UMPG CORRALS GLASS ANIMALS LEADER

Glass Animals lead singer, songwriter and producer Dave Bayley has signed an exclusive, global publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group.

Glass Animals continue to ride high on their 2020 release Dreamland, which has earned more than 1.5b streams. Bayley wrote and produced their massive hit, “Heat Waves.”

UMPG chief Jody Gerson counts herself among the Polydor/Republic act's growing fan base. “I'm especially delighted to work closely with UMPG’s global creative teams to amplify Dave Bayley’s talents as a writer and producer," she said, "not only for his band but also for other artists who inspire and excite him."

The UMPG A&R team recently coordinated Bayley’s co-writing collab with Florence Welch, which resulted in her new single, “My Love.”

Bayley, whose band is managed by September Management, explained why he went the UMPG route: "There’s so much I want to learn and so much music I want to make in so many different areas—from Glass Animals records to pop songwriting to experimental sound design to scoring. When it came time to re-sign my publishing, there were so many wonderful people, ideas and opportunities around that I began to feel a bit lost, but Universal Music Publishing and the incredible team of people there had drawn a long and clear path for me through those ideas. It just felt like a journey I wanted to take.”

Said Glass Animals manager Amy Morgan: “After the success of 'Heat Waves' and Dreamland, the next chapter for Dave is going to be a really important one. There's so much to explore for him both as an artist and a writer/producer, and I'm really looking forward to working with Jody, [UMPG U.K. MD] Mike McCormack and the team at UMPG to help develop all these strands of his career.”