Universal Music Chief Lucian Grainge Praises Company’s Progress on AI, Artist-Centric Streaming Model in New Year’s Memo

variety.com:

Thania Garcia Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge issued his annual memo to staff for 2024 on Tuesday, making note of the music company’s global and innovative advances throughout the last year.

Grainge heralded UMG’s financial and “competitive” performance metrics, along with the company’s efficiency in applying remodeled, “artist-centric” royalty models.

About the company’s partnership with streaming platforms, including Deezer, Grainge said he anticipates more platforms will be adopting their approach to compensate artists and disincentivize fraud for a “more equitable and more vibrant music ecosystem that rewards all artists—be they major, indie or DIY—at all stages of their careers.” He similarly lauded the company’s launch of its Responsible AI initiative this year which set the first layer of regulation for artificial intelligence in music. “In the U.S., for example we are lobbying for legislation that would establish a federal right of publicity to harmonize the protections of artists’ image, likeness and voice from AI deepfakes,” Grainge writes.

Aside from requesting aid from the United States Congress in July to combat copyright infringement by people using and developing new AI technology, UMG also launched private-sector partnerships with AI technology companies and a partnership with YouTube to allow UMG artists to leverage AI tools.