Warner Music Group Announces New Leadership to Support UK-US Collaboration

Following the news of Tony Harlow stepping down as CEO of Warner Music UK, Warner Music Group (WMG) has announced major shifts to the leadership of Atlantic Records and Warner Music. The new hierarchy was designed to burnish the relationship between WMG’s US and UK operations via enhanced A&R and marketing efforts.

Who’s doing what?

• Atlantic UK Co-Presidents Ed Howard and Briony Turner will now be a part of the global leadership team of Atlantic Music Group (AMG).

• On the Warner side, Joe Kentish, President of Warner Records UK and Parlophone Label Group, will join Warner Records’ global leadership team.

• Simon Robson, President, EMEA, Recorded Music, WMG’s senior UK recorded music executive, and Isabel Garvey, COO of Warner Music UK, will oversee the rest of Warner Music UK’s teams that support both Warner and Atlantic.

What they said:

• Kentish: "At Warner Records UK, we are completely focused on taking British artists to the world. The UK market is more competitive than ever, and success requires the strongest possible connection with our US partners.”

• Howard and Turner: “For the last two decades, Atlantic UK and US have together developed many of the most popular stars in the world, so this move is a very natural next step. We see eye-to-eye with Elliot and the Atlantic US team on the importance of building inventive campaigns that match the vision and ambition of our extraordinary artists, so we’re looking forward to embarking on this adventure together.”

• Robson: “In a streaming environment, where weight of population is an influential factor, this is an incredible opportunity for British artists to more directly access greater resources and reach. I’m looking forward to working more closely with our UK artists and leaders, as we continue to introduce the most distinctive British voices to the world stage.”