Shared Interests in Creativity, Cognition, and Technology Drive Music Industry Visit to Tech

A delegation from Warner Music Group recently visited with students and faculty working on various digital media projects, including labs run by School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) faculty Brian Magerko, Noura Howell, Michael Nitsche, and Jay Bolter. 

“They’re interested in our work on creativity and AI and in the larger realm of data science and data visualization, areas in which we have several faculty and student teams working,” said Magerko, an LMC professor and director of the School’s Digital Media graduate program. 

The delegation — which came from New York and England — was led by Kobi Abayomi, an alumnus of the School of Public Policy and an Ivan Allen College Advisory Board member. 

Abayomi (BSPP, BSIE 2000) is senior vice president of data science at Warner Music Group. The team he brought includes the director of content for the Global Data Science Team, Julien De Mori; Philip Watson, who, as director of audience for the data science team, builds models to understand consumer behavior to help musicians better meet audience interests; and Kaidy Guo, the head of program management data science at Warner Music Group. 

Are you interested in a graduate degree in Digital Media at Georgia Tech? Apply on the Digital Media program website by Dec. 15 for Ph.D. students and Feb. 1 for the master’s program. 

The visit follows a talk Magerko gave to Warner Music Group on creativity and artificial intelligence a few weeks ago. 

“They thought that was pretty sweet and wanted to see us and the School of Music over two days,” Magerko said. 

The visit began with an overview from Magerko on the Digital Media program. It included tours of Magerko’s Expressive Machinery Lab, Howell’s Future Feelings Lab, Nitsche’s Digital World & Image Group, and Bolter’s Augmented Environments Lab. 

The visit involved dozens of students, as well. Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, was also in attendance. 

The next day, the Warner group met with the School of Music, which is part of the College of Design, to learn more about the School’s music technology program. 

Magerko, who co-founded the EarSketch coding education platform with School of Music Chair Jason Freeman, hopes the visit will someday lead to formal ties between LMC, the School of Music, and Warner Music Group. 

“It makes a lot of sense,” he said. “Each of us cares a lot about creativity and the role technology can play, and we’re excited to explore where that collaboration might lead.”