Universal Music Group (UMG) announced on September 28, 2026, the immediate appointment of Òscar Celma as Senior Vice President, Applied AI and Machine Learning. This strategic move signals UMG's intensified focus on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance music discovery, personalization, and overall fan engagement, while reinforcing its commitment to supporting human artistry. Celma, a recognized expert in AI, machine learning, and music recommendation with over two decades of experience, will report to UMG's Chief Data Officer, Hannah Poferl, and will lead the development and application of AI across UMG's global operations. His appointment is poised to shape how UMG expands creative and commercial opportunities for its artists and creates new experiences for fans.

Celma's Spotify Background: A Blueprint for Discovery and Personalization

Òscar Celma brings a distinguished background in AI, music discovery, and personalization, most notably from his tenure at Spotify. There, he helped lead the development of AI-powered personalized listening experiences that have significantly influenced how millions of users discover and interact with music. His specific contributions include the creation of features such as AI DJ, Jam, and Daylist. These innovations applied machine learning to generate dynamic, personalized audio streams, facilitate collaborative listening, and curate daily playlists tailored to individual tastes, thereby enhancing user engagement and music exploration. Celma's career, spanning roles at Spotify, Pandora/SiriusXM, and Condé Nast, has consistently focused on the practical application of machine learning to music recommendation, personalization, and large-scale data analysis. His academic credentials, including a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Digital Communication from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, further solidify his expertise in this domain. This extensive background directly informs UMG's strategic direction, indicating a clear intent to harness AI for more sophisticated and tailored fan experiences, as well as to improve internal capabilities and artist services.

UMG's Broader AI Strategy: Supporting Human Artistry and Innovation

Celma's appointment is a key component of UMG's broader, evolving AI strategy, which has increasingly emphasized technology and data to develop artists, find audiences, support commercialization, and create new fan experiences. UMG has demonstrated a multi-faceted approach to AI integration through several prior initiatives. The company has invested in AI infrastructure, including training models on NVIDIA's platform, and has entered into a licensing agreement with ElevenLabs for a music creation platform. Additionally, UMG has invested in Stability AI, indicating its engagement with generative AI technologies. Crucially, UMG has consistently positioned its AI strategy around supporting artists and songwriters, aiming to expand creative and commercial possibilities rather than replacing human artistry. This stance directly addresses growing industry concerns regarding artist rights, copyright, attribution, and the unauthorized use of creative works in the age of generative AI. Celma's career focus on applied machine learning for music discovery and personalization, rather than solely on generative content creation, aligns seamlessly with UMG's philosophy of using AI to augment, not diminish, human creativity. This approach aims to navigate the complex ethical landscape of AI in music while fostering innovation.