[10] Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG prior to its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

Although the movie studio and the music business share a common history, today the former is part of Comcast and the latter an independent commercial entity.

[38] In March 2012, the European Union opened an investigation into the acquisition[39] The EU asked rivals and consumer groups whether the deal would result in higher prices and shut out competitors.

[45] In compliance the conditions of the European Commission after purchase of EMI, Universal Music Group sold the Mute catalogue to the German-based BMG Rights Management on December 22, 2012.

[55] On March 20, 2013, UMG announced the worldwide extension of their exclusive distribution deal with the Disney Music Group, excluding Japan.

[56] The exclusive deal also saw UMG granted unlimited access to all rights pertaining to Disney's 85-year back catalog of soundtracks and albums.

[63] In September 2013, UMG received a SAG-AFTRA American Scene Award for the company's commitment to diversity as exemplified by its "entire catalog and roster of artists.

UMG Executive Vice President Michele Anthony and Universal Music Publishing Group Chairman and CEO Jody Gerson have oversight of the pair.

[68] On February 11, 2017, PolyGram Entertainment was relaunched as a film and television unit of Universal Music Group under David Blackman.

[80] In October 2017, UMG announced the launch of its Accelerator Engagement Network, an initiative aimed to help develop music-based startups around the world.

The initiative is meant to create change for representation of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the media industry.

In July, the Rolling Stones signed a worldwide agreement with UMG covering the band's recorded music and audio-visual catalogues, archival support, global merchandising and brand management.

[94] On November 19, 2018, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift signed a new multi-album deal with UMG, in the United States, her future releases will be promoted under the Republic Records imprint.

In addition to the promised ownership of her master recordings, UMG agreed to, in case it sells portions of its stake in Spotify, distribute proceeds among its artists and make them non-recoupable.

The deal collapsed in July 2021 due to regulatory concerns, and it was announced that Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings would complete the purchase instead.

[120][121] In October 2023, UMG and BandLab Technologies formed a partnership to protect the rights of artists as well as songwriters and guarantee the 'ethical use' of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

[122][123][124] Also in October 2023, UMG formed a new partnership with BMG Rights Management to develop collaborative initiatives to enlarge opportunities for BMG-signed artists all over the world.

[148] In May 2006, an investigation led by then New York Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, concluded with a determination that Universal Music Group bribed radio stations to play songs from Ashlee Simpson, Brian McKnight, Big Tymers, Nick Lachey, Lindsay Lohan and other performers under Universal labels.

[150] After years of litigation, the suit settled in 2018, prior to the court holding a trial on whether UMG had a subjective belief that the video was infringing and not fair to use before sending its request to YouTube.

[151][152][153] In April 2016, UMG had the audio muted of a video clip showing Katherine Jenkins singing the British national anthem.

They claimed that the recording of "God Save the Queen" was copyrighted, and YouTube initially complied with this request, but subsequently offered the video with the original audio track.

[154] In December 2007, UMG announced a deal with Imeem that allowed users of the social network to listen to any track from Universal's catalogue for free with a portion of the advertising generated by the music being shared with the record label.

[156] According to Jody Rosen of The New York Times, the fire which swept through Universal Studios Hollywood on June 1, 2008, caused "the biggest disaster in the history of the music business".

[157] In space rented from NBCUniversal, according to an official document marked "Confidential", the fire destroyed at least 118,230 "assets" (master recordings), or about 500,000 song titles, owned by UMG.

"[159] Following the publication of the New York Times story, Questlove of The Roots confirmed that the master tapes for two of the band's albums, including unused material and multi-track recordings, were lost in the fire.

[160] Similarly, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic said he believed the masters for the band's 1991 album Nevermind were "gone forever" as a result of the fire.

[164] Howard King filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on June 21, 2019, on behalf of Soundgarden, Hole, Steve Earle, the estate of Tupac Shakur and a former wife of Tom Petty that seeks class action status for artists whose master recordings were believed to have been destroyed in the Universal Studios fire.

[165][166] On December 9, 2011, Megaupload published a music video titled: "The Mega Song", showing artists including Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys and will.i.am endorsing the company.

On May 3, 2019, UMG filed a motion to dismiss the case, stating the Notices of Termination were not valid because the songs were not grants of copyright but works for hire.

[177] In a November 2024 pre-action petition, rapper Drake sought discovery from UMG and Spotify because they may have illegally conspired to use bots and payola to artificially inflate streams of Kendrick Lamar's song "Not Like Us" in violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and violated New York state law against deceptive business practices and false advertising.