Universal Music Group has named Òscar Celma Senior Vice President, Applied AI and Machine Learning, effective from Monday, September 28. He reports to chief data officer Hannah Poferl and will lead the development and use of AI and machine learning across UMG's labels, divisions and businesses worldwide.
At Spotify, where he was a director of engineering, Celma helped lead listening features including AI DJ, Jam and Daylist. Spotify's AI DJ launched in beta in February 2023, pairing its personalisation with generative AI from OpenAI and voice technology from its Sonantic acquisition, and UMG says his work there reached hundreds of millions of listeners. He most recently ran machine learning and product analytics at Condé Nast, and before Spotify spent seven years in data science leadership at Pandora and SiriusXM. He was earlier a senior research scientist at Gracenote, co-founded Barcelona's BMAT Music Innovators, holds a PhD from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and wrote a 2010 book on music recommendation.
Poferl praised his mix of quantitative and product skills and said UMG's data offers plenty of scope to help artists. Celma said he joins a company leading in the use of AI and wants to support human artistry. Poferl herself came to UMG in January from The New York Times, where she had been chief data officer since 2021, and reports to chief operating officer Boyd Muir, with a brief to use data and AI for UMG's superfan strategy.
MBW sets the hire against UMG's run of AI deals: settling with Udio in October 2025 and agreeing a licensed platform, a January collaboration with NVIDIA on its Music Flamingo model, a September 10 licence with ElevenLabs for a fan music-making platform, and a stake in Stability AI alongside Sony and Warner.
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