Wendell Grainge Case Study

1. The leader I have chosen to speak about is Lucian Grainge from Universal Music Group. He joined Universal Music Group in 1986 and eventually became the CEO and Chairman. He is one of the industry’s top dogs and has accomplished a lot throughout his career. I choose him because currently I would like to work in the A&R department at Universal Music Group, so it would be beneficial for me to learn about the CEO.
2. Lucian Grainge has achieved a lot while working for Universal Music Group. He has worked with many talented artists that include Drake, Rihanna, The Rolling Stones, and many others. Drake and Rihanna are both the two most popular streaming artists. He also made Universal Music Group the first company to have nine of the top ten bestselling albums and today they currently have four of the top ten bestselling albums. Power 100 ranked him last year at number 1 and this year he is ranked number two. market. Most of all his greatest achievement was Universal Music Group acquiring EMI. He helped Universal Music Business grow and now the company owns about 35% of the
3. When it comes to failures, no one is perfect and everyone experiences failures throughout life. Lucian Grainge is no exception, as he too has experienced failures throughout his life. One example of this was letting the artist Frank Ocean leave Universal Music Group.
Not only did Universal Music Group loss a valuable artist, but he had success after leaving them. He dropped an album after he left called Blonde, which was number one in seven different countries.
4. I have learned a lot from reading about Lucian Grainge achievements and failures. For instance, it is sometimes important to risk a bit to help the company grow in size. If the company is growing then that will help increase the revenue because there will be more ways to generate cash. Lucian did that by acquiring EMI, which lead to an increase in Universal Music Groups revenue over the next couple of years.
5.
After watching the assigned video on Leadership qualities and action, I have identified a few characteristics about Lucian Grainge, which made him a great leader. One thing the video talked about was that good leaders would follow through on what they said and kept a consistent clear understand on what was important to them. Lucian Grainge showed these quality’s when acquiring EMI. It was important to him that Universal Music Group acquired EMI and even though no one believed that this deal would happen, Lucian found a way and was able to acquire EMI for Universal Music Group, helping them become one of the top music
labels.
6. When it comes to the music, media, and entertainment industry, fans and consumers have a different outlook on certain things compared to leaders in the industry. For instance, fans and consumers in the music industry care about the amount of content an artist’s puts out, as well as if the artist stays true to himself and fans. Leaders in the music industry have a different way at looking at it. They are more concerned about the quality of the content, as well as how do increase an artist’s fanbase. Up and coming artist fans and consumers still want the same thing, but the leaders in the industry are more concerned about getting a lot of exposure for their artists. The more exposure they get the bigger their name will be, which will lead to more money being made.