Universal Music Group, Home Of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Starts Layoffs – Reports

Bruce Haring

March 1, 2024 at 9:15 p.m.·1 min read

UPDATE: As expected, layoffs commenced today at Universal Music Group, which includes Interscope, Republic, Capitol, Def Jam and Island, as well as catalog division Universal Music Enterprises and UMG corporate.

The layoffs started after Wednesday’s fourth quarter earnings call, where CEO Lucian Grainge talked of a “strategic organizational redesign.”

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EARLIER: Universal Music Group is planning what may become hundreds of job cuts to its recorded music division in its first quarter, according to numerous reports.

A company spokesperson confirmed the layoffs on Friday, but did not say how many were anticipated. The company has more than 11,000 employees worldwide.

If the layoffs occur, UMG would join a growing list of media and tech companies that have cut overhead. Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, NBCUniversal, Google and others have already trimmed.

A UMG spokesperson told Music Business Weekly: “We continue to position UMG to accelerate its leadership in music’s most promising growth areas and drive its transformation to capitalize on them.

Over the past several years, we have been investing in future growth—building our ecommerce and D2C operations, expanding geographically and leveraging new technologies. While we maintain our industry-leading investments in A&R and artist development, we are creating efficiencies in other areas of the business so we can remain nimble and responsive to the dynamic market while realizing the benefits of our scale.”

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