The record company behind Dua Lipa, Lizzo and Led Zeppelin has a new boss and he’s from YouTube.
Warner Music Group, the smallest of the big three music conglomerates, has named YouTube’s longtime chief business officer Robert Kinkle as its next CEO, effective Jan. 1, the company said Tuesday. announced to A few weeks of music business. Kyncl takes the reins from Stephen His Cooper, who since 2011 has headed Warner Music, home to labels like Atlantic, Warner His Records, and Nonesuch, as well as music publisher Warner His Chapel.
When a job becomes available to run one of the music industry’s biggest companies, it has often been viewed as a game of thrones. Longtime music executives and talent wranglers have typically been considered the most likely candidates. In choosing Kyncl, Warner and his board (chaired by his Len Blavatnik, a Ukrainian-born American-British billionaire) believed that the 52-year-old Kyncl had long been a major player in entertainment. and the intersection of technology. He joined his YouTube in 2010 and, as CEO, turned YouTube into an entertainment powerhouse. Prior to that, he worked at Netflix, where he worked for seven years and a content partnership.
cooper clearly He had planned to leave the company in June, but joined Warner from even further afield in what was known as the so-called enterprise. turnaround expertworking to turn around troubled companies like Krispy Kreme and MGM.
When Cooper acquired Warner, it was recently $3.3 billion It is by Access Industries, a Blavatnik company. At the time, the music industry was widely seen as continuing the decline of devices after being disrupted by the shift to online file sharing and online download sales. Now that the industry is being reinvigorated by streaming, Warner boasts a $13 billion market cap after going public two years before him.
For major music companies, the next step in the industry’s evolution could rest on social media outlets like TikTok and gaming platforms like Fortnite. In a statement, Kyncl indicated its interest in these areas.
“We are just beginning what is possible in recognizing the true power, value and reach of music,” said Kyncl. “Thanks to Steve and his team, WMG is well positioned to serve artists, songwriters and their fans in the future.”
YouTube itself has gone from being the music industry’s biggest zealot (loved by fans and artists for its reach and ease of use, but criticized for being underpaid) to one of its most valuable partners. became.
Last week, YouTube paid $6 billion Revenue to the music industry for the 12 months to June 2022 increased from $4 billion the year before. The author of the company blog post containing that announcement was Lyor Cohen, a longtime music executive who left Warner Music in 2016 to become the global head of YouTube’s music division. In addition to being a comprehensive video platform, YouTube has a streaming service, YouTube Music, that competes with outlets such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Tracing its origins to the Warner Bros. film studios of the 1950s, Warner Music Group was seen as the most prestigious record company for most of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, maintaining close and collaborative relationships with artists. It had a leader who built it. Lem Moe, who was the esteemed president of Fleetwood Mac, Prince and Warner Bros. labels, died last month at the age of 95. , the corporate umbrella for all Warner labels.
After the corporate turmoil of the mid-90s, Warner lost its position as market leader. The company’s share of the global recorded music business in 2021 will be about 17%, followed by Sony’s 22% and Universal’s 32%. music and copyright, trade journals. (In reality, these companies have a much larger reach, each operating distribution branches that release music on independent labels.)
Both of Warner’s top competitors are executives in the music industry. Lucien Grainge is the CEO of Universal Music Group and Rob Stringer is the CEO of Sony Music Entertainment.
Warner announced that Kyncl and Cooper will serve as co-CEOs in January. On February 1, Kyncl will become sole chief executive officer, taking Cooper’s seat on the company’s board of directors.