Universal Music Group announced new partnerships with mental health firms Amber Health and Project Healthy Minds to expand services for its artists, songwriters and employees.
Amber Health is a music industry-focused mental health firm that specializes in providing research-backed mental health care for music industry professionals through clinicians.
UMG teamed up with Amber Health to provide mental health services to its North American artists and songwriters, offering 24/7 access to clinical expertise, including crisis response, care planning, and specialized referrals.
Universal added that it will work with Amber Health to offer behavioral health support to UMG employees in the US and Canada, including access to expanded mental health support and resources.
Amber Health, founded in 2020 by Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer, has previously supported tours and teams behind artists including Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, and Shakira. The firm has also partnered with MusiCares and the Country Music Association to provide mental health services.
Dr. Chayim Newman & Zack Borer, Co-Founders, Amber Health, said: “Our partnership with UMG marks a real shift in how labels support their artists. Together with UMG’s corporate and label leadership, we’re embedding quick access to specialized mental health care directly into the labels’ infrastructure, making it proactive rather than an afterthought. We couldn’t be prouder of this work, or the message it sends to the rest of the music industry.”
“Together with UMG’s corporate and label leadership, we’re embedding quick access to specialized mental health care directly into the labels’ infrastructure, making it proactive rather than an afterthought.”
Dr. Chayim Newman & Zack Borer, Amber Health
Separately, UMG said it has joined Project Healthy Minds as a founding member of the nonprofit’s workforce mental health research initiative.
Under that program, UMG will collaborate with academic partners, including Harvard Business School, to develop a standardized framework for measuring workforce mental health and its relationship to organizational performance. The company said it is the first music company to commit to this kind of effort.
Phil Schermer, Founder and CEO, Project Healthy Minds, said: “Music has always been a vehicle for mental health conversations and now Universal Music Group is bringing that same honesty inside its own walls.”
“When a company of UMG’s reach commits to this, the whole industry pays attention.”
The announcements build on an existing initiative UMG has supported since February 2025 — the Music Industry Mental Health Fund, run by Music Health Alliance. That fund offers care coordination, resource identification, and ongoing support for music professionals across career stages. UMG has described its support for the fund as a “long-term commitment.”
“Music has always been a vehicle for mental health conversations and now Universal Music Group is bringing that same honesty inside its own walls.”
Phil Schermer, Project Healthy Minds
Susan Mazo, Chief Impact Officer, Universal Music Group, said: “Through our strategic partnerships with organizations like Amber Health and Project Healthy Minds— and our continued investment in groundbreaking programs like Music Health Alliance’s Music Industry Mental Health Fund, we are working to redesign how our industry supports wellbeing.”
“Our focus is on expanding access to care, reducing stigma, and ensuring that our artists and songwriters, employees, and the broader music community have the resources they need to thrive.”
“Through our strategic partnerships with organizations like Amber Health and Project Healthy Minds— and our continued investment in groundbreaking programs like Music Health Alliance’s Music Industry Mental Health Fund, we are working to redesign how our industry supports wellbeing.”
Susan Mazo, Universal Music Group
Additionally, UMG said it is also broadening its employee benefits to include expanded access to therapy, virtual care solutions, and Employee Assistance Program services, with additional programming, including targeted workshops.
These partnerships are just some of the avenues that UMG has explored in pursuit of improved mental health and wellness.
In 2023, the company teamed up with generative AI company Endel to develop wellness music. That year, it also partnered with Ariana Huffington of Thrive Global to launch a music-focused wellness app.
In 2024, UMG joined with Rescape Innovation to create a virtual reality treatment for anxiety that incorporates personalized music. UMG also teamed up with Warner Music Group and Realize Music, Inc. to bring some 1 million tracks to the Realize Music: Sing app, meant to harness the therapeutic benefits of singing.
Also in 2024, UMG India launched Vedam Records, a label devoted to wellness music.
The company has also filed a patent application for a new technology that adds neural beats to music “to produce or encourage a desired mental state.” The patent application says the tech could be used to induce “neural entrainment, improved focus, a calmer mood, relaxation, or any other desired mental state.”
In May last year, UMG and Apple Music partnered to launch Sound Therapy, a science-backed “wellness collection” that leverages scientific research and UMG’s proprietary audio technologies to “[harness] the power of sound waves, psychoacoustics, and cognitive science to help listeners relax or focus the mind.”
A study by Swedish digital platform Record Union in 2019 found that 73% of independent musicians struggle with mental illness. Within the 18-25 age group, this figure climbed to 80%.
Music Business Worldwide