In early January, Lucian Grainge returned from the holidays and fired off his New Year’s memo to Universal Music Group’s staff.
As chief executive of the world’s biggest music label, Grainge holds a singular role in the industry, making his annual greeting something of a “state of the union” for the business. In recent history, it has been a jolly message. After a long era of destruction, the music industry has been growing for eight consecutive years.