The enterprise of music lengthy has been an incestuous one, even when the gamers aren’t associated. However a number of the leaders of in the present day’s recorded music trade — 84 % of which is housed beneath the three main label teams, Common, Warner and Sony — really are. When Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO of UMG, took the reins in 2011, his son, Elliot, had barely graduated school. Immediately, the junior Grainge is working Warner’s Atlantic Information (residence to Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and Bruno Mars) alongside one other so-called “nepo child,” WMG’s billionaire majority proprietor Len Blavatnik‘s 27-year-old son, Val Blavatnik, who’s a member of WMG’s board of administrators with an rising presence on the firm.
Elliot was introduced in at age 30 in late 2024 to show across the label’s declining market share (from 10 % on the finish of 2020, down to five.7 % final 12 months). Whereas the outcomes of his appointment are but to be assessed, his observe document for breaking acts on platforms like TikTok at his document label 10K Initiatives — the place his successes included Ice Spice and the controversial 6ix9ine — preceded him. (WMG purchased a majority stake in 10K in 2023.)
“Everybody within the trade is doing the identical stuff,” Elliot informed The Wall Road Journal earlier this 12 months. “I’m not doubting any of the human capabilities of those nice guys, girls and firms — nonetheless, they grew up within the fax machine period.”
Elliot’s ascent to CEO introduced with it some upheaval — specifically the exit of Julie Greenwald, a beloved govt who had shepherded the Atlantic labels for 20 years. Now, the trade’s eyes are on the larger Warner image. Particularly, the corporate’s succession line.
THR talked to almost a dozen executives throughout administration, recorded music and publishing — all of whom requested anonymity to talk freely on the matter — who parroted a typical chorus: that CEO Robert Kyncl, who joined WMG from YouTube in 2022, could also be nearing the tip of his run. (A rep for WMG says “these are simply completely false rumors,” declining additional remark.)
Whereas not everybody had the identical concept about who would take over if that occurred, the almost certainly candidate, most agreed, was Val Blavatnik. “Len will throw his child within the seat as quick as he can,” one artist supervisor says. “It’s the succession. Warner’s like a conceit [asset] for Len.”
Provides a high supervisor: “Val and Elliot are very shut. It might make sense to deliver Elliot in so he may sit and see for some time and assist Val.”
One other insider places it extra bluntly: “This has all the time been a dynastic play for Len and Val.”
To be honest, Kyncl is a straightforward goal for rumor fodder provided that he’s the one CEO with a background in tech and media reasonably than music, and the music trade — with its much less typical work setting and reliance on intangibles like golden “ears” — hasn’t usually embraced outsiders. Coming off an underwhelming Q1 earnings report (WMG’s inventory value is down 16 % since this time final 12 months) additionally makes it straightforward for onlookers to place Kyncl beneath the microscope even when the chatter is unfounded. A change can be considerably ironic, although, at a time when AI is poised to upend the music enterprise if a digital native wouldn’t have the mandate to navigate these tough waters.
Whereas insiders are turned towards Warner, it’s value remembering the fickle and cyclical nature of the music enterprise, the place hits nonetheless stay the highest foreign money. With sufficient of them, the dialog may change. Presently WMG holds 5 of the High 10 slots on Spotify’s World 50 chart as Alex Warren’s “Extraordinary” (Atlantic) stays the most important music on the earth, Warner Information’ Sombr maintain two spots, “La Plena – W Sound 05″ out of Warner Music Latina is seventh, and Atlantic’s Rosé and Bruno Mars are in eighth with Apt.”
If the previous tells us something, it’s that seismic technological shifts have usually served as a precursor for a altering of the guard on the document corporations. Within the early days of Napster and peer-to-peer file-sharing, Doug Morris (and his Common colleagues, together with Jimmy Iovine, who would go on to promote his Beats by Dr. Dre headphone line to Apple for $3 billion in 2014) was tasked with warding off the demise of the CD, to blended outcomes. The period of digital downloads adopted, making Apple’s iTunes the world’s largest music retailer. Nonetheless, the 2000s would see year-over-year declines as album gross sales (usually $9.99 and up) ceded to music gross sales at 99 cents.
By 2011, simply forward of the streaming period, Lucian Grainge spearheaded Common’s acquisition binge, starting with the catalog-rich EMI (purchased for $1.9 billion in 2012, not coincidentally the 12 months Spotify launched within the U.S.) and persevering with to the current, the place its holdings now declare two-thirds of music’s international market share.
