WPP and Universal Music Group have inked a partnership deal extending to AI and more. Photo Credit: UMG
Universal Music Group (UMG) and WPP have inked a partnership deal that they say will help brands reach new audiences with music-powered campaigns.
The major label and the London-headquartered ad company reached out with word of the tie-up today, after WPP finalized a seemingly far-reaching Roblox pact in October. As described by the relevant parties, the newer of the agreements will see WPP clients receive access to “some of the world’s most popular artists and their music.”
On the other side of the table, UMG acts may benefit from sizable paydays and potentially significant exposure via sync opportunities in straight adverts, broader marketing campaigns, and more.
With that said, it remains to be seen which placements the union will deliver. WPP and UMG opted against diving into the deal’s particulars, instead noting the possibility that the latter’s catalog could “unlock additional areas of amplification through data-driven and technological innovation.”
Execs also abstained from divulging details in their official statements. UMG chief digital officer Michael Nash reiterated the “benefits to stakeholders of each company,” and WPP CTO Stephan Pretorius underscored plans “to leverage emerging technologies and data insights to create truly innovative music-driven campaigns.”
Running with the mention of emerging technologies, the companies per their announcement intend to “work together to responsibly explore new ways that AI can better help brands and artists connect and create authentic cultural moments.”
Like with the specifics of the wider union, only time will tell exactly what the AI undertakings – and the “authentic cultural moments” – entail. But it’s worth noting that WPP has closed AI-focused agreements involving IBM, Google Gemini, and even Anthropic (which is still facing sweeping music industry infringement litigation) during 2024 alone.
(Amazon last month invested another $4 billion in Anthropic, thereby elevating the overall total to $8 billion. And a discovery sub-dispute is ongoing in music publishers’ plodding copyright complaint against the AI giant.)
In any event, UMG isn’t alone in looking to make waves in advertising; Spotify partnered with WPP back in August 2023, launched an in-house “Creative Lab” marketing agency this past June, and is leveraging AI on multiple fronts to boot.
Heading into the new year, the streaming platform doesn’t appear to be letting up in the advert department. The past week alone has seen Spotify set out to make several related sales hires (including a sales insights analyst for music) and bring on a senior product designer for advertising.