PUBLISHING
Jackie Alway
EXECUTIVE VP OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL AND INDUSTRY AFFAIRS, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
Bertil David
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF FRANCE, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
Joe Fang
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CHINA, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
Tom Foster
SENIOR VP OF FILM AND TV, EUROPE, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP Alexandra Lioutikoff
PRESIDENT OF U.S. LATIN AND LATIN AMERICA, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
Mike McCormack
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF U.K., UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP
As Latin artists command larger audiences around the world, UMPG-signed superstar Bad Bunny topped IFPI’s Global Top 10 Albums chart for 2022, and Colombian singer-songwriter Feid, who signed to UMPG Latin six years ago, sent his album Feliz Cumpleaños Ferxxo: Te Piratemos el Álbum to No. 6 on Top Latin Albums in October. In late March, UMPG’s AfroLatin songwriting camp in Portugal brought together writers, producers and artists from Brazil, South Africa, France, Spain and Portugal in the latest example of the music publisher’s drive for global collaborations. On the awards front, UMPG was named regional Mexican publisher of the year at the BMI Latin Awards in March, and UMPG writer Harry Styles swept the 2023 BRIT Awards, winning in four categories, while his collaborator and fellow UMPG writer Kid Harpoon received the songwriter of the year award. In November, UMPG China announced an exclusive global publishing agreement with RYCE Publishing, a division of RYCE Entertainment, one of China’s leading music and entertainment companies, to represent over 700 compositions, including expansive and popular K-pop song catalog rights across China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Annette Barrett
MANAGING DIRECTOR/GLOBAL STRATEGIC LIAISON, RESERVOIR; PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL MUSIC PUBLISHERS FORUM Hussain “Spek” Yoosuf EXECUTIVE VP OF INTERNATIONAL AND EMERGING MARKETS, RESERVOIR; FOUNDER/CEO, POPARABIA
Jeremy Lascelles
CO-FOUNDER/CEO, BLUE RAINCOAT MUSIC;
CEO, CHRYSALIS RECORDS
At Reservoir, a diverse global team over sees the company’s international growth, including signing new artists DIVINE
(India) and Mohamed Ramadan (Egypt), along with Egyptian label 100Copies and Mashrex in Saudi Arabia. Lascelles, whose companies became part of Reservoir in 2019, has celebrated “success with Phoebe Bridgers, Arlo Parks, Nova Twins and Cigarettes After Sex,” among others, he says. Barrett, who also serves as president of the International Music Publishers Forum, is proud of IMPF’s inaugural summit in 2022, held in Mallorca, Spain, which she calls “an enormous success.”
Benjamin Budde
CEO, BUDDE MUSIC PUBLISHING/BUDDE GROUP
As CEO of the independent publisher based in Germany, Budde has overseen expansion into businesses, including artist management and new acting and touring agency BTA, as well as continued growth outside its home market. The company recently celebrated its 75th anniversary with two big wins: Budde’s French division was named publisher of the year by SACEM, the French collection society, and signee Matthew Stevens won a Grammy Award for best international jazz album.
Alison Donald
HEAD OF GLOBAL CREATIVE, KOBALT Ben Norton
SENIOR VP OF INVESTMENT/CORPORATE VP, KOBALT
Frank Kruyer
SENIOR VP OF ROYALTIES AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, KOBALT
Lea Moussa
VP OF DEALS AND DIGITAL PARTNERSHIPS, LATIN AMERICA, KOBALT
Briese Abbott
HEAD OF CREATIVE SERVICES,
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, KOBALT
With Francisco Partners (in conjunction with Dundee Partners and Matt Pinkus’ MUSIC) acquiring a significant majority ownership in Kobalt for an estimated
$750 million last year, the rights management company doubled down on its commitment to its core publishing business and its AMRA royalty collection operation, while serving the interests of the creator community. Kobalt songwriters and their songs picked up 14 Billboard
Latin Music Awards, nine Australian
Recording Industry Association Awards and eight Swedish Grammis, with Sam Fender winning the best song musically and lyrically at the Ivor Awards for “Seventeen Going Under,” among other honors. The company says it has paid out $300 million in advances in the last fiscal year. In its April 5 filing for the year ended June 30, 2022, it posted $65.6 million in net income from revenue of $631.2 million.
Justin Dowling PARTNER/EXECUTIVE VP, PRIMARY WAVE U.K. AND EUROPE; DIRECTOR,
BLUE MOUNTAIN MUSIC
“It’s a tremendously exciting time at Primary Wave,” says Dowling. He notes the “creation of a permanent capital vehicle” with a $2 billion infusion from Brookfield; a new strategic partnership with CAA, which has taken a minority ownership in the company, as well as “many big Bob Marley projects forthcoming on stage and screen; and the addition of seasoned executives with Clive Black and Robin Godfrey-Cass in London.” Dowling says that all of these recent developments will help Primary Wave better serve its “incredible roster of songs, catalogs and artists.”
