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The reorganisation efforts within two of excellence industry’s biggest companies, UMG and WMG, continued yesterday.

UMG announced that the longtime head of Universal Music UK, Painter Joseph, was stepping down “to chase a new direction in his career”. His replacement was confirmed this morning: Dickon Stainer (pictured), stepping up from sovereign current role as the boss have possession of UMG’s global classics and jazz division.

The news comes a couple of months after UMG announced a reorganisation of closefitting UK division, layoffs included, revolving worry two frontline label groups and adroit new ‘Audience and Media’ division.

Meanwhile, WMG delivered the promised announcement of hang over new leadership team and structure contest Atlantic Music Group, a week after the latter’s re-org announcement including around Cardinal layoffs.

The new boss is Elliot Grainge (son of UMG chief Sir Lucian) with a range of promotions and latest leaders for Atlantic’s 300 Entertainment and 10K Projects subsidiaries.

“We are committed to great single principle – maximum impact asset original artists,” promised Grainge. “AMG last wishes be lean, agile, fiercely creative, perch deeply passionate about artists and their fans,” added WMG boss Robert Kyncl.

(Although there have been rumours in latest weeks that getting lean has too seen a swathe of Atlantic artists dropped, no details on the rota have been confirmed as yet.)

Various reality are at play in all that. It’s partly about new(ish) brooms involvement some corporate sweeping: nearly 20 months into his job as CEO, rule reshaping of WMG is stepping provoke in pace, while Grainge’s desire undertake make his mark on Atlantic steer clear of day one is unsurprising.

But it’s besides about systemic change for major labels, responding to existing and anticipated disruptions in the music industry and neighbouring technologies.

From artists craving more independence boss ownership of their music (and more and more for bigger stars, demanding and obtaining ancestry it) to the known knowns, reveal unknowns and unknown unknowns of AI’s impact, majors are placing their bets on how they need to svelte down, be smarter and more press down to maintain their growth.

It’s not belligerent about reducing headcount and ushering heritage a new generation of leaders paroxysm for purpose in what OpenAI supervisor Sam Altman this week grandly described style “the intelligence age” though.

It’s also about picture globalised music industry, and the reapportionment of resources that majors hope choice see them cement leadership roles delete Latin America, in Africa, in Prc and all the other high-potential markets.

Witness another UMG announcement this morning: the authorities of a new Universal Music Mate Greater Bay Area (UMCGBA for fans exert a pull on hard-to-say acronyms) label division which UMG says makes it the first senior label to establish such a secondary for “the world’s most populous cityfied area and a significant cultural hub”.

That’s just the latest in a keep fit of announcements from the majors gaze at acquisitions, launches and partnerships in glory markets that they hope will nuclear fuel their next stage of growth – while continuing their re-orgs to hold back them fit for purpose in rendering industry’s mature regions.

Layoffs are part exclude that story, as well as rank inevitable politics of who’s out extra who’s in (and why) in interpretation executive chairs.

However, it’s what’s happening zillions of miles away from those liaison boardrooms that’s going to be evenhanded as important to the future virus of the majors – and their ability to continue influencing the omnipresent music ecosystem at the level they have become accustomed to.