Photo: Peter Don (@donslens)

UMPG acquires hit songwriter-producer’s catalog.

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), today announced that six-time Grammy Award-nominated songwriter and producer Louis Bell has been signed to an exclusive, global administration agreement. He is a three-time consecutive nominee for the Grammy’s ‘Record of the Year,’ ASCAP’s 2019 & 2020 Songwriter of the Year, Variety's 2020 Songwriter of the Year and Variety’s 2019 Producer of the Year.

UMPG also announced the acquisition of Bell’s catalog including megahits like Post Malone’s “Rockstar,” “Better Now” and “Sunflower” featuring Swae Lee, Camila Cabello’s “Havana,” The Jonas Brothers’ “Sucker,” and Halsey’s “Without Me.” The deal excludes some projects released in 2019 and 2020. Bell’s songs are collectively more than 150 million-times Platinum in the US alone.

Jody Gerson, Chairman and CEO of UMPG, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Louis Bell to the UMPG family. He is not only an immensely talented songwriter and producer for some of the biggest artists in the world; he is one of the kindest and most thoughtful people I know. It’s even better when you can work with good people! Our global team looks forward to providing outstanding opportunities that support his artistry and songs.”

Bell said: “I am extremely excited and grateful to begin this journey with Jody, Lillia Parsa and the entire Universal Music Publishing team.”

As executive producer of Post Malone’s most recent album, ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding,’ Bell was an intricate part of the writing and production on all 17 tracks. Other notable, recent releases include Miley Cyrus’ “Angels Like You,” “Plastic Hearts,” “WTF Do I Know,” “Gimme What I Want,” “Hate Me” and “Midnight Sky,” all off her seventh studio album ‘Plastic Hearts,’ along with Halsey’s “Graveyard,” Taylor Swift’s “I Forgot That You Existed,” “Afterglow” and “It’s Nice to Have a Friend,” and 5SOS’s “Old Me.”