Kim Frankiewicz EXECUTIVE VP OF WORLDWIDE A&R, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING
Frankiewicz helped Concord acquire a bundle of rights from Phil Collins and his Genesis bandmates Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford in September 2022, after previously working with the band’s repertoire at Imagem Music and MMA Music Publishing in her native Australia. Last year, Concord also acquired Australian music publisher Native Tongue, which expanded its reach in the region, forming Concord Music Publishing ANZ. Having worked with the Native Tongue team for years, Frankiewicz played a key role in adding its roster to Concord’s, which already boasts the works of creators such as The 1975, Omar Apollo, Tre Jean Marie and Fred Ball.
Shani Gonzales
MANAGING DIRECTOR, WARNER CHAPPELL U.K.; HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL A&R,
WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
Vivian Barclay
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CANADA,
WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
Lars Karlsson
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF GERMANY AND NORDICS, WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC Gustavo Menéndez
PRESIDENT OF U.S. LATIN AND LATIN AMERICA, WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
Santiago Menéndez-Pidal PRESIDENT OF SOUTHERN EUROPE,
WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
Matthieu Tessier
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF FRANCE,
WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
Gonzales and her team in the United Kingdom began the year with new signings including Sam Tompkins, Caro, Morgan Cole and Jacob Manson. Beyond that region, she continues to lead Warner Chappell’s international A&R strategy. In Canada, Barclay recently signed hot Canadian producers Aliby (Drake, Machine Gun Kelly) and Tom French (Joyner Lucas featuring
Lil Baby, DaBaby, Rod Wave). Karlsson’s territories include Sweden, where Warner Chappell songwriters Jimmy Jansson and Thomas G:son are among the co-writers of “Tattoo,” which artist and co-writer Loreen will perform in May at the Eurovision Song Contest. Leading Warner Chappell’s Latin teams, Menéndez renewed a deal with hit-making Argentine rapper-singer Duki, who will launch his first U.S. tour on May 17 in New York. Overseeing Southern Europe, Menéndez-Pidal and his team count among their signings Spain’s Quevedo, whose collaboration with producer Bizarrap led to the hit “BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 52,” which spent multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200.
Tim Major
CO-MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING
David Ventura
PRESIDENT/CO-MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED KINGDOM/SENIOR VP OF INTERNATIONAL, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING
Jorge Mejia
PRESIDENT/CEO OF LATIN AMERICA AND U.S. LATIN, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING
Carol Ng
PRESIDENT OF ASIA, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING Johnny Tennander
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF SCANDINAVIA/SENIOR VP OF A&R, INTERNATIONAL, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING
Damian Trotter
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF AUSTRALIA,
SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING
Under Major and Ventura, Sony Music Publishing scored a leading market share of credits on over 30% of the top 100 songs in the United Kingdom in 2022, according to the company, with successes from writers such as Tems, PinkPantheress, Central Cee, Ed Sheeran, Becky Hill, Tom Grennan, Mimi Webb and Plested. Under Mejia, Sony was named contemporary Latin publisher of the year at BMI’s Latin Awards in March, on the strength of hits including “BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 52” from SMP Argentina writer Bizarrap and collaborator Quevedo. Ng leads SMP across the Pan-Asian region including China, where the company had six of the top 10 songs in Tencent Music’s annual ranking for 2022, including the
No. 1 track, “Gu Yong Zhe,” written by SMP’s Qian Lei and Tang Tian and sung by Eason Chan. SMP Australia, under Trotter, closed key catalog and extension deals with Tame Impala (led by Kevin Parker), while also nurturing emerging talent including King Stingray, which took home the coveted Australian Music Prize for 2022 with its self-titled debut album. SMP Scandinavia, led by Tennander, achieved No. 1 market-share positions across 2022 with representation of songs including the No. 5 Global 200 hit “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic from the soundtrack to Top Gun: Maverick.
Merck Mercuriadis FOUNDER/CEO, HIPGNOSIS SONG MANAGEMENT/HIPGNOSIS SONGS FUND/ HIPGNOSIS SONGS CAPITAL
Hipgnosis and its collection of companies keep vacuuming up music assets at an unprecedented pace. The company has invested roughly $800 million in the last 12 months for ownership stakes in songs or recordings by Justin Timberlake, Leonard Cohen, Nile Rodgers, Kenny Chesney, Nelly Furtado, Erika Enders,