Universal Music and Snap ink global licensing agreement

The multi-year deal will make UMG’s music catalogue available globally in Snapchat’s creative tools such as Sounds, including in Search and curated Playlists, and augmented reality lenses.

As part of the deal, UMG will develop more AR lenses for its artists, with the opportunity to feature merchandise launches and e-commerce experiences. The two companies previously partnered on individual releases from key artists, including Justin Bieber, Benny Blanco and Nicki Minaj. UMG says that BENEE’s lens for her 2019 song ‘Supalonely’ has generated more than 1 billion views

“We’re thrilled to build on our innovative and collaborative relationship with Snap and to provide Snapchat’s users with access to UMG’s vast catalogue of the most iconic recordings of all time,” UMG executive vice-president of digital strategy Michael Nash said. “When entertainment and social media companies work together, fans are able to creatively build close-knit communities around the artists and the music they love, all while ensuring that artists are fairly compensated for the use of their music.”

Snap senior vice-president of content and partnerships Ben Schwerin said: “It’s been exciting to see how quickly Snapchatters have taken to our Sounds creative tool, and in turn the immense impact it has had on the music industry as they discover and share music with their friends and the community. Universal Music Group has been a tremendous partner over the past several years, and we’re thrilled to expand our relationship to bring Snapchatters even more music to express themselves and create engaging Snaps.”

Launched in October last year, Snap’s Sounds tool allows users to add music to their Snaps. The social media platform also released statistics on the feature in a separate announcement. The company said more than 521 million videos had been created using Sounds, amassing about 31 billion views with almost 45% of those videos being sent as direct messages.

In addition to UMG, Snap also has deals with Warner Music Group, Merlin and DistroKid, among others, as well as with individual songwriters and music publishers. Snap has also teamed up with Spotify, SoundCloud and Apple Music on its Snap Kit tool, allowing users to create musical Snaps on streaming services.