Robert Kyncl, the outgoing chief commercial officer of YouTube, will be the next CEO of Warner Music, as published Wall Street Journal This Wednesday, September 21.
The hiring of a new technology expert like Kyncl to replace Steve Cooper, who is leaving in 2023, demonstrates Warner Music’s intentions to expand its business in the social media, gaming and metaverse sectors.
Cooper will step down from the label behind Ed Sheeran, Madonna, Dua Lipa and other music celebrities after serving as CEO for 11 years.
Kyncl, 52, said in late August that he is leaving YouTube after 12 years at the Alphabet unit. He had previously been at Netflix, but never held positions related to music labels.
Beyond this, in his position at YouTube he was clearly in contact with music. Alphabet’s video platform is the world’s largest streaming service by number of subscribers, a place heavily used by younger users to discover new music.
Kyncl, in his position at YT, was involved in negotiating licensing deals with record labels and publishers.
The resurgence of the music business, the moment for Warner Music
The new CEO arrives at Warner Music when the music business is on the upswing. Global recorded music revenue increased 19 percent in 2021, to nearly $26 billion. It is the seventh consecutive year of growth thanks to streaming.
Kyncl’s great challenge, according to industry analysts, will be to reborn Warner Music stock pricewhich are at a lower value than when the company went public in mid-2020.
Warner Music will be the only one of the music giants not run by industry insiders.
The other two, Universal Music and Sony Music, are under the leadership of long-time specialist record label executives.
Kyncl’s profile would fit perfectly into the new marketing strategy of record companies such as Warner Music to increasingly license their music and obtain income from new sources, such as TikTok, Peloton Interactive and other companies linked to social networks, fitness and video games.
Warner Music has also invested in the metaverse, hand in hand with Roblox, the popular online platform that has organized virtual concerts.
The company has been at the forefront of streaming. In 2016, it was the first label of the so-called “big” to say that the streaming it was his biggest source of recorded music income.
During the years under Cooper’s leadership, Warner released superstars like Lizzo and Dua Lipa, and expanded deals with artists like Coldplay and Prince.
He also bought the David Guetta and David Bowie catalogues.
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