Artists, Audiences and Advertisers to Benefit from UPROXX’s Expanded Resources and Reach
Warner Music Group (WMG) today announced the acquisition of UPROXX – the youth culture and video production powerhouse. Founded in 2008, UPROXX is one of the most influential media brands for youth culture, reaching more than 40 million people across the web, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube.
UPROXX will continue to be run by current CEO and Chief Creative Benjamin Blank and Co-Founder and Publisher Jarret Myer. Its editorial and studio operations will function as stand-alone entities with journalistic and creative independence, including working with any and all artists, athletes, and innovators making their mark in culture.
“UPROXX was founded with the mission to deliver the best daily content and programming that shapes the lives of youth culture and the world we are inheriting,” said UPROXX CEO Benjamin Blank. “Over the past years, we’ve won the trust of our audience, along with numerous industry accolades, because of our understanding of culture, entertainment, and marketing – an approach that’s rooted in authenticity and transparency. With Warner Music Group, we just doubled down on that formula and are now able to deliver more to our audience and partners with even more access and at much bigger scale.”
The combined creative expertise and worldwide reach of UPROXX and WMG will create engaging new experiences for young consumers, global promotional possibilities for brands, and innovative marketing opportunities for artists. The deal will also enable UPROXX to build on its wide range of successful partnerships in music, which has resulted in programming featuring an array of artists such as Miguel, Rick Ross, Vince Staples, and Charlie Puth.
“In the always-on, attention economy, it’s not enough to simply deliver amazing music to the world. We aim to tell engaging and original stories that influence culture,” said Max Lousada, CEO of Global Recorded Music, WMG. “UPROXX brings together pioneering personalities and credible brands in ways that move huge audiences to talk, listen and share. It’ll be exciting to collaborate with Jarret again, along with Ben and their team, who will thrive in the creative and entrepreneurial environment we’re building. They’ll be great partners as we redefine what it means to be a dynamic, future-focused music company.”
“It’s a true pleasure to be once again working with Max, going back to our time running Rawkus Records together, where we championed unique talent, broke marketing rules, and built a loyal audience,” said Jarret Myer, UPROXX Co-Founder. “UPROXX was founded on those same core principles — with the goal of going beyond music and covering all aspects of what shapes our culture today and tomorrow. Over the past decade we’ve become trusted by our loyal audience and advertising partners in helping to turn brands into cultural moments. With this acquisition, we grow our significance as a beacon for youth culture and entertainment.”
This acquisition follows other consumer-facing initiatives aimed at diversifying WMG’s business, including the company’s purchase of award-winning live music platform Songkick last year and its UK launch of The Firepit, a creative content division, innovation center, and state-of-the-art multimedia/production studio. The UPROXX acquisition will help power these initiatives with a world-class U.S. production facility and fully staffed creative services and sales teams.
For UPROXX, the acquisition comes on the heels of a string of major content wins, including multiple CLIO Awards, a pair of original series for Snapchat (“Brawler” and “F That With Vince Staples”), a successful season of “The CORE” for AMC’s Shudder, and an Emmy-nomination for “Us Against The World,” an original docu-series.
UPROXX was represented by Raine in this transaction.
