Lucian Grainge, the chairman of UMG, has helped record labels rake in billions of dollars from streaming. Can he do the same with generative artificial intelligence? ![A techno portrait of Lucian Grainge.]()
Lucian Graingehas been called “a killer shark” and “the smartest motherfucker in the music business.” One colleague notes that he “talks in riddles,” but Bono, the lead singer of U2, argues the opposite: “Lucian doesn’t do varnish. If you’re looking for varnish from Lucian, you’d better be drinking it. He is exactly as he appears.” As the head of Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world, Grainge is perhaps more responsible than anyone else for the industry’s economic resurgence, bringing in outsized investments and harnessing the power of streaming. But, asJohn Seabrook explores in a fascinating piece from this week’s issue, the rise of A.I. may represent both the greatest threat and the greatest opportunity that the business has ever faced. How will Grainge and others take advantage of the technology, and who stands to benefit? “I haven’t spent forty-five years in the industry just to have it be a free-for-all where anything goes,” Grainge says. “Not going to happen while I’m still here!” SupportThe New Yorker’saward-winning journalism.Subscribe today » | 
