Table of Contents
Early past thirty day period, Warner Songs Team (WMG) joined Sony Audio Enjoyment (SME) in waiving unrecouped money owed for legacy artists. Now, the last Big 3 label, Universal Music Team (UMG), has formally adopted fit.
Universal Music Group unveiled its own options to waive unpaid innovations for legacy artists and songwriters – referring specially to “eligible creators and their speedy heirs who have not been given any payments since January 1, 2000” – in a recently released 2021 annual report.
Spanning a staggering 289 internet pages, the all-encompassing document information Universal Music’s “worldwide goodwill program” on site 142. Numerous retailers suggested at the time of Warner Music’s aforementioned waiver announcement that UMG would do the exact same later on in 2022, it’s worthy of noting listed here.
WMG’s shift used to artists and songwriters alike SME unveiled an unpaid-advance waiver for artists in June of 2021 and for songwriters in July of 2021, on the other hand. “UMG is proud to initiate a all over the world goodwill software for specified legacy showcased recording artists and songwriters with unrecouped balances,” UMG execs claimed of the matter in the yearly report.
“By not making use of their unrecouped advances to royalty statements for any interval beginning January 1, 2022, eligible creators and their instant heirs who have not acquired any payments because January 1, 2000, will start getting royalties, topic to selected conditions,” continued the foremost label. “Within the coming months, UMG will speak to eligible artists and songwriters.”
The big labels’ choices to do away with unrecouped debts arrive as a rising amount of legacy functions – which includes Dwight Yoakam and The Jesus and Mary Chain – are using actions to recapture their copyrights underneath the Copyright Act of 1976. Of program, a multitude of legacy functions are similarly cashing out of their music catalogs.
Elsewhere in Universal Songs Group’s 2021 report, which addresses all the things from staff stats to place of work-range initiatives and inventory possession to government payment, the Dutch-American label touched upon an array of fascinating subjects.
On the diversity, inclusion, and mental-health and fitness fronts, UMG in 2021 started referring to Columbus Working day as Wellbeing Working day, set up year-round Wellbeing Fridays (“quieter, lighter days”), and bundled both of those Gen Z and Little one Boomers on a checklist of “untapped communities.”
The latter refer “to groups of people today with undiscovered invaluable methods of latent strength” and a will need for “opportunities that make equitable obtain to sources and cash.” In addition, UMG’s 9,505 team customers (just 23.56 percent of whom took a person or additional times off in 2021) spent a cumulative total of 70,000+ hrs on education last yr, albeit with a nearly 56 % participation level for “training on harassment.”
Other noteworthy information disclosed in UMG’s 2021 once-a-year report involves:
UMG CEO Lucian Grainge’s 2021 Wage
Grainge pulled down a decidedly balanced 2021 wage of €40,861,707/$45,237,587 in 2021, encompassing €13.19 million/$14.59 million in base salary and a €24.67 million/$27.30 million bonus – but not a individual stock-relevant windfall, which reportedly elevated his earnings past $200 million.
The 2021 salary figure displays “an yearly cash bonus equal to 1% of UMG’s EBITA for the applicable economical year” and “a contingent dollars bonus of €8,795,220, subject matter to UMG conference unique economical and non-financial targets,” both equally of which were set up by Grainge’s pre-IPO agreement.
Workplace-Accident Studies
UMG reported two workplace incidents that resulted in shed do the job time (a complete of 5 times) for 2021.
A Payday From Sony Music’s Alamo Documents Buyout
“In June 2021 UMG divested its desire in Alamo Information for the overall cash thought of € 102 million [$112.82 million]. Overall attain on disposal amounted to € 98 million [$108.38 million].”
(The precise value was previously a supply of media speculation.)
Spotify and Tencent New music Inventory Possession
Common Music Group reported that it owned 6,487,000 Spotify shares (acquired at an ordinary of €6.58 every single, or $7.28 apiece at the present conversion amount, and representing 3.37 percent of the corporation) and 12,246,000 Tencent Audio shares. The previous observed their benefit dip by some €330 million/$365.02 million from 2020’s stop to 2021’s conclusion, against a €119 million/$131.63 million falloff for the TME shares.
Considering the fact that December 31st, 2021, while, the Spotify shares at hand have parted with yet another $501.83 million – for practically $900 million wiped out in full. Tencent Tunes stock, with a day-close worthy of of $4.87 for each share, has fared even worse in phrases of price missing as a proportion. Since 2020’s finish, UMG’s TME shares have plunged by around $154 million.