Atlantic Music Group CEO Elliot Grainge is contemplating the current and future uses of artificial intelligence in the music industry. And while the young executive believes today’s audiences have a desire to connect with human artists, he’s unsure how future generations will interact with the technology.
“Within music, how will Gen Alpha and Gen Beta, how will their relationship with art and artists be different to these generations that have grown up understanding the importance of artistic integrity and real energy and real people making real music in their art form?” Grainge asked the audience at the 2026 Trapital Summit in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Sept. 10).
When asked about his thoughts on AI during a fireside chat with Trapital founder Dan Runcie, Grainge said that short-term concerns revolve around how artists and producers can use the tool to improve their craft. The “deeper question of AI agents” using artists’ content to train is another conversation, he added. The long-term questions, he’s still pondering.
“What will [future generations’] relationship be like as they become accustomed to artificial, maybe even augmented reality?” the executive said in his first public conversation since taking over the Atlantic CEO role in August 2024, marking a major shakeup for the renowned music group. “Will they be able to connect with Taylor [Swift] or Bruno Mars in the same way our generations do? Or will they connect the same way to an AI bot? That’s where my brain goes.”
Grainge compared reactions to the new technology to the way many people questioned how the internet would be used in the 1990s. The executive, who admitted that he doesn’t even use Google anymore and instead asks ChatGPT for answers, told the Trapital audience that he has yet to see a “strong listening community fall in love and break a synthetic artist,” adding that many synthetic artists have felt like gimmicks to music fans of his generation or older.
The 31-year-old executive — the son of Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge — succeeded longtime Atlantic leader Julie Greenwald in the CEO role and brought his independent label 10K Projects, which Warner Music Group had previously acquired a 51% stake in, under the Atlantic umbrella. When asked if he was surprised by the reaction to his elevation amid the transition, Grainge showed deference to the leaders who came before him.
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Referring to Greenwald and former Warner Music Group CEO of recorded music Max Lousada, who also exited during the shakeup, Grainge said, “They are brilliant, brilliant executives and they’ve done some incredible things. They are going to continue doing other incredible things. But I was not surprised about the fanfare or the surprise around the announcement.”
Grainge added: “I was very excited to start and very excited to lead, with my team, the most historic, greatest…I think Atlantic is the best record label of all time, the most historic label.”
Runcie also asked Grainge how he felt about handing over the reins to 10K, which he launched in 2016.
“When you’re selling a company, it’s your baby,” Grainge said. “So, finding the right home for it was…there’s two parts of my brain. There’s the emotional side of ‘I want this thing to be taken care of.’ I’m very fortunate because we moved into the Atlantic Group, so it is still within our jurisdiction. And then it has to make sense for the artists.”
“We would not have exited or partially exited that company if we didn’t know that the parent company was a true, great custodian of the artist and the art, which is Warner Music Group,” Grainge continued. “And that we could also have a say in the day-to-day operations of the company, which we’ve been fortunate to keep.”
