Universal Music Greater China (UMGC), part of Universal Music Group, has acquired the recorded rights to the Carrier Creative catalog, a collection of 1980s and 1990s Mandopop that includes recordings by the group Little Tigers and singer-songwriter Johnny Chiang. The deal was announced on June 8, 2026, at UMGC's first China Summit in Beijing. Financial terms were not disclosed.
What changes hands
UMGC takes ownership of the master recordings only; publishing rights are not part of the announced deal. The catalog holds more than 600 recordings across 66 albums. The seller is Carrier Creative, founded by Shirley Miao, who has managed the catalog for nearly four decades. The acquisition builds on earlier work: in 2025 UMGC teamed up with Taiwan-based Skyhigh Entertainment, led by Mark Liu, to restore, remaster and relaunch these recordings on streaming services worldwide. UMGC chairman and CEO Timothy Xu said the company aims to protect the legacy of the catalog while finding new uses for it.
The catalog
- Little Tigers: the group at the heart of the catalog, alongside Johnny Chiang.
- Johnny Chiang: singer-songwriter; together with Little Tigers he accounts for 24 of the releases in the catalog.
- Nicky Wu and Alec Su: also represented with their own recordings.
- You Huan Pai Dui, Hong Hai Er and Girl Group: other acts from the same golden era.
Why it matters
The deal shows how a buyer can first work a catalog under a partnership (restoration, remastering, digital relaunch) and then move to full ownership once the value is proven. It is part of a wider push by UMGC in the Chinese-language market, which also includes an exclusive global recording and publishing agreement with Liu Huan and a multi-area deal with Jason Zhang.
For owners of older Asian catalogs, the lesson is clear: recordings that were never properly digitized or remastered can gain significant value once they are relaunched for streaming. Nostalgia repertoire from the Mandopop golden era is now attracting strategic interest from the majors, and sellers with clean, well-documented master rights are best placed to benefit.