Lucian Grainge, as chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group, oversees all divisions of the world’s largest music company, including Universal Music Publishing Group. In 2015, Grainge appointed Jody Gerson chairman/CEO of UMPG, which claimed 48 of the top 100 radio songs in the United States during the first quarter of 2018.
So Grainge’s support of Universal’s songwriters and writer-artists is reason enough for the Songwriters Hall of Fame to present him with the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award, bestowed on an individual who has been responsible for a substantial number of hit songs for an extended period.
But the honor also recognizes Grainge’s career roots in music publishing. His first job was as a song-plugger, promoting the work of songwriters signed to April Blackwood Music in the United Kingdom. He later launched PolyGram Music Publishing U.K. before moving to run record labels and UMG.
Related
“I was a publisher for the first 10 years of my career,” Grainge once told an interviewer. “I understand songs. It’s very, very difficult to define. I can definitely smell it. I can feel it in my fingertips.”
Songwriters Hall of Fame president/CEO Linda Moran acknowledges that history in announcing Grainge’s award. She said: “Throughout his rise to the top of the music industry, from song-plugger to a mega power player and starmaker, Sir Lucian has always recognized that it all truly begins with a song and has never ceased championing songwriters.”
This article originally appeared in the June 2 issue of Billboard.