Universal Music Group appoints Òscar Celma to lead applied AI work

Universal Music Group has appointed Òscar Celma as senior vice president for Applied AI and Machine Learning, effective immediately. He will help lead the development and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning across the company’s global operations. Celma will report to Hannah Poferl, UMG’s chief data officer, and support the company’s labels, divisions and businesses. In announcing the appointment, UMG said his experience combines quantitative and product work with AI expertise and music knowledge. Poferl said Celma “knows how to turn data at scale into useful insights.” Celma said he had spent much of his career exploring how technology could serve artists, songwriters and music fans, and said he would work to “support human artistry.” Celma most recently led Machine Learning and Product Analytics at Condé Nast. Previously, he was a director of engineering at Spotify, leading teams responsible for new listening experiences, including AI DJ, Jam and Daylist. The Spotify discovery and personalization products he helped lead are used by hundreds of millions of listeners worldwide. Before Spotify, Celma spent seven years in senior data-science leadership positions at Pandora and SiriusXM, focused on machine learning, music discovery and recommendations. His earlier roles include senior research scientist at Gracenote and co-founder and chief innovation officer of Barcelona-based BMAT Music Innovators. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Digital Communication from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and wrote the Springer-published book “Music Recommendation and Discovery.” In January, the company announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to explore responsible AI applications for music discovery, creation and engagement, using NVIDIA infrastructure and UMG’s catalog of millions of tracks. The partners said they would also pursue approaches intended to protect artists’ work and ensure attribution of music-based content. UMG chair and chief executive Sir Lucian Grainge has said AI should augment rather than replace “the human heart of music.”