EXCLUSIVE: Universal Music Group’s (UMG) TV and movie studio has laid off several staff.

MD Kelly Sweeney, along with a number of senior staff, have exited London-based Mercury Studios, which counts recent projects including One to One: John & Yoko, American Symphony and Prince – Sign O’ the Times.

A Mercury Studios spokeswoman told us “we remain fully committed to Mercury Studios with numerous projects actively underway and a series of exciting announcements coming very soon.”

Those projects, we are told, include several with globally-renowned stars.

Mercury Studios, which is based in King’s Cross, has been making music docs and live concert recordings since launch in 2020, at which point it absorbed Eagle Rock Entertainment (ERE) and was led by former BBC Children’s boss Alice Webb, who exited late last year. At time of launch, UMG said Mercury would be a “multi-faceted content studio established to develop, produce, and invest in innovative, music-based storytelling,” tapping into an ERE library that includes nearly 2,000 hours of programming and more than 800 titles of original docs.

UMG has shrunk Mercury Studios at a time of contraction in the documentary industry and wider TV production sector, and layoffs have become relatively commonplace.

UMG is one of the biggest record companies in the world, with a roster including Taylor Swift, Drake and Billie Eilish.