Donna Caseine

Executive vp/global creative director

Faith Newman

Executive vp of A&R and catalog development

“Nothing makes me prouder than when a writer’s music connects with a wider audience,” Caseine says. In 2023, that sense of fulfillment came from SZA’s “Snooze,” a Hot R&B Songs No. 1 and winner of the Grammy Award for best R&B song, ­co-written and co-produced by Reservoir Media’s Khris Riddick-Tynes. Newman calls bringing hip-hop group De La Soul’s recording catalog to streaming services for the first time both a professional and personal highlight, as “I have been friends with Pos [Kelvin Mercer], Mase [Vincent Mason] and the late Dave [“Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur] for many years,” she says.

Esther Friedman

Senior vp of creative marketing, film and TV

Nicole Giacco

Senior vp of business and legal affairs

Katie Welle

Senior vp of creative for U.S.

Yendi Rodriguez

Vp of creative and songwriter services for U.S. Latin

Scout Easley

Director of creative for U.S.

Sony Music Publishing’s team helped connect songwriters Johnny Goldstein and Akil “Fresh” King with Coi Leray for the smash “Players,” which they co-wrote in a single whirlwind session. The track hit No. 9 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs last spring. Another fruitful collaboration: 21 Savage’s recently released “Red Sky,” the hook of which SMP writer Mikky Ekko wrote and sang. “Our priority is to create opportunities and add value for our songwriters, and I’m so inspired by the proof in our results,” Welle says. “Our team is delivering.”

Alexandra Lioutikoff

President, Latin America and U.S. Latin

Jennifer Knoepfle

Executive vp/co-head of A&R

Joy Murphy

Senior vp/head of film and television music licensing

Lillia Parsa

Co-president, Capitol Music Group; former senior vp of A&R

Ana Rosa Santiago

Senior vp of Latin music

On Feb. 7, former UMPG senior vp of A&R Parsa was named Capitol Music Group co-president. Parsa has been part of UMPG’s A&R team, which has increasingly had a global focus. The company’s women executives have encouraged multigenre, multiterritory songwriting camps in Berlin, Mexico City, Stockholm and other places through UMPG’s Global Creative Group (a team of A&R executives worldwide that work together to encourage creative cross-pollination). One of the greatest highlights was a successful writing camp for new Mexico-based signee Carín León to connect him with UMPG Nashville’s talent. “We are very mindful to approach A&R with a global view and have experts in all genres and countries. Our teams are already on the ground in key markets and at the forefront of rapidly changing musical trends,” Knoepfle says. Other highlights this year include continuing to build its market share and inking new deals with many stars, such as Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff and Maggie Rogers.

Carianne Marshall

Co-chair/COO

Ashley Winton

Senior vp of global creative services

Shani Gonzales

Managing director, Warner Chappell Music U.K.; head of international A&R

Natascha Augustin

Managing director

WCM reports that it increased overall revenue by 15% in 2023, thanks in part to key deals — parent company Warner Music Group made a licensing partnership with TikTok last June that includes WCM’s repertoire, and WCM launched Global Match, a tool for songwriters to recover unpaid royalties. The publisher also signed veteran singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten and rising jazz star Laufey and made deals for the publishing catalogs of The Guess Who and Foreigner’s Mick Jones. “We’ve remained focused on our collective goals this past year, all in service of our songwriters and their incredible songs,” Marshall says. While WCM ranks third among the three major music group publishers, it punches above its weight in Germany, where this past year it reports that it achieved an impressive 27.8% market share. Much of that is thanks to Augustin, who embraced German-language hip-hop early on when “it was the enfant terrible,” and rapper Farid Bang, an early signing who would refer writers to her. A fan of indie rock, Augustin found that she loved the genre’s “storytelling and its relevance.” Now with hip-hop firmly in the mainstream, she still has some of the biggest writers, including superstar Shirin David — “She brought the American rap idea here for women” — plus Capital Bra and Ayliva.

Natalia Nastaskin

Partner/chief content officer

Amy Ortner

Partner/chief business affairs officer/general counsel

Jane Reisman

Partner/CFO

Primary Wave closed “best-in-class deals” in 2023, Ortner says, pointing to examples including the acquisition of Robby Krieger’s rights and the estate of Ray Manzarek’s rights in The Doors and a partnership with Indian record label and music publisher Times Music. The company continued to pursue film and TV initiatives for its existing catalogs, notably with an A&E docuseries on James Brown that premiered in February. Additionally, there was a showing of the Luther Vandross biopic Luther: Never Too Much at the Sundance Film Festival in January. They accomplished all this while expanding their team. “Two-thirds of our 2023 hires are women, and seven of our departments now have women at their helm,” Ortner says. “I am proud of our development of phenomenal female talent.”

Mary Megan Peer

CEO

Kathy Spanberger

President/COO of Anglo American region

In 2023, peermusic, the independent music publishing powerhouse with operations in over 30 countries that oversee more than 1 million song copyrights, kept growing its presence and expanding its song portfolio around the globe. In October, the company entered Norway with the acquisition of Arctic Rights Management, marking the firm’s expansion into its 32nd country, and brought aboard more than 5,000 recordings and compositions, including a publishing interest in Dua Lipa’s No. 2 Hot 100 hit “Don’t Start Now,” according to Peer. Meanwhile, Spanberger reports the firm “acquired the entire music publishing catalog of bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs and the majority of the song catalog of his son Gary Scruggs,” as well as the entire music publishing catalog of Corey Hart, which encompassed over 200 songs including “Sunglasses at Night” and “Never Surrender.” She also cites the firm’s Latin music roster and a restructured synch department in helping the firm grow.

Jeannette Perez

President/COO

Catrin Drabble

CFO

Alison Donald

Head of global creative

Kobalt had an “incredible” 2023 with a rising publisher’s chart share, Perez says, while the company also celebrates the signings or re-signings of Gunna, The Last Dinner Party, Odetari, 9lives, Julia Lewis, Jake Torrey, Dave Hodges, Violent Femmes and Cigarettes After Sex. “A lot of our writers were across some of the biggest albums of the year from artists including Post Malone, Travis Scott, Jung Kook, Bad Bunny and Jack Harlow,” Perez adds. In November, the company made headlines when it entered a partnership with Morgan Stanley to invest $700 million in music copyrights over the next few years.

Diane Warren

Founder/songwriter

Lori Rischer

Vp of artist relations

Realsongs has provided a home to the endless stream of songs by Warren since it launched in 1987 and, as the publishing company’s repertoire from the hit-maker grows, so does its team. Rischer joined the independent operation in 2023, following close to 10 years in marketing and promotion at In2une Music, AWAL and Sony Music. The notoriously prolific Warren had a number of notable releases in the last year, including “The Journey,” performed by H.E.R., and “The Fire Inside,” performed by Becky G from the Eva Longoria-­directed Flamin’ Hot. But her biggest song from 2023, “Say Don’t Go,” co-written and performed by Taylor Swift, was one she didn’t anticipate. “I didn’t even know the song was coming out,” she told Billboard of the “From the Vault” track, originally written for Swift’s 2014 album, 1989, but shared in October on the Taylor’s Version release. “I’m really happy that it did. People seem to love it.” In June, Warren will receive the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.