Overview

DIGITAL INNOVATION

As the world’s leading music-based entertainment company, UMG has a unique responsibility to ensure a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem around music and digital media. After all, UMG is a collection of companies founded by the most successful entrepreneurs in the history of the music industry.  Today, that culture of risk-taking and invention lives on as there are more entrepreneurs working within the UMG family than ever before. Our goal is to help drive the creation of the next generation of music-related start-ups to deliver exciting experiences to consumers and new ways for our artists to engage fans.

To advance an environment of growth in the music space, UMG created a number of digital innovation initiatives including the UMG Accelerator Engagement Network, Capitol360 Innovation Center, our in-house incubator Abbey Road RED, Digital Innovation Licenses and events within the digital music ecosystem, including hackathons, panel discussions and educational programming on the business of music.

Our company values are deeply embedded in supporting creators of all kind, including those focused on digital technology. We are the home for music’s greatest artists, innovators and entrepreneurs.

ACCELERATOR ENGAGEMENT NETWORK

Through our Accelerator Engagement Network, UMG supports leading technology accelerators in major entrepreneurial hubs around the world to foster the next generation of music-related start-ups. Click here to learn more about UMG’s Accelerator Engagement Network, our official accelerator partners and how to apply to their programs.

LABEL AND STUDIO INITIATIVES

Universal Music Group’s world-renowned labels and recording studios have long been synonymous with cutting-edge technology and artistry. To continue this tradition, our labels and studios have created unique forward-thinking programs to contribute to the technology ecosystem. Click here to learn more about our label and studio initiatives including Abbey Road RED, a technology incubator located at London’s Abbey Road Studios, and Capitol360, an innovation center located in Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California.

DIGITAL INNOVATION LICENSES

To help entrepreneurs bring exciting new products to market, we are making Digital Innovation Licenses available to early-stage companies. These streamlined licenses require a minimum of process and time for the startup. To find out more and apply for a Digital Innovation License from UMG, please click here.

HACKATHONS

Universal Music Group is proud to deepen our partnership with the start-up community by hosting and sponsoring hackathons around the world. To learn more about UMG’s involvement with hackathons, click here.

Hackathons

HACKATHONS

Hackathons provide developers and entrepreneurs an opportunity to quickly create innovative new products and services, often over a single weekend. Some of these go on to form the basis for new companies. At each event, UMG offers its resources and industry expertise, while coders, developers, artists and designers converge to solve problems and build new products that push the boundaries of music technology.

UMG has hosted, sponsored and judged hackathons across the world, and in doing so, continues to witness the creation of incredibly innovative new music technology products.

The company has participated in a number of hackathons, including SXSW’s annual hackathon, Canadian Music Week’s first-ever hackathon as part of the Tech and Innovation Summit, Outside Hacks in connection with the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, and Capitol Innovation Center’s first-ever hackathon.

Hackathon winners are awarded prizes such as gratis API access for an incubation period, guaranteed acceptance into the Accelerator Engagement Network’s partner programs, short-term work space within iconic music locations such as the Capitol Tower in Hollywood and exclusive Universal Music Group artist merchandise.

Licenses

DIGITAL INNOVATION LICENSES

We want to enable entrepreneurs to test products and prove concepts with licensed musical content. To assist, we’ve pioneered a streamlined license designed to grant access to UMG’s catalog to qualifying early-stage companies with developing user bases. To learn more about UMG’s Digital Innovation Licenses please email us at umgdigitalbusiness@umusic.com.

Initiatives

LABEL AND STUDIO INITIATIVES

The spirit of innovation continues to flourish through initiatives and programs launched by Universal Music Group’s iconic labels and studios. These initiatives bridge the gap between the music industry, entrepreneurs, students and the tech community.

Abbey Road Red

The 2015 launch of Abbey Road Red marked Europe’s first-of-its-kind music-focused technology incubator. Continuing on a legacy of over 80 years of groundbreaking technological advances that took place at Abbey Road Studios, Abbey Road’s RED program has been successfully fostering the next generation of music start-ups. Click here to learn more.

Abbey Road Red

Capitol360 Innovation Center

Capitol Music Group (CMG) launched the Capitol360 Innovation Center in 2018 to bring together leading thinkers from the music and technology industries, as well as the student community, to help drive the future of innovation in music. Based in the iconic Capitol Tower and the company’s state-of-the-art Studios in Hollywood, California, Capitol360 Innovation Center provides space and conducts event programming designed to foster innovative ideas, bridge the gap between content creators and the tech community, and foster the next generation of leaders in music. Click here to learn more.

Capitol Innovation Center

Accelerators

ACCELERATOR NETWORK

In 2017, UMG launched its Accelerator Engagement Network. To support the pivotal contributions that accelerator programs provide to the global start-up ecosystem, UMG works closely with leading technology accelerators in major entrepreneurial hubs around the world to assist in the evaluation and development of music-based start-ups. Specifically, UMG’s teams in each territory work closely with local accelerators during the application process and mentor accepted digital music companies, while accelerators guide these new companies in developing, launching and raising funding for innovative new products.

“UMG is launching the Accelerator Network to build on the company’s stellar track-record of supporting entrepreneurs around the world and licensing more than 400 digital services globally. By developing a robust network of accelerators, UMG will play a more central role in helping to support the next generation of entrepreneurs who are already hard at work to bring innovative ideas to market that will create exciting new experiences for artists and fans everywhere.” – Michael Nash, UMG’s Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy

For accelerators interested in applying to join UMG’s Accelerator Engagement Network, please email umgdigitalbusiness@umusic.com.

 

ACCELERATOR ENGAGEMENT NETWORK PARTNERS: