MAIA Universe, a Stockholm- and London-based sync licensing platform, has some new names on both sides of its business. On October 19, 2026 it announced a batch of new rights partners, a pilot with the UK's Mechanical Copyright Protection Society and fresh strategic investment from ABBA co-founder Björn Ulvaeus and MxM, the Swedish songwriting and production company founded by Max Martin.
Who signed
The new agreements cover four companies, according to MAIA Universe as reported by InterSpace Daily and Music Industry Weekly. BMG's deal covers both publishing and recordings. Kobalt Music's covers publishing. Warner Music Group and Cooking Vinyl signed for recordings. They join earlier partners Warner Chappell and Sony Music Publishing, and the company says its network now runs to more than 200 labels and 90 publishing partners.
Music Ally, which has followed the firm since it was one of the winners of Music Ally's 2024 SI:X startup contest, reported that the new deals will feed a pipeline of around 10,000 new tracks a week onto the platform.
The MCPS pilot
The UK's Mechanical Copyright Protection Society has appointed MAIA Universe as part of what it calls an enhanced operating model. A pilot program is scheduled to begin in early 2027, followed by a wider rollout to MCPS members later that year. Music Ally quoted the aim as a pilot to “streamline and drive sync licensing opportunities for its members.”
Swedish pop royalty on the cap table
Alongside Ulvaeus and MxM, the RMV team led by Ludvig Andersson, the producer of ABBA Voyage, has also invested, InterSpace reported. Music Ally describes RMV as the Stockholm studio founded by ABBA's Benny Andersson and his son Ludvig. The size of the new investment was not disclosed in the announcement.
MAIA Universe CEO David Wille said the developments reflect rising demand for sync licensing, and that the goal is to make the process faster and simpler for songwriters and artists.
Why it matters for artists
Sync is the licensing of music for film, TV, ads, games and online video, and a single song can need sign-off from both the label that owns the recording and the publishers that own the composition. That is why the split in these deals matters: BMG brought both sides, Kobalt brought songs, and Warner Music Group and Cooking Vinyl brought recordings. MAIA is betting that the more of both halves it holds in one place, the easier it becomes for creators to license a track without chasing every rights owner separately. With a collecting society pilot due in 2027, MAIA's next test is whether that convenience turns into real checks for the writers whose songs sit in its catalog.