Andrea Bocelli begins new partnership with Universal Music Group
Florence Lockheart
Thursday, October 14, 2021
The agreement will build on over 25 years of collaboration between Bocelli and UMG.
Andrea Bocelli, the Italian tenor, has today announced an exclusive and expanded global recording agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG). Bocelli is signing a new long-term multi-album deal with UMG after more than 25 years of collaboration.
Bocelli has sold over 90 million albums to date and generated more than five billion streams. His new agreement with UMG will include a series of recorded music and audio-visual projects, alongside branding, synchronisation and merchandising.
UMG’s CEO and chairman, Sir Lucian Grainge, said: ‘For over two decades, I have had the privilege to work closely with Andrea. To expand and extend our long-term partnership with Andrea—an artist in the truest sense who is nothing less than a cultural icon—is a thrilling moment for me and for our teams around the world. We look forward to putting the global organization to work on Andrea’s behalf, ensuring his new-music and brilliant catalogue are enjoyed by his millions of fans and discovered by millions more.’
Bocelli’s new recording agreement expands his historic partnership with Decca Records Group and with UMG, which has distributed his albums for over a quarter of a century. Working closely with Andrea Bocelli and his management team at Almud and Maverick, UMG will use its global reach, creative and commercial expertise, and marketing and promotional support to ensure that Bocelli’s future releases and his existing catalogue continues to reach listeners worldwide.
Decca Records Co-Managing Directors Laura Monks and Tom Lewis said: ‘It is such an honour to strengthen our relationship with Andrea Bocelli, an artist whose global resonance is unique and unmatched in this industry.’
When making the announcement, Andrea Bocelli said: ‘It is an exciting novelty, but also the confirmation of our solid and well-established collaborative relationship over the years. Fully joining the artist stable of the largest record company in the world is the culmination of a dream, but it is also a bit like returning home, because in UMG I have always found that family dimension that is ideal, even in the artistic field, to give the best of oneself... This agreement represents a great honour for me, for Veronica, and perhaps even a little for all of Italy, which through my songs I will continue to celebrate with the world. With gratitude, I celebrate this new adventure, full of ideas, new projects and of course music.’