Universal Music Publishing UK signs electronic music duo Bicep to exclusive, global publishing agreement

29 September 2022 - Press release

 

Universal Music Publishing Group, Universal Music Group’s leading, global publishing division, today announced that electronic music producer/songwriter/DJ duo Bicep has been signed to an exclusive, global publishing agreement. 

Consisting of Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar, Bicep has made waves on the electronic music scene and received two BRIT Awards nominations in 2021 for ‘British Group’ and ‘Breakthrough Artist.’ 2021 album ‘Isles' entered the UK & Irish Official Album Charts at #2, #3 in Belgium, #8 in Germany, #12 in Australia and #28 in The Netherlands. The critically acclaimed album sold 14k copies in the UK in the first week & 50k copies globally. Debut album, ‘Bicep,’ entered the UK & Irish charts at #20 & has sold 100k copies worldwide.

Pete Simmons, Head of A&R, UMPG UK, said: “When I joined UMPG eight years ago, I would listen to everything on the Feel My Bicep blog in the search of something special. At the time, I had no idea the guys behind it would become that very thing I was looking for and watching their music grow into what it is today has been really something. Getting the chance to work alongside Andy, Matt and the crew at This Is Music means a lot to me and our UMPG team can’t wait to support their development here in the coming years.”

Bicep said: "We’re very excited to sign with UMPG and see it as a new chapter for our songwriting. Pete Simmons and Mike McCormack know our back catalogue inside out already, so it’s great to work with people who understand what we’ve done in past and where we want to go in the future.” 

Bicep’s songs have been well received in the sync community. “Glue” was featured in a major BMW TV ad that received over 4.6m views on YouTube. The song was also featured in the 2018 film Dogman, directed by Matteo Garrone. Additionally, “Apricots” was featured in an ad for Cupra.

Extraordinary demand for Bicep live has seen them quickly sell out every London show to date, most recently closing the West Holts stage at Glastonbury which was aired on BBC2. Since headlining their first major British festival at Field Day in 2021, Bicep’s festival headline slots have included Wide Awake, Love Saves The Day, AVA, Forbidden Fruit, Sands Margate, Parklife, Greenman, Otherlands and Creamfields. The duo has also played at Coachella (US), Glastonbury (UK), Dekmantel (NL), Primavera (ES), Pitchfork Paris (FR), PitchFestival (AU), Forbidden Fruit (IE), Sonar (ES), Lovebox (UK), Pukkelpop (BE), Reading & Leeds (UK), Magnetic Fields (IN) & Lost Paradise (AU).

Bicep management company This Is Music, celebrating their 15^th year, were recently recognized by the Music Managers’ Forum who awarded them the prized Innovation Award. Having developed numerous acts from scratch to success, the company is now heading into a new chapter of leadership with Lisa Marxen being promoted to Managing Director of the organization.