“The moment of reflection, of frustration and the realization of the blatant systemic racism collided for many Americans,” he continues. “Coupled with the abundant available time to protest, this moment is now. We are living through history.”
—CLAUDIA ROSENBAUM AND THOM DUFFY
Jeffrey Harleston
General counsel/evp business and legal affairs, Universal Music Group
University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Adam Barker
Director of business affairs, Universal Music
U.K. University of Leicester School of Law and Inns of Court School of Law
Saheli Datta
Head of global compliance/svp employment counsel, Universal Music Group
Columbia Law School
Steve Gawley
EVP business and legal affairs, Universal Music Group
Harvard Law School
Nicola Levy
Global head of business affairs, digital, Universal Music Group
University of Cambridge
Alasdair McMullan
SVP business and legal affairs/global head of litigation, Universal Music Group
Columbia Law School
Michael Seltzer
SVP business and legal affairs/head of commercial transactions team, Universal Music Group
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Magda Vives
SVP legal and business affairs, Universal Music Group
Fordham University School of Law
In late March, Universal Music Group’s parent company, Vivendi, finalized the agreement under which a consortium of investors, led by Chinese online giant Tencent, bought 10% of UMG for $3.3 billion. The deal was “certainly the most significant thing that I did in the last year,” says Harleston, who leads UMG’s global legal team. “We’re very excited to have Tencent as a shareholder and partner, particularly as our business is expanding in Asia and what they can bring with their expertise in the Chinese market and some of the related territories. It’s a big deal for us, and we’re excited about what it means for the future.” As March gave way to late May and the nation rose up against systemic racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and others, Harleston was ready to lead UMG on another front: He and Motown Records president/Capitol Music Group executive vp Ethiopia Habtemariam became cochairs of UMG’s Task Force for Meaningful Change, formed by UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge. UMG, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group each have launched multimillion-dollar initiatives to fight racism and support social justice, with pledges to curb bias endured by black artists, executives and staffers. At UMG, says Harleston, “the focus is on long-term sustained change. That’s what we want to bring about. Internally, we’ve been focusing on dialogue: with our employees [and] our artists, supporting our artists and everything they’re doing. That’s a lot of what we’ve done both in the name of COVID-19 and now in the name of social justice. We know that in the community of music, we need to be a leader and really step up.”
Paul Robinson
EVP/general counsel, Warner Music Group
Fordham University School of Law
Trent Tappe
SVP/deputy general counsel/chief compliance officer, Warner Music Group
Columbia Law School
Maryrose Maness
SVP/deputy general counsel, Warner Music Group
Seton Hall University School of Law
Brad Cohen
SVP/head of litigation, Warner Music Group
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
While Warner Music Group began trading on Nasdaq on June 3 following its initial public offering, “the whole IPO journey really kicked off last October,” says Robinson, 62, with the filing of a confidential version of the company’s Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “Getting from there to the first public version of the S-1 filed with the SEC on Feb. 6 was a massive amount of work — a true collaboration among a small group in corporate finance, corporate legal and corporate communications,” he says. Tappe, 53, a securities attorney by training, played a pivotal role. As the coronavirus upended work practices, Robinson says that WMG developed safety practices for eventually returning to its offices and resuming in-person music and video production, with Maness acting as point person for that planning. Meanwhile, during the past year, Cohen, 40, has led WMG’s litigation, including Warner Chappell’s now-settled suit against Spotify in India and the multicompany copyright infringement cases against Cox Communications and other internet service providers.
Julie Swidler
EVP business affairs/general counsel, Sony Music Entertainment
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Stu Bondell
EVP business and legal affairs, international, Sony Music Entertainment
The George Washington University Law School
Wade Leak
EVP/general counsel/chief compliance, ethics and privacy officer, Sony Music Entertainment
Columbia Law School
Susan Meisel
SVP/corporate deputy general counsel, Sony Music Entertainment
Georgetown University Law Center
Jeff Walker
EVP/head of business and legal affairs, global digital business, Sony Music Entertainment
Harvard Law School