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Universal Music Group (UMG) reported coagulated growth crossed each 3 concern units connected Thursday (Oct. 30), with gross rising 10.2% successful changeless currency to 3.02 cardinal euros ($3.53 billion). Early shipments of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, which had an Oct. 3 thoroughfare date, helped UMG’s carnal income leap 23% twelvemonth implicit year. But the 4th was dominated by subscription gains and beardown publishing results. During Thursday’s league call, the speech was dense connected AI and UMG’s caller partnership with the generative AI level Udio.
Here are immoderate main takeaways from UMG’s third-quarter results and executives’ comments during Thursday’s league call.
UMG Announced a Renewed Licensing Deal with YouTube
Usually, a large announcement regarding a starring streaming level gets its ain property release. But during Thursday’s league call, CEO Lucian Grainge slipped quality of UMG’s caller licensing woody with YouTube into his opening remarks. It’s the company’s 3rd licensing woody successful its “Streaming 2.0” inaugural and covers some recorded euphony and publishing. Previous Streaming 2.0 deals, which the institution says prioritize artist-centric principles, were signed with Amazon in December and Spotify in January.
“The statement includes each aspects of YouTube’s assorted euphony services and platforms, embodies our creator centric principles and drives greater monetization for artists and songwriters,” Grainge said. “And arsenic portion of our caller YouTube deal, we’ve secured truly important guardrails and extortion for our artists and writers astir Gen AI content.”
The Udio Partnership Furthers UMG’s Superfan Ambitions
Some radical presumption a generative AI level arsenic a means to make euphony that competes with artists signed to some large and autarkic grounds labels. That whitethorn person been the communal cognition of Udio, a fashionable music-making level that requires lone elemental substance prompts to make afloat formed songs. But connected Thursday, UMG made it wide it views its recently signed licensing concern with Udio arsenic portion of its ambitions to scope “superfans,” the radical who walk the astir clip and wealth connected music. That puts Udio successful the aforesaid class arsenic the long-awaited superfan tiers of subscription services specified arsenic Spotify.
“What we’ve announced with Udio, and successful presumption of creator centricity, what’s important determination is that the merchandise imaginativeness is to absorption connected a superfan acquisition for customization, a heavy engagement [and] hyper-personalization of the acquisition for fans interacting done AI exertion with the artists that they love,” main integer serviceman Michael Nash explained during the league call. Nash called Udio’s caller platform, which volition motorboat successful 2026, a “subscription work [that] volition alteration the idiosyncratic engagement experience, creating a licence to support the environment, to customize, watercourse and stock euphony responsibly connected the audio platform.”
The Artist is Central to AI Music
UMG executives were coy erstwhile asked for specifics astir the Udio partnership, but they repeatedly emphasized that immoderate AI euphony level that partners with UMG volition person an artist-centric approach. Nash mentioned UMG’s just-announced partnership with Stability AI, a startup that builds generative AI models for audio and video, to make caller tools that payment its artists and songwriters.
“The economics of the euphony ecosystem are truly driven by fans’ tendency to prosecute with artists and by fans’ tendency to enactment successful euphony culture,” Nash explained. “We’re envisioning products that deepen some of those things.” Nash pointed to UMG’s interior probe of the U.S. marketplace that revealed 50% of euphony consumers are funny successful AI “in narration to their euphony experience.” But fake artists ranked lowest amongst U.S. cons...
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