We chat with UMPG U.K.'s Mike McCormack.

What do you consider the greatest areas of opportunity—and the biggest challenges—facing publishers now?
Despite the extremely competitive and challenging environment we face in the U.K. and internationally, I’m extremely optimistic for the future. Music of every genre and period is now more widely available than ever before, so fledgling artists and writers can draw inspiration from an endless seam of incredible music. If artists are smart and entrepreneurial, then it’s never been easier to use all the platforms available to get yourself attention and build a fan base.

The sheer volume of music will make it very difficult to stand out, obviously, but, as it’s always been, the artists and writers with the most talent and determination will still succeed. The U.K. has always been a place that has embraced original music and ideas both locally and from international artists, so I have always felt positive that anything truly original or exceptional will get noticed quickly here. On a personal note, I love the fact that it’s more challenging and competitive.

How are you working with your writers to develop new revenue streams?
At Universal we are focused on being even more on top of our game by offering the best service creatively and administratively to continue signing and developing the cream of songwriting talent. We are implementing so many new ideas to add value and new revenue for our writers and catalogs—but we’re not telling you!

What do you consider your most significant successes from the past year, and what are you lining up for 2017?
We’ve had tremendous success this past year overall, with the best year ever for our artists Adele and Coldplay, major new signings, and hits that are crossing borders. Adele and Coldplay have had huge local and international sales, and record-breaking worldwide tours. Their headline slots at Glastonbury 2016 were a personal highlight. Adele also became the second woman in history to have two albums achieve Diamond status in the U.S. Our writer Jimmy Napes (signed to us via Salli Issak Music Group) won an Oscar with Sam Smith for their Bond theme to Spectre. Bastille came back with a fantastic new LP that is still performing very strongly here and globally.

We’re also currently celebrating a massive international hit, “Perfect Strangers” by our signed U.K. artist Jonas Blue, and there will be lots more from him next year. Also in 2017, we’re so excited about our new signing Dua Lipa (via Tap Music publishing) who will undoubtedly be a superstar. The new record from The XX is just stunning and one we anticipate will be impacting for us next year. Metallica’s new LP, out now, will be huge, and we have new releases coming from our artists Years and Years, Agnes Obel, Lapsley, The Shires, Sigala, Frances and many more.