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UMG And DGMC Collaborate To Establish “Music City” In The UAE
The partnership hopes to bolster the Middle East’s music community and promote industry growth with cutting-edge facilities and education academies.
In a significant move for the local music industry, Universal Music Group (UMG), a global leader in music-based entertainment, and DGMC, an emerging creative facility and global destination, have unveiled a strategic collaboration aimed at bolstering the music community in the Middle East.
The partnership aims to cultivate a vibrant and sustainable music ecosystem, with its flagship project, “Music City”, set to be established in the UAE. The initiative will serve as a regional center catering to both local talents and international artists and songwriters.
The collaboration includes the establishment of cutting-edge recording studios, the launch of educational academies, and the introduction of a comprehensive label dedicated to supporting local and regional artists across various facets of their careers, including recording, touring, branding, and merchandising.
At its core, the UMG-DGMC partnership is committed to fostering growth and nurturing the talents of artists and songwriters in the region, with a focus on unlocking their creative and commercial potential.
Rasha Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairwoman of DGMC, expressed excitement about the partnership, stating, “We are thrilled to partner with UMG, the world’s leading music group, on this unique and exciting endeavor. Building a state-of-the-art music infrastructure and providing industry services to support aspiring musical artists is critical to our leadership’s vision to promote culture and the arts”.
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Adam Granite, Executive Vice President of Market Development at Universal Music Group, added: “We have long recognized the potential in the Middle East and are incredibly proud to be working with world-class partners like DGMC. We share their excitement and vision to harness this potential and nurture the next generation of recording artists and songwriters. Our partnership will create a powerful platform for the incredible talent in the region and accelerate their careers at home and abroad”.
To make “Music City” a massive success, ambitious development plans include the construction of three new Capitol Studios recording studios, marking the first-ever expansion of Capitol Studios outside of Hollywood. These studios will feature cutting-edge facilities such as Dolby Atmos mixing rooms, recording studios, green rooms, writer’s rooms, and rehearsal studios. Additionally, a range of immersive music experiences for fans is in the pipeline.
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At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value
Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.
Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.
The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.
Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.
The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.
Also Read: DJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch
Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.
What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.
