Universal Music Group is expanding its work in the mental health and wellbeing spaces through new partnerships with Amber Health and Project Healthy Minds.
Through a combination of partnerships and programs, announced today (May 13) by the music giant, UMG intends to improve access to care within its creative community.
Related
By partnering with Amber Health, UMG’s artists and songwriters in North America will have 24/7 access to a range of mental health services, including clinical expertise, including crisis response, care planning, and specialized referrals. Also, UMG will work with the organization to provide additional behavioral health support to the music major’s employees in the United States and Canada, which will include access to expanded mental health support and resources.
Additionally, UMG signs up as a founding member of Project Healthy Minds’ workforce mental health research initiative, becoming the first music company to do so. Through that alliance, UMG cements its commitment to the development of a standardized framework to measure workforce mental health and its correlation with organizational performance, a statement reads. Through a collaboration with academic partners, including Harvard Business School, this project is meant to establish data-driven benchmarks and inform best practices across industries.
“Through our strategic partnerships with organizations like Amber Health and Project Healthy Minds — and our continued investment in groundbreaking programs like Music Health Alliance’s Music Industry Mental Health Fund,” says Susan Mazo, UMG’s chief impact officer, in a statement, “we are working to redesign how our industry supports wellbeing. Our focus is on expanding access to care, reducing stigma, and ensuring that our artists and songwriters, employees, and the broader music community have the resources they need to thrive.”
The partnership, notes Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer, co-founders at Amber Health, represents “a real shift in how labels support their artists. Together with UMG’s corporate and label leadership, we’re embedding quick access to specialized mental health care directly into the labels’ infrastructure, making it proactive rather than an afterthought. We couldn’t be prouder of this work, or the message it sends to the rest of the music industry.”
Adds Phil Schermer, founder and CEO, Project Healthy Minds: “Music has always been a vehicle for mental health conversations and now Universal Music Group is bringing that same honesty inside its own walls. When a company of UMG’s reach commits to this, the whole industry pays attention.”
UMG turned talk into action in February 2025, by partnering with Nashville-based non-profit Music Health Alliance on the Music Industry Mental Health Fund, which provides comprehensive, high-quality outpatient mental health resources for music industry professionals across the United States. That alliance builds upon the healthcare access program launched by UMG and MHA in April 2021.
Also last year, UMG and Apple Music globally launched Sound Therapy, a wellness collection designed to help listeners reach for clearer focus, deeper relaxation, and better sleep.
Thanks to isolation, travel, late nights and other factors, creatives and the industry professionals that support them are often at the frontline when it comes to mental health issues. The struggles are real. A study by Swedish digital distribution platform Record Union, published in 2019, prior to the pandemic, found that upwards of 73 percent of independent music makers reported the symptoms of mental illness. Separately, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey 2024, released by Australia’s music industry charity Support Act, found that 53.5% of Australian music and creative workers face high or very high psychological distress, with north of 68% citing high cost of living as a major issue.
UMG continues to work with existing longstanding partners including Mental Health Coalition (MHC) to highlight the resources and research-backed ways that music can support mental health.