Universal Music Group has resigned the hugely popular recording star Drake for a reported US$400mln.
According to trade paper Variety, Universal’s chair, Sir Lucian Grainge, revealed in the record label’s first-quarter earnings call that Drake has entered into an expansive, multi-faceted deal with the company that encompasses recordings, publishing, merchandise and visual media projects.
The Canadian rapper and vocalist came to prominence in 2006, hitting a golden period from 2011 onwards, a couple of years after signing for Universal Motown following a fierce bidding war.
According to Variety, since 2014 Drake has shifted more than 37mln of what the newspaper calls “album project units” and became the first artist to have his songs streamed more than 50bn times on the Spotify streaming site.