Warner Music Group Makes TIME100 for Its AI Strategy
Warner Music Group made TIME's 100 Most Influential Companies list and the reason is how it's handling AI.
TIME's framing draws the obvious parallel: the early 2000s piracy crisis nearly broke the industry, and the labels that fought the internet instead of adapting lost. WMG is betting it won't make the same mistake twice. CEO Robert Kyncl has been saying this publicly for a while now, but the TIME recognition puts a stamp on it.
The strategy has three parts:
- WMG is lobbying for the NO FAKES Act, the bipartisan bill that would protect anyone's voice and likeness from unauthorized AI recreations.
- It's signed licensing deals with Suno, Udio, Klay, and Stability AI, requiring those tools to train on licensed music.
- Every deal WMG signs now includes a clause giving artists and songwriters the choice to opt in or out of having their name, image, likeness, or voice used in AI-generated songs.
The Suno and Udio deals are worth noting in context. Both started as lawsuits. WMG sued, settled, and turned both into licensing partnerships. That's a playbook: litigate to establish leverage, then deal. It's not unlike what the labels did with Spotify in the early streaming days.
Kyncl testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2024 in support of the NO FAKES Act, which was reintroduced in April 2025 with backing from all three majors and tech companies including Google, Amazon, and OpenAI. That kind of cross-industry alignment is unusual, and it suggests the legislation has more momentum than most music industry policy pushes do.
The TIME100 placement puts WMG in the company of Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Kyncl has been consistent that the goal isn't to resist AI but to be at the table early enough to shape how it works.
