They are now taking up a partnership with globally renowned Universal Music Group, Germany through Virgin Records and Virgin Music Label and Artist Services to support the artists’ future projects. What started out as a few hundred thousand is now an audience of 8 million in attendance. The idea is straddling between support and flexibility, which sounds reasonable enough. Having only launched a couple of weeks ago, the heads behind the project are indeed very excited. According to International Head of Partnerships, Björn Declerck, the aforementioned deal is meant for “collaborating closely with both artists and labels, supporting them in all their recording and release activities.”
Founder/CEO of Tomorrowland, Michiel Beers commented:
“Creativity is something that can’t be stopped at Tomorrowland. I’m very proud of how resilient our team was to find new ways of bringing Tomorrowland into the reality of the last period. We have taken the extra time to focus on projects that were on our list for a long time and one of them was definitely launching our own Tomorrowland Music label.”
Also in Universal’s recent line of acquisitions was Moonbug Entertainment which hosts children’s television shows. The two partnered to provide value by offering permission to use their artists’ catalogs in future programming. A vast library of music will be coming to Moonbug Entertainment that they would not easily have had access to prior. According to the official Universal Music Group website, the company will be not-overseeing distribution, publishing, and licensing of Moonbug Music. Not only is that a win for both companies but it provides a payout to the artists in the form of royalties as well. Really, it’s a win-win-win. Good news all around!
When asked for comment, Moonbug Entertainment co-founder and CEO Rene Rechtman made the following statement:
“We could not be [any] more thrilled to partner with a respected and influential industry powerhouse like Universal Music Group to expand the possibilities of our music content. Music plays a critical role not only in our company’s growth strategy but also in childhood development. We look forward to the possibilities for our already popular nursery rhymes and songs, and the new music that we’ll produce together.”
Representing Universal Music Group, Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman & CEO came forward with a statement.
“We are delighted to partner with Moonbug Entertainment, reinforcing UMG’s position as the leading distributor and publisher of kids music globally. We have seen tremendous growth in the kids and family segment in recent years, thanks to advances in streaming and voice-technology. We look forward to working with Rene and the talented Moonbug team to amplify the reach of their catalog to families around the world, and to further improve the accessibility of music for children of all ages.”