Universal Music Group has struck a new multi-year agreement with EVEN, a superfan-focused platform that lets artists sell music and engage with fans directly.
The deal establishes EVEN as a direct-to-fan resource for UMG, providing the major’s labels and artists with “turnkey” tools for engaging superfans through early access to music, exclusive content, and community features.
The agreement will also allow UMG artists to offer physical music and merchandise through EVEN using UMG’s global D2C, vinyl, and merch infrastructure.
The partnership marks the latest expansion of UMG’s D2C and broader superfan strategy.
The deal with EVEN arrives just weeks after the major music company acquired a minority stake in superfan app Stationhead, and follows Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge‘s annual memo to staff in which he identified superfan monetization as a strategic priority for 2026.
“In 2026 we will accelerate these efforts both by working with our established DSP partners on the launch of enhanced premium tiers for superfans, as well as by working with emerging platforms that are focused on special events and products for superfans, both virtually and in the physical world,” wrote Grainge.
For EVEN, the partnership announced with UMG today extends the D2C platform’s reach significantly.
Launched in April 2024, EVEN says it has onboarded over 500,000 artists through direct signups and distribution partnerships across more than 3,000 labels and distributors in over 110 countries.
The platform says that it supports over 30 global payment methods across 140 currencies and reports album sales to Luminate for Billboard chart eligibility.
EVEN offers both a consumer-facing discovery platform (EVEN Marketplace) and a white-label solution (EVEN Studio), which it says can “transform an artist’s website into a dedicated superfan destination”.
J. Cole’s team and Interscope Records have already used EVEN to power multiple direct-to-fan campaigns, including the tenth anniversary of 2014 Forest Hills Drive and the pre-release strategy for The Fall-Off.
According to EVEN, the 2014 Forest Hills Drive campaign helped return the album to the Billboard Top 15 a decade after its original release. The rollout for The Fall-Off used similar tools ahead of the album’s official release.
The Fall-Off debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 this week.
Pilot campaigns with UMG artists including Wale (Def Jam Recordings) and Virgin Music Group-distributed Mt. Joy have also demonstrated the platform’s potential.
Wale’s recent project reached the Top 20 on the Billboard charts, with direct-to-fan album sales through EVEN playing a meaningful role in its chart performance, according to the company. EVEN says Wale’s “owned fan audience” grew by over 300% in a single week around release.
“Superfans are the foundation of sustainable artist careers. EVEN exists to support artists and labels at every stage by giving them the infrastructure to own their fan relationships.”
Mag Rodriguez, EVEN
“Superfans are the foundation of sustainable artist careers. EVEN exists to support artists and labels at every stage by giving them the infrastructure to own their fan relationships,” said Mag Rodriguez, Founder/CEO, EVEN.
“This collaboration reflects what we’ve always believed: that direct-to-fan engagement is now an essential layer of the music ecosystem, working alongside streaming.”
“As we continue to build strong, diverse superfan capabilities, EVEN provides a unified, scalable solution for artists and labels to produce creatively and commercially meaningful moments around release campaigns.”
Jonathan Dworkin, UMG
Jonathan Dworkin, Executive Vice President, Digital Business Development & Strategy added: “As we continue to build strong, diverse superfan capabilities, EVEN provides a unified, scalable solution for artists and labels to produce creatively and commercially meaningful moments around release campaigns.
“The platform fosters safe, engaged, and loyal fan communities, all while fitting seamlessly within the broader social and entertainment ecosystem.”
The EVEN agreement is the latest in a series of moves by UMG to build out its superfan infrastructure.
In February 2024, the major acquired a stake in youth media platform Complex as part of a takeover by live-video shopping company NTWRK — a deal UMG said would “create a new destination for ‘superfan’ culture that will define the future of commerce, digital media, and music.”
A month later, UMG invested in HYBE’s Weverse, the K-pop giant’s superfan platform, as part of an expanded 10-year distribution agreement with HYBE. UMG artists, including Ariana Grande, Gracie Abrams, Alexander 23, and more, have since joined the platform.
Then, in January this year, came the Stationhead investment, which saw UMG take a minority stake in the social audio platform following its merger with Mellomanic.
UMG is already seeing results from its direct-to-consumer push. The company’s physical music revenues jumped 23.1% YoY to €341 million ($398.31m) in Q3 2025. On the Q3 earnings call, Chief Operating Officer Boyd Muir revealed that “somewhere in the region of two-thirds to 75%” of vinyl sales are now coming through UMG’s own managed stores.
According to Luminate‘s 2025 Year-End Report, in the US last year, direct-to-consumer channels drove 78% of first-week physical album sales in Pop, and over 50% in R&B/Hip-Hop and Rock.
Elsewhere in the industry, EVEN has been building its footprint through partnerships with independent distributors.
