Santa Monica, CA - Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) today announced it has entered into an agreement with Richard Conlon, former Senior Vice President - Corporate Strategy, Communications & New Media for Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), for his services as a Special Advisor on Performing Rights.

Reporting to Michael J. Sammis, UMPG EVP Operations and CFO, and David Kokakis, SVP/Head of Business & Legal Affairs and Business Development, Mr. Conlon will be counseling the company on matters related to advocating, protecting and maximizing the value of performing rights on behalf of UMPG and its songwriters.

“It is, indeed, an interesting time in the evolution of the performing rights business and Richard’s expertise in developing systems and strategy will be extremely valuable towards maximizing the value of performing rights for UMPG and its songwriters,” said Sammis.

A well-respected and accomplished music industry executive, Conlon spearheaded BMI’s digital new media licensing divisions and directed global communications efforts. During his more than 20 years with the performing rights organization, he launched both the corporate strategy and digital business units, licensing the rights to more than 8.5 million musical works and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Conlon also managed negotiations with industry leading digital properties ranging from YouTube to Spotify, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and MP3.com, to Apple’s iRadio and Pandora. Under his management, licensed properties grew to more than 10,000 sites and digital income consistently drove corporate revenue growth.