Universal music and talpa media

Universal music and talpa media UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP SIGNS GLOBAL

RECORDING, ARTIST SERVICES AGREEMENT

FOR NEW TV MUSIC SENSATION, THE VOICE OF '

TV pioneer John de Mol's Talpa Media has new hit format

LONDON/LOS ANGELES/LAREN, Holland, January 19, 2011 Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, has concluded a global recording and artist services agreement for the worlds hottest new TV music property, The Voice Of , with its producers, Talpa Media Group, headed by one of the television industry's most visionary entrepreneurs, John de Mol.

The Dutch version, The Voice of Holland , has already become the country's most successful new TV talent contest, with audience ratings which far exceed local versions of The X Factor , Idol , Popstar and Hollands Got Talent. And this spring, U.S. network NBC will premiere the American version of the talent show, The Voice .

Under its new agreement with The Voice Talent Agency (TVTA), Universal Music Group will record and promote the new stars emerging from The Voice Of series around the world (with the exception of Holland and Belgium, where rights are placed with 8ball Music). In addition, UMG and Talpa will work together to provide artist services, to maximise the potential of the franchise and the finalists internationally.

The innovative format of The Voice Of features only real singing talent and has three stages of competition, starting with a blind audition process. The four celebrity coaches (successful artists in the music industry) can only hear the competing talent, but cant see them. They pick talent for their teams only based on vocal skills, not distracted by looks. These Blind Auditions are followed by Battle Rounds where talent sings to survive one-on-one battles within the coaches team. And, finally, the artists perform live on a huge stage in pursuit of the title. The TV audience votes and selects the winner together with the coaches; this triumphant singer is named The Voice Of the country in which the series is broadcast, and is awarded a recording contract with Universal Music.

The TV audience appeal of The Voice of Holland was evident during the series' final battle' episode last November, when it attracted 3.2 million viewers at its peak, for a 54% market share in the 20-49 target group and 59% of the female 20-34 group. During the live shows phase in December and early January 2011, The Voice of Holland' was by far the most watched Dutch TV programme on prime time Friday night. Talents from the show already obtained numerous No. 1 hits in the charts as well as gold records.

John de Mol, owner of Talpa Media, commented regarding the deal: I am convinced that the U.S. version of this format, The Voice', will be a great instrument in discovering genuine and amazing new singing talent in the biggest entertainment market in the world. It's fantastic to have broadcaster NBC and Mark Burnett on our side in the U.S., but Universal Music makes the picture complete.

Lucian Grainge, Chief Executive, Universal Music Group, said: Innovation breeds success, and in television, John de Mol's track record is second to none. He evidently has another winner with The Voice of ' format, and we're proud to be partners with Talpa in finding some of tomorrow's most exciting new singers.

TVTA's President Tony Berk added: Universal Music, with strong local A&R departments all over the world, is by far the best partner we could imagine to deal with outside our own territory. The Universal brand will ensure real talent to take part and go for it in this incredible contest that is The Voice Of...'

Max Hole, COO, Universal Music Group International, said: We like betting on singers, and the immediate ratings success of The Voice of Holland' proves that there's plenty of room for innovative thinking about music and television. This is a format with immense international appeal, and we're looking forward to working with Talpa to bring fresh talent to audiences worldwide.

LINK:	http://www.talpa.tv/news/universal-music-and-talpa-media...
	See more stories from talpa

Most recent headlines