VP, Legal Affairs

This is a Full Time Job

At Warner Music Group we're all about our people. Our global company is made up of knowledgeable, passionate, and creative individuals. Our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion fosters a culture where you can truly belong, contribute, and grow. We believe in each individual's value and encourage applications from people of any age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, and any other characteristic or identity.

It is the mission of every member of the WMG team around the world to create a nurturing environment for artists, songwriters, and the people behind the music – at every stage of their career. We strive to set WMG apart by embracing innovation – an integral part of our company's DNA.

Consider a career at WMG and be a part of one of the most influential forces in culture today.

Vice President, Legal Affairs

A little bit about our team:

Warner Music's Center of Excellence for Shared Services, opened in 2017, is home to the financial, legal and administrative functions that provide critical support and best-in-class services to our US Recorded Music and Publishing businesses. The Nashville center embodies the innovative and creative spirit that stems from the company's deep history in nurturing entrepreneurial thinking and artist-focused innovation, enabling our employees to develop a wide range of skills through cross-function collaboration and development opportunities.

The Legal Shared Services Department is responsible for enforcing WMG's rights in the recorded music catalog repertoire controlled by its US record labels, assisting with litigations involving WMG's recorded music catalog rights in conjunction with WMG's corporate litigation in-house counsel, fielding inquiries and resolving pre-litigation claims from third parties, researching WMG's recorded music catalog rights for various business units, filing applications to register copyrights in and to WMG's recorded music repertoire, and managing WMG's relationships with the labor unions with which WMG's US record labels have collective bargaining agreements.

Members of the Legal Shared Services Department work closely with employees in the Business Affairs, Finance, Production, Operations, New Media, and Marketing departments of each label client to fulfil the above-referenced responsibilities for the recordings those labels release.

Why this could be your next big break:

The candidate hired to fill this position will:

(1) Manage a team of attorneys and analysts responsible for providing centralized legal support to WMG's US-based record labels.

(2) work with WMG's Business Affairs, Finance, A&R, Digital Operations, New Media Licensing and Marketing teams on various issues and initiatives.

(3) find creative solutions to complex and atypical issues, with a focus on the management and resolution of incoming legal claims.

Here you'll get to:
• Manage the team that fields, researches, and resolves incoming catalog inquiries (including royalty-related inquiries) and legal claims from recording artists, producers, and other third parties, and their representatives, including accounting claims, copyright claims, sample claims, reversion-of-rights claims and other claims;
• Independently research and resolve the aforementioned inquiries and claims where they are complex or sensitive in nature;
• Work alongside outside counsel and WMG's corporate litigation counsel to assist with the management of active catalog litigations and related issues;
• Represent WMG in various capacities, including in negotiations with the labor unions with which WMG has entered into collective bargaining agreements and in music-policy related working groups;
• Oversee the copyright registration process, and provide advice and guidance to the U.S. record labels on related policy issues where necessary.
• Supervise general catalog legal research the team performs for v