Charli xcx and Elliot Grainge in December 2024.
Christopher Polk/Selection
Immediately, Grainge, who netted handsomely when the corporate public in 2021, is the longest-tenured CEO throughout the three label teams. Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer is a not-too-distant second. After working on the firm all of his skilled life, he changed Morris as chief govt in 2017 and has gone on to see some formidable wins, together with record-breakers like Adele, and culture-shifting albums by Beyonce and Tyler, the Creator, to say nothing of bringing to the world Harry Types.
Is one other change on the horizon? It’s actually a subject making the rounds as executives and trade insiders query when the outdated guard will move the torch to a youthful technology gearing up for the subsequent period. Some surprise if Grainge will proceed to occupy the highest seat previous his contract-end date in Could 2028, although others recommend it’s nonetheless untimely to invest on Grainge’s successor as he’s nonetheless very energetic within the firm and has laid out a imaginative and prescient for the corporate for the years forward. Nonetheless, succession has been mentioned at UMG board conferences, and a supply acquainted with the agenda scoffs on the thought of going outdoors the UMG household sooner or later.
Certainly, insiders and reviews have cited Republic Collective CEO Monte Lipman (who runs the label group along with his brother, Avery, its co-president and COO) and Interscope chairman/CEO John Janick as logical candidates from Common’s U.S. operations, however leaders in different territories shouldn’t be counted out, says a supply. “There’s a deep bench of inside gamers who’re greater than certified to step into this place.”
Lucian Grainge at Clive Davis’ and the Recording Academy’s pre-Grammy gala in February.
Gilbert Flores/Billboard
As succession names float, a sample changing into extra obvious is the dearth of ladies helming labels contending to take the highest C-suite jobs. For a time only a few years in the past, that image seemed brighter as Michelle Jubelirer was chairwoman and CEO of Capitol Music Group, Greenwald was chairwoman and CEO of Atlantic Music Group, Ethiopia Habtemariam was CEO of Motown and Sylvia Rhone was CEO and Chairwoman of Epic. (The publishing facet fares barely higher as Jody Gerson logs a decade as CEO of Common Music Publishing Group whereas Carianne Marshall has been Warner Chappell’s COO since 2018.)
“Outdated white males have had a choke maintain on the trade for years,” says one feminine govt, who blames the dearth of ladies on the trade’s incapacity to correctly groom expertise. “It’s fairly pathetic of the labels, however it’s not shocking. … And now there’s been such a revolt round DEI, everybody has permission to simply do the simple factor and rent the typical white man as an alternative.“ (Rhone is the only remaining feminine label head, however at 73, her retirement has develop into a perennial musing.)
There are indicators of hope beneath the conglomerate umbrella, nonetheless, with a slew of next-gen execs within the wings. At UMG’s Island Information (residence to Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan), Imran Majid and Justin Eshak had been named co-CEOs in 2021; at Def Jam (Justin Bieber, Huge Sean), Tunji Balogun got here in as chairman CEO in 2022; at Capitol Music Group (Doechii, Katy Perry), Tom March was named chairman and CEO final 12 months; and at Mercury (Publish Malone), 32-year-old Tyler Arnold assumed the chairman and CEO title in March. In the meantime at Sony, new management for Arista (Maneskin) was simply introduced with Clio Massey, daughter of outgoing chairman David Massey, transitioning to co-president alongside Matt D’Arduini. And WMG’s personal Warner Information has seen its guardian firm’s most constant latest successes between Zach Bryan, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims beneath the watch of co-chairman and CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck who, at 43, is among the many extra senior of the bunch.
Elliot Grainge, now 31, actually suggestions the size in direction of a youthful, extra nimble document govt much less constrained by the old-boys-club method of doing issues. However when that elder is your father and mentor, the nepotism-whispers will linger till he’s had sufficient hits of his personal. And in a enterprise the place names like Azoff, Davis and Wasserman all evoke the nepo tag, this music stays the identical.
”Think about if Bob Iger had a son who went to work at a competing firm — it could by no means occur,” says one distinguished trade lifer. “In music, it’s like, ‘Oh nicely, we’re fucking morons.’ Time and time once more, these CEOs refuse to go away or to do what’s proper so far as their company accountability.”
A model of this story appeared within the June 4 challenge of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click on right here to subscribe.
