Culture Can’t Be Consolidated: Why the Music Industry Must Reconsider How It Does Business (Guest Column)
Categoria: Musica
Amid a growing emphasis on data and market share, the business is forgetting the importance of ownership, cultural connection and investment in people.
Por Billboard | 19/10/2026
After more than three decades in the music industry, the passion that brought me into this business remains unchanged: my love of music, the thrill of discovering extraordinary talent and the privilege of anticipating and helping to shape culture. I have always believed that music is far greater than the business built around it. Music tells our stories. It reflects our communities, preserves our history, defines our identities and connects generations. It gives a voice to people whose experiences might otherwise go unheard. Related Universal Music Shakeup: Def Jam, Polydor, Interscope Execs to Exit as Company Completes 2024 Restructure Plan Diddy Moved From New Jersey Prison to Similar Facility in Pennsylvania Weezer to Receive Legend of Live Award at 2026 Billboard Live Music Summit That is why I find myself increasingly concerned about the direction of our industry. As companies consolidate, departments disappear, experienced executives lose their positions and artist development becomes less of a priority, I keep returning to one fundamental question: When did we begin treating culture as an expense rather than recognizing it as the very foundation of our business? I understand the realities of business. Profitability matters. Growth matters. Financial responsibility matters. But building something meaningful and lasting requires more than measuring its immediate monetary value. Some of the most influential artists in music history were not overnight successes. Their potential wasn’t always obvious in the numbers. Someone believed in them before the industry recognized their worth. Someone invested time, offered guidance, encouraged their individuality and gave them the freedom to make mistakes, evolve and discover their authentic voices. And when financial calculations become more important than the people responsible for creating the music, that is precisely what we stand to lose. You can consolidate companies. You can eliminate departments. You can combine resources, but you cannot consolidate culture. Culture is not created in a corporate boardroom. It is born in our neighborhoods, places of worship, schools, homes and communities. It emerges wherever young people are experimenting, imagining and creating something the world has yet to discover. Growing up in the Bay Area, I witnessed the power of independent thinking firsthand. Independence wasn’t a marketing strategy or a corporate philosophy. It was a way of life. We didn’t wait for permission to create our own sound or establish our own movement. We worked with what we had, believed in what we were building and trusted that the world would eventually recognize its significance. Related UMG’s MCA Label Trims Staff as Part of Broader Corporate Restructuring That spirit is not unique to the Bay Area. It exists in communities around the world. And more often than not, the people closest to those communities recognize the next cultural movement long before