--- title: Warner Music Group: 2026 TIME100 Most Influential Companies description: Find out why Warner Music Group was selected for TIME‘s list of the most influential companies of 2026. canonical: https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/warner-music-group/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-04-30T14:05:35.543Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-12T07:03:04.065Z article:section: Business og:title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2026: Warner Music Group og:description: Find out why Warner Music Group is on the list og:url: https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/warner-music-group/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c61a8a4de0c18c5/69f250d7063f5d6c5ccb317c/time100-companies-2026-warner-music-group-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9%2Coffset-x100.00%2Coffset-y5.17 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2026: Warner Music Group og:type: article twitter:card: summary twitter:title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2026: Warner Music Group twitter:description: Find out why Warner Music Group is on the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c61a8a4de0c18c5/69f250d7063f5d6c5ccb317c/time100-companies-2026-warner-music-group-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9%2Coffset-x100.00%2Coffset-y5.17 --- Apr 30, 2026 # Warner Music Group Protecting artists in the AI era by [Rachel Brodsky](https://time.com/author/rachel-brodsky/) ## Rachel Brodsky Brodsky is a contributor for TIME.  Robert Kyncl at the Warner Music Group Grammy Awards Party on January 29, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Robert Kyncl at the Warner Music Group Grammy Awards Party on January 29, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.Dan Steinberg—Billboard/Getty Images At the turn of the millennium, the music industry reckoned with vast technological change, as listeners began illegally downloading the records they once visited stores to purchase. A similar threat looms today around generative AI, which many artists and industry workers worry will devalue the output of human-made music, among other copyright concerns. Warner Music Group—which owns a robust portfolio of labels, including Atlantic, Parlophone, and Warner Records, plus the publishing arm Warner Chappell Music—aims to learn from the past. Instead of boycotting the new tech, CEO Robert Kyncl says WMG is on a mission to shape it. “AI is a fast-growing phenomenon,” Kyncl says. “It's really important that companies like us stand up for artists and songwriters—do it early, and do it together with AI companies.” To that end, WMG is taking a three-pronged approach: lobbying for the [NO FAKES Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1367), a bipartisan U.S. federal bill which would protect the voice and likeness of all individuals from unauthorized, computer-generated re-creations; [forging partnerships](https://www.wmg.com/news/warner-music-group-and-suno-forge-groundbreaking-partnership) with leading AI music companies, including Suno, Udio, and Klay, to ensure that AI tools are trained on licensed music; and installing [non-negotiable clauses](https://www.wmg.com/news/growing-the-value-of-music-for-artists-and-songwriters) in each deal, including that artists and songwriters will have a choice to opt in or out of any use of their name, image, likeness, or voice in AI-generated songs. (On the marketing side, WMG is also using AI to boost artist discovery and fan engagement.) “You have to have to care about the industry as a whole,” Kyncl says. “That's why we do it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/warner-music-group/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/warner-music-group/"},"headline":"Warner Music Group","datePublished":"2026-04-30T14:05:35.543Z","dateModified":"2026-05-12T07:03:04.065Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/warner-music-group/","keywords":["TIME100 Companies","franchise","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c61a8a4de0c18c5/69f250d7063f5d6c5ccb317c/time100-companies-2026-warner-music-group-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x100.00%2Coffset-y5.17&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Brodsky","jobTitle":"Brodsky is a contributor for TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-brodsky/"}],"creator":"Rachel Brodsky","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c61a8a4de0c18c5/69f250d7063f5d6c5ccb317c/time100-companies-2026-warner-music-group-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x100.00%2Coffset-y5.17&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/warner-music-group/","name":"Warner Music Group"}}]}] ```