Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group, commonly known as UMG or Universal Music, is the world’s biggest music company and one of the industry’s Big Three, alongside Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. Operating as a Dutch-American music corporation under Dutch law, it has corporate headquarters in Hilversum, Netherlands, while its operational headquarters are in Santa Monica, California. Its scale places it across major-label recording, publishing and catalogue activity, with a catalogue reported in April 2024 to include more than three million recordings and four million compositions.

UMG's recorded-music history includes the 1998 acquisition of PolyGram by Seagram, followed by the merger of PolyGram and Universal Music Group in January 1999. The combined business became the largest recorded-music company in the world. Universal Music Group’s roster and affiliated operations span a broad commercial range, from global catalogue music to contemporary releases by artists including Joshi, Girls Only, Joe Worker, IDKJXY!, OhVee, BBG Steppaa, Ovyanc and Will2cold4u.

The company’s ownership has involved several major international investors. Tencent acquired a 10 percent stake in March 2020 for €3 billion, then purchased another 10 percent in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings also acquired a 10 percent stake before UMG’s public listing. Universal Music Group began trading on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange on September 21, 2021, with a valuation of €46 billion.

The French Bolloré family remains a major shareholder, holding 28 percent of UMG: 18 percent directly and 10 percent through Vivendi, formerly Vivendi Universal. With headquarters divided between the Netherlands and California, and a catalogue measured in millions of recordings and compositions, Universal Music Group operates on a global scale while maintaining a central role in the modern major-label business.