Coronavirus Pandemic Forces Universal, Sony, Warner Music To Change Daily Operations

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, businesses are being forced to pivot their daily operations in order to accommodate the CDC's social distancing guidelines. Now, Universal, Sony, and Warner Music have followed suit and have asked their recording and music-publishing employees to work from home as much as possible until 2021 in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

On Tuesday, Universal Music Group (UMG), which is home to artists such as "Cardigan" singer Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, sent an email to their staff outlining what is ahead for the company. In the correspondence, Variety reports that employees were told that "at this point, it’s our best judgment that not have a widespread return to our U.S. offices at least through late January, 2021, if not longer.”

Warner, which oversees the careers of Bruno Mars and Dua Lipa, told employees on Wednesday that initial plans to return to their offices in September have been altered. "We’ve now reviewed the situation and decided to postpone these dates, at the earliest, until January for our US offices and October for our UK offices," the memo stated.

Additionally, Sony employees, who work with artists such as Beyoncé and Britney Spears, were told that a return to in-person workdays would likely not happen in 2020.

"We wanted to let you know that we don’t anticipate U.S. Sony Music Group offices moving beyond our own Phase One return in the U.S. before the end of the calendar year," read the memo. The note also stated that the "SMG COVID-19 task force continues to meet every few days to analyze each office’s situation."