Universal Music Group CEO & chairman Sir Lucian Grainge has been honoured with the Northeastern University Global Entrepreneur Award.
At Northeastern University’s annual Global Leadership Summit, held this year at BAFTA in Central London, Sir Lucian was the inaugural recipient of the award.
The Summit, now in its seventh year, saw talks from global leaders such as Dame Emma Walmsley (former-CEO GSK), Michael Miebach (CEO, Mastercard), Christopher Viehbacher (CEO, Biogen), and Hemant Taneja (CEO, Global Catalyst).
The annual event convenes a diverse group of 300 alumni, students, trustees and partners. Previous summits were held in Paris, Shanghai, Mumbai, Accra, Singapore, Miami, and now London.
During a fireside chat with Northeastern president Joseph Aoun discussing innovation, creativity, and the future of human expression, longtime UMG leader Sir Lucian reflected on his experience from four decades at the forefront of music and entertainment.
He talked about his experiences stewarding talent and leading the music business through seismic transformation, including how he sees the music industry’s next evolution in AI.
"I think AI is a brilliant stress tester for people's imagination and people's creativity,” said Sir Lucian. “If you're a writer and you just can't finish a song – you can't get that middle eight, you can't get the chorus, the lyrics don't work – I think that technology can help you accelerate being the best of yourself on your best day.”
He added that Responsible AI is about “using the technology for artistic brilliance”, in the same way that sampling made an enormous difference to the creative process.
“You wouldn’t have acts like Soft Cell or Human League, or Depeche Mode, without that sampling technology for instance," he said.
Sir Lucian’s appearance followed the UMG board’s rejection of a takeover bid by Pershing Square Holdings. Universal has since been buying stock from Pershing Square, which is disposing of its existing holding in UMG.
