In his now traditional new year missive to Universal Music staffers, boss Lucian Grainge has proclaimed UMG “the most successful company in the history of the music industry”.
The 2024 memo, which is a triumphantly Gordon Gekko-esque paean to his own genius, exhaustively lists the ways in which his company managed to dominate the music business in 2023, subjugating all those lesser companies that stood in the way of his “clear vision” of how to address the “critically important issues” in the industry. The message: when Lucian Grainge says “jump” merely moderately successful companies in the music industry should scurry to comply.
One aspect of that vision was, of course, Grainge’s plan - laid out in 2023’s memo - to tear up the current streaming model in favour of his new ‘artist-centric model’. That plan, he notes, led to “the world’s largest music platform” joining forces with “the most successful company in the history of music” to enforce a new model. And this was in “just a matter of months”. Cigars all round! Just don’t mention unfair competition.
And on that front there’s still more to come… More platforms will deliver more change to deliver more triumph - because, says Grainge “it’s the right thing to do both for artists and for the wider music ecosystem”.
The “impact will be profound”, reckons Grainge. Music will be “healthier” and the music ecosystem will be “more vibrant” and every artist - “major, indie or DIY” will be rewarded. Whether indie and DIY artists who are being demoted or de-monetised by streaming platforms so that more money can go to the major labels will feel quite as rewarded as Universal and its shareholders is a debate for another day.
Grainge, unsurprisingly, doesn’t acknowledge those criticisms, instead insisting that revising the streaming model entirely to suit the interests of Universal and the other majors is also the “right thing to do both for artists and for the wider music ecosystem”, adding: “In the coming months, I believe you will see more platforms adopting these principles”.
“In the same way”, says Grainge, Universal has been leading the wayward and less successful industry down the path of AI righteousness, slaying dragons, saving maidens and confronting challenges and opportunities - often before breakfast.
In a brusque dismissal of all those less successful people who dare stand in the way of his clear vision, Grainge says that “early on in 2023, many ‘experts’ viewed AI as a looming threat”. Experts! Pfft! What would they know? Not as much as Universal! Universal “rejected” that “short-sighted appraisal” - as, of course, the most successful company in the history of the music industry had done many times before “with so many other proclamations of doom”.
2023 also saw the most successful company in the history of the music industry shuffling up against the most successful company in the history of… well, at one point the world, jumping into bed with Alphabet-owned YouTube in a “groundbreaking private-sector partnership” that - “in a sharp break with the past” - would give “artists a seat at the table… helping to shape AI products’ development”.
Great news for artists! Or, at least, Universal-signed artists. All you artists signed to less successful companies may want to consider what you’re doing with your lives.
Hidden among the chest beating and hooting that dominates the memo there are, however, a few interesting nuggets. One - admittedly somewhat upstaged by Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl getting his own memo out a day earlier - is confirmation that Universal, like Warner, will be focusing on super-serving superfans.
A priority in 2024, Grainge writes, is “to grow the pie for all artists by strengthening the artist-fan relationship through superfan experiences and products”, And, to that end, he adds, “we are already in advanced discussions with our platform partners” regarding such experiences and products, “and will have more to announce in the coming months”.
Grainge also speaks about how he is “especially passionate” about the “intersection of music and health”, saying that he has “long wanted” for this to be “more than a handful of subjective observations and anecdotes”. To this end, Universal will be “leading the industry in music and health” by “pioneering a new category that we call ‘prescription music’”. This, he says, is “cost-effective, non-invasive and drives truly beneficial results” and will become “an increasingly important component of our strategy”.
The world’s most successful company in the history of music has also been making “efforts to move the industry on issues concerning sustainability and the environment” hosting “the first music industry sustainability summits in LA, London and New York”.
These summits were, of course, different to events previously held by groups like Music Declares Emergency - because they “brought together industry leaders and innovators” - who presumably all walked or cycled to the summit, rather than getting a cab or hopping on a plane.
Back to the core business, and further expansion is on the cards for 2024. Universal will “continue to grow its presence around the world” by gobbling up “local labels, catalogues and artist services businesses” flexing the playbook established in “more established music markets”. The most successful company in the history of music can always be more successful.
“Standing still is never an option”, he ends. “Our vision of the future is filled with possibilities!”
