Photo Credit: Patrick Moxey, Founder and CEO, Payday Music Publishing
Ultra International Music Publishing announces its name change to Payday Music Publishing following a court judgement in a case brought by Sony Music.
Leading independent publisher of hip-hop, pop, electronic dance music, jazz, and reggae, Ultra International Music Publishing, has announced it will be changing its name to Payday Music Publishing. The move follows a recent court decision in a legal case brought by Sony Music disputing ownership of the Ultra brand following Sony’s acquisition of the company’s recording division in 2021.
The newly branded Payday Publishing will continue to represent over 70,000 copyrights, including shares in numerous No. 1 Billboard hits. It publishes and co-publishes songs by Post Malone, Ed Sheeran, Future, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, Katy Perry, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Drake, Martin Garrix, Kygo, Steve Aoki, Playboi Carti, and many more. Thirteen of its songwriters were also nominated across seven categories — including Album of the Year, R&B Album of the Year, and Rap Album of the Year — at the recent Grammy Awards.
The Payday Music Publishing name is a natural progression from Payday Records, Patrick Moxey’s groundbreaking hip-hop label, which launched in 1992 and is best known for releasing music by Jay-Z, Jeru the Damaja, Antslive, and many others.
“Throughout the entire legal process surrounding the ongoing usage of the Ultra brand, we have asserted our belief that for our entirely separate and unconnected publishing division, the rights should remain with us. However, the judge in the case thought otherwise, even though no damages or legal costs were awarded against us, and we will move forward with a new name,” said Patrick Moxey, Founder and CEO of Ultra International Music Publishing (UIMP) and now Payday Music Publishing.
“But it’s important to emphasize that this is all it is — a new name. Nothing apart from the name changes, we will continue to represent our amazing songwriters and producers and we will continue serving as the custodians and protectors of the more than 70,000 copyrights we are privileged to represent. We have seen tremendous growth in recent years and will remain market leaders in independent global music publishing and we are proud to be working under our new Payday Publishing banner.”
The company is celebrating multiple entries into Spotify’s Billion Streams Club in the last few months, including Tory Lanez’s “The Color Violet,” “Wait For U” by Drake, Future, and TEMS, and “Runaway” by AURORA. Alongside numerous hits in the Urban, Rhythmic & Dance Radio charts, songwriters represented by the company have contributed to several recent US No. 1 albums, including those by Future, Playboi Carti, Lil Baby, and more.
In addition, Payday has announced a new series of international writing camps in 2025 following the success of 2024 collaborations with Atlantic Records in Ibiza, Virgin Records in Germany, and Warner Music in Paris.
These new camps also follow its successful South Korean writing camp, which took place in Seoul in February in association with Hybe Publishing, JYP, Watner Records, and SM Entertainment. Songwriters represented by Payday Publishing who attended this camp, including Neil Ormandy, Jenson Vaughn, Lizzy Land, and Kwon Close. They were joined by a number of acclaimed South Korean songwriters, including 1Zone, Slow Rabbit, Jinsol, Frants, Kass, CA$HCOW, Alex Karlsson, Gyubin artists, Tim Tan, Alawn, Wutan, no2zcat, MADDOX, Steven Castle, and Scon.
This spring will also see the return of Payday Publishing’s annual sync writing camp. With a focus on trailers, this week-long event is held in May in Palm Springs, and brings together the company’s top songwriters with major production company partners. Previous sync placements include the recent We Live In Time trailer, MAX Promo, Disney 100, Grey’s Anatomy, and works for Netflix, Hulu, ABC, and many others.
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.