Universal Music Group Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Buried in Vivendi’s earnings report released today is the blockbuster news that its subsidiary Universal Music Group is planning an IPO within the next three years. Vivendi recently sold 10% of UMG to a consortium led by Tencent Holdings Ltd for $3.3  billion, a sum that values the company at a whopping $33 billion.

The Sundance Film Festival will host the premiere this weekend of a documentary about one of the great original L.A. punk bands — we’re speaking, of course, of the Go-Go’s.

Lucian Grainge — chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company — will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next Thursday (Jan. 23). Fittingly, the ceremony will take place in front of the historic Capitol Records building; Capitol is one of the several Universal-owned labels under Grainge’s domain.

Universal Music Japan announced today that Ichiro Tamaki has been named as Corporate Executive responsible for Digital Strategy, data analytics and platform partnerships, effective February 15.

Saban Music Group (SMG), the music company bearing the name of entertainment mogul Haim Saban, has entered into a strategic alliance for global distribution and marketing with Universal Music Group (UMG). Caroline, a subsidiary of UMG’s Capitol Music Group, will handle distribution for the U.S. and globally, where it operates 11 offices. Caroline is run by president Jacqueline Saturn and headquartered at the iconic Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, across town from UMG’s Santa Monica base.