Universal Music Group, the home of artists from Billie Eilish, Lana Del Ray and Elton John to Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Aerosmith, has appointed its first AI chief to help lead the development and application of new technology across the music giant’s global operations.
Òscar Celma joins from Conde Nast, where he was senior VP of AI/ML and data analytics, to take up the role of senior vice president of applied AI and machine learning, effective immediately. Prior to that he was director of engineering and machine learning at Spotify and VP of data science and ML at Pandora.
Earlier in his career, he was a senior research scientist at Gracenote and co-founder and chief innovation officer of Barcelona-based BMAT Music Innovators.
An expert in AI, machine learning and music recommendation, Celma is said to have helped shape how people discover and experience music.
At Spotify, he helped lead the development of AI-powered personalised listening experiences including AI DJ, Jam and Daylist, as well as personalisation and discovery products used by hundreds of millions of listeners worldwide.
He will report to Hannah Poferl, UMG’s chief data officer, who said: “Òscar brings a unique blend of quantitative and product experience, deep expertise in AI, and a love of music. He’s built teams that have delivered and knows how to turn data at scale into useful insights. With the breadth and depth of UMG’s data, there’s enormous potential for him to help our teams do more for our artists.”
Celma added: “I’ve spent much of my career exploring how technology can serve artists, songwriters and music fans. It’s an exciting time to join Universal Music Group, given its industry leadership in using AI to expand what’s creatively and commercially possible. I look forward to working with Hannah and leaders across UMG to advance our AI and machine learning capabilities to support human artistry.”
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