Universal Music Group is streamlining creative workflows and centralizing digital assets by leveraging Sony Ci and AWS. This allows UMG to connect its creative pipeline and improve monetization. UMG is using Sony Ci and AWS to support labels worldwide, create compelling video content, and meet requirements for a centralized storage and content discovery system. Three use cases are highlighted: streamlining college marketing video operations, creating a searchable digital photo archive, and enabling cloud-based backup of local hard drives. Over 3.5 million assets have been ingested so far.

1. UMG–Confidential&Proprietary
AWS Symposium
31 July 2018

2. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group: Consolidating Content and
Workflows at the Speed of Sound with Sony Ci and AWS
Universal Music Group is streamlining creative workflows,
centralizing digital assets and improving monetization by leveraging
Sony Ci to capture, collaborate and create compelling content.
Leveraging the power of AWS, UMG is able to connect its creative
pipeline and supply chain to revolutionize its business.

3. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group:
Overview
• World’s leading music company committed to developing
recording artists and songwriters - and producing, distributing and
promoting music-centered content worldwide
• Businesses include recorded music, music publishing,
merchandising, and audiovisual content in more than 60 countries
• Catalog of recordings and songs stretches back over a century

4. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group:
Supporting Labels Worldwide
• Corporate groups, including operations, supply chain, and asset &
archive management teams, support creative groups worldwide
• Diversity of geography, timelines, project scopes, and content
types requires flexible solutions

5. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group:
Compelling Video Content
• UMG focuses on creating innovative music-centered video
experiences to allow artists and fans to engage in new ways
• UMG’s operations are structured to support the music industry’s
accelerated production timelines (similar to sports & news)
• Video content created by labels, corporate groups, 3rd parties, etc.
• Music videos
• Recorded musical performances (e.g., festivals, concerts,TV appearances)
• Artist interviews
• Original programming (e.g., UMUSIC Experience Case Studies)
• Brand / sponsor videos
• Influencer content

6. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group:
Reality of the Global Landscape
• Labels and “Center” are supported by different workflows, tools,
and vendor solutions
• Petabytes of content archived in multiple locations and on diverse
media
• Complex considerations for content access
• Content is being positioned for potential AI opportunities

7. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group:
Requirements for an Integrated Vision
• Centralized storage / content
aggregation of video assets
• Accessible by global
community
• Content discovery and sharing
for designated users
• Support for asset & archive
management activities
• User-friendly and intuitive for
technical and non-technical users
• Integration support to leverage
components with UMG systems (in
lieu of system replacement)
ARTIST RELATIONSHIPS
PROJECT
COMMISSIONING
RIGHTS
MANAGEMENT
CONTENT
PRODUCTION
CONTENT &
METADATA
MANAGEMENT
DISTRIBUTION
PRESERVATION &
REMASTERING
• Support throughout the IP content
creation lifecycle

8. Confidential&Proprietary
• Focus on professional audio/video formats
• REST API for integration with UMG ecosystem
• Bulk ingest via Snowball or built-in accelerated file transfer
• Controlled content receipt & sharing, as required, with non-team members
• Flexibility of S3 & Glacier storage
Seamless acquisition with
built-in file acceleration
Get files from anyone.
Stay on the same page
(or frame) with real-time
viewing, annotation,
and commenting
Review. Approve. Share.
Secure accessible archive.
It’s your content, use it.
Keep. Find. Reuse.
Auto-transcode, QC,
caption extraction plus
much more
(All API accessible)
Automate everything.
Universal Music Group:
Sony Ci & AWS

9. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group Use Case 1:
College & Lifestyle Marketing - Video Operations
ARTIST
RELATIONSHIPS
PROJECT
COMMISSIONING
RIGHTS
MANAGEMENT
CONTENT
PRODUCTION
CONTENT &
METADATA
MANAGEMENT
DISTRIBUTION
PRESERVATION &
REMASTERING
• Objective: Streamlined
collaboration on video content
with geographically-distributed
team. Productions involve
content-focused college
representatives on numerous
domestic and international
campuses.
• Stakeholders: Creative team at
corporate office, artists’ teams,
and college reps across the US
and the UK
• Business benefits: Artist
relationship management, artist
promotion, rapid and cost effective
content production and
distribution even on small budget
projects, centralized content with
appropriate visibility

10. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group Use Case 1: (con’t)
College & Lifestyle Marketing - Video Operations
• Sony Ci & AWS support:
• Sony Ci with file acceleration facilitates onsite uploads
• Enables LA-based executives and artists’ teams to
collaborate on content captured on campuses across the US
and UK
• Secure and protected Media Boxes (with expiration dates)
enable content sharing for executive review
• Standard and custom proxy files allow users to select the
“right” file for a particular use case
• Video Review Sessions enable editorial collaboration with
time-code based comments
• Account Mgmt facilitates onboarding of new team members
File
Accel.
File
Request
Media
Box
Video
Review
Metadata
Account
Mgmt
UI/UX
API
Support
S3 /
Glacier
Proxies

11. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group Use Case 2:
Digital Photo Archive
ARTIST
RELATIONSHIPS
PROJECT
COMMISSIONING
RIGHTS
MANAGEMENT
CONTENT
PRODUCTION
CONTENT &
METADATA
MANAGEMENT
DISTRIBUTION
PRESERVATION &
REMASTERING
• Objective: Searchable
centralized repository of digital
photo assets from multiple
labels
• Stakeholders: Archive and
catalogue teams in LA who
preserve and re-monetize
catalogue assets
• Business benefits: Increased
visibility of ~500K assets,
enhanced discoverability via
metadata augmentation

12. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group Use Case 2: (con’t)
Digital Photo Archive
• Sony Ci & AWS support:
• User-defined structured metadata model supports photo-
specific metadata requirements to increase discoverability
• Thumbnail views, contact sheets, & other photo-
optimizedCi enhancements create a more efficient user
experience for photo-centric workflows
• API support for integration with existing artist master
system
File
Accel.
File
Request
Media
Box
Video
Review
Metadata
Account
Mgmt
UI/UX
API
Support
S3 /
Glacier
Proxies

13. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group Use Case 3:
Cloud-Based Backup of Local Hard Drives
• Objective: User-friendly system
to enable groups to upload
existing content from hard
drives etc.
• Stakeholders: Creative and
operational teams worldwide
• Business benefits:
Centralization of digital content,
cloud-based backup of content
that may exist primarily on local
hard drives, increased visibility
and re-monetization
ARTIST
RELATIONSHIPS
PROJECT
COMMISSIONING
RIGHTS
MANAGEMENT
CONTENT
PRODUCTION
CONTENT &
METADATA
MANAGEMENT
DISTRIBUTION
PRESERVATION &
REMASTERING

14. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group Use Case 3: (con’t)
Cloud-Based Backup of Local Hard Drives
• Sony Ci & AWS support:
• Sony Ci facilitates high speed uploads from locations with
sub-optimal bandwidth
• File Requests allow non-Ci users to upload content and
metadata with file acceleration
• Flexible S3 and Glacier storage options enable cost-
effective management of large volumes of video content
• Workspace / Folder Metadata (vs. file metadata) expedites
data capture to describe entire projects
File
Accel.
File
Request
Media
Box
Video
Review
Metadata
Account
Mgmt
UI/UX
API
Support
S3 /
Glacier
Proxies

15. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group:
Stats & Future Considerations
• A few stats…
• 3.5M assets ingested
• 10K Media Boxes opened
• 2 Snowballs populated
• Future opportunities under review and consideration
• Potential PoC with AWS Rekognition
• Potentially connecting file acquisition in Ci, cloud-based QC, and UMG
Supply Chain
• Potentially enhancing the integration of project commissioning with
content receipt in Ci

16. Confidential&Proprietary
Universal Music Group:
Q&A