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Universal Music Group (UMG) has struck a deal to acquire a 49% shareholding in PIAS Group, the leading European independent music company.
Financial terms of the arrangement, announced early Wednesday (Nov. 30), were not disclosed.
By taking a minority stake in PIAS Group, UMG, the world’s leading major music company, expands on its strategic global alliance struck with the indie powerhouse in June 2021.
PIAS, or Play It Again Sam, was founded in Belgium 1982 by Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot, both career-long advocates for the independent music sector.
Gates and Lambot will retain majority control of the company, a joint statement reads, and UMG will have no seats on the company’s board.
Headquartered in London and Brussels, PIAS is said to be one of the largest independent and privately-owned music companies in the world.
The group includes the PIAS Label Group, which oversees the business’ various record label interests, and Integral Distributions Services, which provides support to its own, in-house labels and upwards of 100 independent label partners, including ATO, Beggars Group, Bella Union, Chrysalis, Domino, Epitaph, LSO, Mute, Ninja Tune, Partisan, Secretly Group, Transgressive and Warp.
Today, PIAS boasts 16 offices around the world with 300 employees.
“The boldly independent and music-centric culture that Kenny and Michel have built over the last four decades has provided a vital creative network to so many artists,” comments UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, in a statement.
“While much of the past was focused on ‘majors versus indies,’ it’s clear that today, the important divide in our industry is about those committed to artist development versus those committed to quantity over quality. “
He continues, “We share Kenny and Michel’s passion for developing artists and moving culture, and we recognize that a healthy music ecosystem needs companies like PIAS who are committed to amplifying the best voices in independent music.”
As PIAS celebrates its 40th anniversary, Gates and Lambot insist the new arrangement will enable its artists, clients and team to flourish.
Says Lambot, one of the founders of the pan-European independent music companies’ trade body Impala, “we are still as ambitious as we were when we started out about growing our global presence and providing a world class service to the independent music community.”
Gates adds, “These days we are competing with finance and tech giants and a partner like Universal Music Group provides the additional support for us to compete and grow. Universal made it clear that they like us, they trust us and they need us, because they can’t do what we do and they value it highly.”
This move, Gates continues, “makes us stronger and secures the future of our brand, our staff and our partners while maintaining control of our destiny.”
Created in a Brussels cellar four decades ago by Gates and Lambot, PIAS began life as a distributor of independent labels. Four years, the pair launched publishing company Strictly Confidential, and PIAS continued to grow its footprint, including the opening of offices Paris and London (in 1994), Hamburg (1995), Madrid (2000), New York and Stockholm (2013), and Sydney (2017) through the acquisition of Inertia.
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has signed an exclusive publishing deal with one of the most essential American songwriters of all time, Irving Berlin, to represent his catalog in all territories worldwide. This expands upon the major’s existing partnership with the Berlin estate, which began in 2012, which named UMPG as Berlin’s publishing administrator outside of the U.S.
Previously, Concord and Imagem (which the former purchased in 2017) handled North American publishing administration, but under the new deal, UMPG will now cover the continent instead.
Additionally, UMPG will take over duties for brand and social marketing efforts for the Berlin estate. This includes the launch of social media channels, including a new TikTok page, which promote the legacy of the songwriter and his legendary songbook — which includes “Anything You Can Do,” “Blue Skies,” “Cheek To Cheek,” “How Deep Is The Ocean,” “It’s A Lovely Day Today,” “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,” “Let’s Face The Music And Dance,” “Puttin’ On The Ritz,” “Steppin’ Out With My Baby,” “The Song Is Ended (But The Melody Lingers On),” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” Guinness World Records’ longtime best-selling single “White Christmas,” and many more — to the next generation of fans.
The company also launched a custom Film & TV industry site which will showcase Berlin’s catalog for sync and theatrical licensing consideration. It uses themed playlists, intuitive tagging and more to help potential licensors find the perfect match within his over 1,500 song catalog.
During his lifetime, publishing administration for Berlin, who was highly protective of his copyrights, was handled by an insular group of six individuals, working in an office on West 46th Street in Manhattan, as the New York Times reported, but in 1990, following his death at the age of 101, Berlin’s publishing administration went to the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization (RHO) for further exploitation. Nearly two decades later, RHO sold to Imagem in 2009. By 2012, rights to worldwide administration ex-U.S. was given to UMPG while the North American administration was re-signed with Imagem and expanded to include brand management and grand rights exploitation globally. Then, in 2017, there was a major sale between Imagem and Concord Music Group, moving over these duties to the Concord umbrella.
Evan Lamberg, president of North America, UMPG, says of the deal, “I’ve been in the music publishing business my entire working life. It doesn’t get any better than UMPG having the honor of representing the timeless cultural songs of Irving Berlin, as well as working with the wonderful Irving Berlin family and Estate.”
“The family of Irving Berlin enthusiastically welcomes the expansion of their 10 year relationship with Universal Music Publishing Group and looks forward to continued collaboration as the exclusive global music publisher for Irving Berlin’s extensive catalog,” adds Mary G. Campbell of JPMorgan, on behalf of the Berlin’s estate.