The Universal – has music’s AI future finally been sold? UMG CEO sets out his AI vision

Since the birth of popular music, artists have inspired a sliding scale of fandom: casual listeners, people who love a particular song but can take or leave the rest, plus the hard core of fans and 'superfans', those devotees of an act or genre, who will see the shows, grab albums in every format, and buy the t-shirt from the global merch stand.

Since the 1990s, the Web has certainly put bands in touch with their fans in a way that stadium shows can’t rival, but local gigs can. Meanwhile, the original Napster arguably proved the business model of digital downloads, despite labels’ (and musicians’) opposition at the time.

But that was thirty years ago. Today, 'superfan' opportunities are rapidly evolving and are “super-charged by AI”. That’s the bold claim of Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of one of music’s remaining majors: the Universal Music Group ...