Universal Music Group and Amazon expand global relationship

nme.com:

Universal Music Group and Amazon have announced an expanded global relationship.The two companies have said that they will be working together closely to “explore new and enhanced product opportunities” that will benefit artists and create better experiences for fans.

UMG will also be collaborating with Amazon as they expand in audio, including further innovation in audiobooks, audio and visual programming as well as livestreamed content.In addition, they will be working to address, among other things, unlawful AI-generated content and means of protecting against fraud and misattribution.“We are very excited to advance our long-standing, excellent partnership with Amazon Music that marks a new era in streaming—Streaming 2.0,” said UMG’s chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge. “We appreciate Amazon Music’s deep commitment to the interests of our artists, and look forward to progressing our shared artist-centric objectives through product innovation and accelerating growth of their service.”UMG have previously said that their Streaming 2.0 strategy focuses less on scale in streaming and instead aims to increase value through different subscription levels and selling merchandise and other products to fans.“UMG has always been a collaborative partner to Amazon Music, and as we continue to invent and introduce more artist-to-fan connections through our product and exclusive content, we’re redefining what it means to be a streaming service,” added Steve Boom, VP of Audio, Twitch and Games for Amazon. “We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with UMG which will enable us to partner on meaningful new ways for artists to deepen their engagement with fans around the world, while working together to protect the work of artists,.