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Universal COO to head up publishing
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 19 April 2012
Universal Music yesterday announced that its COO Zach Horowitz is shifting to a new role leading the major’s publishing division.
Although Horowitz’s position in the major has seemed to be in flux ever since Lucian Grainge took over as top guy at Universal at the start of 2011, Billboard reckons this particular move is a bid to shore up the firm’s publishing business ahead of the creation of a formidable new competitor in Sony/ATV/EMI.
Horowitz already oversaw the Universal Music Publishing Group in his COO post, but this shift will see him take a more active role in its day-to-day running. He will still have an input on wider government relations and public policy issues though, and sit on the Universal Music Group and VEVO boards.
Says Grainge: “Zach’s appointment to lead UMPG is testament to how important publishing is to my plans for UMG’s future. For nearly two decades, he has championed the interests of our publishing company and been the key architect of its growth. Now I want him to concentrate full time on maximising UMPG’s true potential in this challenging marketplace”.
Says Horowitz: “I take great pride in having helped UMPG become the industry leader. Lucian’s mandate is to build on our strong foundation, committing all necessary resources to innovate, acquire, expand and lead. The challenges and opportunities facing songwriters and publishing companies have never been more significant. From initiating new ways to super-serve our writers so the return on their creativity is maximised, to proactively empowering new partners and business models so the full potential of the digital revolution is realised, this is a transformational moment in the history of music publishing”.
