In celebration of the 50th anniversary of their songwriting partnership, Elton John and Bernie Taupin have launched a competition to find emerging talent to create videos for their iconic songs, "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer" and "Benny and the Jets." Entitled "The Cut," the competition has been created in partnership with Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Grammy Award-wining music video maker Melina Matsoukas, and Golden Globe winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins.
At the sold out iconic Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, Universal Music Publishing has 16 incredible artists performing including The xx, Travis Scott, Empire of The Sun, Future, Martin Garrix, and New Order plus Banks & Steelz, Bastille, Crystal Castles, Kungs, Raury, Shura, Tale of Us, Tory Lanez, Toots & The Maytals and Tourist. The three day festival will take place two weekends this year, Friday April 14 – Sunday April 16 and Friday April 21 – Sunday April 23.
Adele's third studio album ‘25’ is officially the biggest album of 2016 in the UK, followed by Coldplay’s ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ - according to data from the Official Charts Company.
Spotify have named Coldplay as their most streamed band in the entire world. The band have amassed over 5 billion streams on the service – 1 billion of which are for their most recent album ‘A Head Full of Dreams’.
Spotify has named Coldplay as their "most streamed band” worldwide. The band have amassed over 5 billion streams on the service, one billion of which are for their seventh studio album, A Head Full of Dreams.
UMPG songwriter Sebastian Kole’s original song “Incredible” was chosen by Target as the soundtrack to their new back-to-school ad campaign. UMPG worked in collaboration with advertising agency Deutsch to pitch writers and demos for the opportunity, which ultimately went to Kole.
Grammy-winning artist and UMPG songwriter Britney Spears has announced she will be releasing her new album Glory on August 26 via RCA. Spears, who has sold over 100 million albums worldwide and become one of the most successful artists of all time, calls the album “the beginning of a new era.” It’s her first new album since 2013’s Britney Jean. Her new single “Make Me…” (released July 15) is fast climbing charts worldwide.
Universal Music Publishing Group artists Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Nick Jonas and DNCE took home major awards at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards held at The Forum in Los Angeles. Justin Timberlake received the prestigious Decade Award in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of his hit album Future Sex/ Love Sounds. Justin Bieber was honored with three awards, including Choice Male Artist, Choice Break-Up Song for “Love Yourself,” and Choice Twit.
UMPG UK legendary songwriter Nicky Chinn is featured in Spotify’s new Secret Genius series, which profiles and interviews songwriting talent behind some of music's biggest success stories.
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has promoted David Gray to the role of Executive Vice President/Head of West Coast A&R. In his elevated role, Gray will lead the A&R team and continue to develop, nurture and sign talent. He will also direct the team’s effort to develop global opportunities for UMPG’s artists and songwriters.