated content and means of protecting against fraud and misattribution.
“We are very excited to advance our long-standing, excellent partnership with Amazon Music that marks a new era in streaming–Streaming 2.0,” said UMG’s chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge. “We appreciate Amazon Music’s deep commitment to the interests of our artists, and look forward to progressing our shared artist-centric objectives through product innovation and accelerating growth of their service.”
UMG has previously said that their Streaming 2.0 strategy focuses less on scale in streaming and instead aims to increase value through different subscription levels and selling merchandise and other products to fans.
“UMG has always been a collaborative partner to Amazon Music, and as we continue to invent and introduce more artist-to-fan connections through our product and exclusive content, we’re redefining what it means to be a streaming service,” added Steve Boom, VP of Audio, Twitch and Games for Amazon. “We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with UMG which will enable us to partner on meaningful new ways for artists to deepen their engagement with fans around the world, while working together to protect the work of artists, songwriters and publishers.”
This announcement follows UMG announcing a new licensing agreement with TikTok earlier this year; the two companies’ previous agreement expired in late January, which resulted in UMG withdrawing its artists’ music from the platform as result of the two companies’ inability to come to a new agreement.
UMG’s new agreement with TikTok will reportedly “deliver improved remuneration for UMG’s songwriters and artists, new promotional and engagement opportunities for their recordings and songs and industry-leading protections with respect to generative AI,” per a press release.
In other news, UMG had to address an alleged “scheme” that one of their biggest artists, Canadian rapper Drake, claimed was in play in order to boost streaming numbers for Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” It is important to note that the legal action Drake has taken has not been of the lawsuit nature – rather, “pre-action filings” have been put in place to obtain information Drake can use should he decide to file a formal lawsuit in the future.
A UMG spokesperson called the accusations “offensive and untrue,” adding: “We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”
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