By Ed Christman
Signage of Universal Music Publishing Group hangs outside the company headquarters in Santa Monica, California.
Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Universal Music Group has updated its U.S. structure, dropping the Universal Music Group Distribution name and folding that business into separate commercial enterprise functions within the company. The move follows theretirement of longtime leader Jim Urie last fall. At press time, Billboard had no word of layoffs resulting from the move.
The Universal Music Group Distribution name will be retired, but Candace Berry(previously evp and general manager of UMGD) will remain as executive vp of sales, overseeing account management, account analysis, sales administration and label relations.
Brand partnership responsibilities that were previously under UMGD and Universal Music Enterprises have been brought together under the oversight ofMike Tunnicliffe, executive vp of business development and partnerships, who will oversee all activity related to brand partnerships, strategic marketing alliances and marketing programs for advertisers.
As part of the realignment, Cynthia Sexton -- previously executive vp of brand partnerships and (synch) licensing for the Group's East Coast labels -- has been named executive vp of partnership content, charged with maximizing revenue and exposure for UMG artists and their work through the company's outside partners.
Angela Sanchez has been named as vp of customer relationship management and Alisa Olander as vp of insights. They are charged with building and integrating consumer and artist data.
Four other positions previously under UMGD will get new superiors, with two also getting new leaders from outside the company.
-- Mavis Takemoto will assume the title of executive vp of commercial services administration, as well as overseeing creative services.
-- Todd Goodwin will join UMG as vp of college & lifestyle marketing, working closely with labels to build overall marketing strategies. Goodwin moves to UMG from Sony.
As well:
-- Peter Sinclair joins UMG from ScoreBig.com as senior vp of consumer engagement, charged with expanding UMG's direct-to-consumer and e-commerce operations and building deeper connections between artists and their fans. Sinclair will report to Anthony and Tom Bennett, CEO of Bravado.
-- Jason Kleve, vp of data & analytics, will now report to Boyd Muir, executive vp and CFO.
All four new appointments above will report directly to Michele Anthony, executive vp of U.S. recorded music. Also new to UMG, Christine Webby comes in as senior vp of artist & label integrated rights, to track and secure ancillary rights and revenues from 360 deals as well as to help coordinate non-recorded music operations between UMG's various business units. She reports to Anthony and Jason Gallien, SVP Finance, UMG.
