No doubt TikTok was also on the mind of Lucian Grainge when he wrote to Universal Music Group staffers in his annual New Year’s letter - a document pored over and dissected by much of the industry - of the need for a new business model to better serve music creators and the companies that support them. Established players left CEO positions - Motown’s Ethiopia Habtemariam Universal Nashville and Warner Nashville chieftains Mike Dungan and John Esposito, respectively Warner Music Group’s Stephen Cooper was succeeded by former YouTube chief business officer Robert Kyncl, whose global perspective and tech-centric focus seem to make him well suited to navigate a business grappling with the ever-growing power of TikTok. That’s a condition most of us in the industry understand well: the push and pull of business as usual alongside the challenges of transformation.Ĭhange was afoot. As the disruption of the pandemic began to ease last year - with artists returning to the road in force and much needed revenue beginning to flow again - music executives began to talk about the new normal in a business that exceeded $60 billion in 2022, according to Billboard’s estimate of total revenue generated by recorded music, publishing and concert grosses.

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