Universal Music’s new royalty portal open to Aussie songwriters

Royalty portals are all the rage, and for good reason.

Artists and songwriters are demanding more real-time transparency, and the more tech-savvy music companies are providing it.

Some publishers also offer cash advances through their respective portals.

It’s no surprise then that both labels and publishers have been in catchup mode to compete against likes of Kobalt.

Sony/ATV upgraded its app last July, calling it “a ground-breaking move for a major publisher”.

And now, seven months later, rival Universal Music Publishing Group has launched UMPG Window. It promises “unparalleled earnings data, insights and analytics”.

But the world’s biggest publisher isn’t new to the portal game.

In 2007 UMPG was the first major publisher to launch an online royalty portal.

It’s latest cloud-based royalty portal will provides songwriters and clients with instant access to clear, complete and real-time earnings.

TMN can confirm that UMPG Window is immediately available to Australian writers to view accounting periods, territory, digital service provider, income source, income group, income type, local/international and other insights.

John Reston, EVP global administration at UMPG, said the music major worked closely with its songwriters and managers during the build.

“In designing and developing UMPG Window, our team worked closely with our songwriters and clients to best understand what they most wanted from a world-class, fully transparent portal and app,” said Reston.

“This kind of collaboration is a reflection of how we do business: our songwriters and publisher clients are partners in everything we do.”

Songwriters will be pleased to hear the UMPG Window will have the ability for clients to request no-fee advances based on both current period earnings and international pipeline earnings.

“We will always keep innovating to better the lives of our writers and support their songs, and that is why UMPG continues to raise the bar for the industry.”