Sony Music EVP and General Counsel Julie Swidler to Exit After 18 Years

Julie Swidler, Sony Music’s Executive Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel, has announced she will depart the company at the end of June.

Sony tenure:

• Swidler was appointed to the role in 2008.

• In the years since she has overseen business, legal, and governmental affairs globally, advising Sony Music’s record labels and operating units on strategic negotiations, talent agreements, litigation, transactions, and joint venture operations.

Backstory:

• Prior to 2008 Swidler held senior legal and business affairs jobs at Arista Records, J Records, RCA Records, and BMG.

• She began her music industry career at PolyGram Records and Mercury Records.

• Swidler served as lead counsel for the 1994 Woodstock Festival, and aided in the start of J Records alongside Clive Davis.

Accolades:

• In 2026, Swidler was named a Music Visionary of the Year by the UJA-Federation of New York.

• A perennial presence on Billboard’s Power 100 list, she has appeared on Billboard’s Women in Music list for nearly two decades.

• Swidler became the first woman and first label executive to receive the Grammy Foundation’s Entertainment Law Initiative Service Award.

• Swidler also received the T.J. Martell Foundation’s Lifetime Music Industry Award, and the Music Business Association’s Presidential Honor.

What’s next:

• Swidler will launch an advisory services practice focused on creative ventures.

What they said:

• Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group: “Julie has been a vital component of the Sony Music senior management team for many years and her wisdom, experience, and knowledge has been a bedrock of our company’s strategy and growth. She leaves us with our deepest respect and gratitude. As a friend and colleague, on a personal note, as Julie and I have planned together her departure for a while now, she will be missed at Sony Music, but I know that her next working chapter will be equally stimulating and rewarding.”

• Julie Swidler: “Every great adventure eventually makes room for a new one, and this feels like the right moment for mine. There are few companies in the world like Sony Music that carry this much history and remain this relevant. Being part of that legacy has been a privilege. That journey would not have been the same without Rob Stringer’s leadership, friendship, and trust, and I’m grateful for all of it. I’m just as proud of our global Business and Legal Affairs practice and the extraordinary people in it who are truly second to none. We have always been guided by what is fair and right for artists, and that compass never failed us.”