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Incoming Warner Music UK & Ireland chairman and CEO Sonny Takhar. Photo Credit: WMG
Today in Warner Music Group (WMG) executive shifts: KYN Entertainment co-founder Sonny Takhar is officially set to begin leading Warner Music UK & Ireland in the new year.
WMG reached out with word of this latest C-suite change today, on the heels of several departures and appointments earlier in September. Among the appointments: Val Blavatnik’s signing on as MD of Warner Music North America, UK, and corporate development.
Evidently, that announcement is factoring into a wider realignment; upon joining as chairman and CEO of Warner Music UK & Ireland at the top of 2027, Takhar will report to Blavatnik.
(Additionally, Simon Robson, having been enlisted to lead Warner Music UK last year following the departure of Tony Harlow, is exiting the company.)
“Sonny is one of the most visionary executives in music and his track record of discovering, nurturing, and breaking global superstars speaks for itself,” Blavatnik said. “His instinct for talent, deep understanding of the wider music ecosystem and strategic global perspective make him the perfect leader to power Warner Music UK & Ireland forward.”
As summed up by WMG, the longtime Syco Entertainment president Takhar “will oversee creative direction, artist development, and strategic operations across” the appropriate markets – besides maintaining “operational oversight” of the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) in the same nations.
Regarding how the latter responsibility fits into the business’s ongoing restructuring, Warner Music last week tapped Atlantic Music Group CEO Elliot Grainge to double as ADA’s stateside chair. Now, Takhar will “work in close partnership” with Grainge as well as Aaron Bay-Schuck, who on Friday became Warner Records Group’s sole chair.
In remarks of his own, Takhar touched on plans to fuel growth from the post while simultaneously prioritizing “long-term global careers.”
“I’m delighted to lead Warner Music UK & Ireland into its next chapter,” Takhar said. “Drawing on my background across labels, management, publishing, and touring, I look forward to driving the business with spirit, ambition, innovation, and integrity.
“Our mission is to build a forward-thinking and artist-centric organisation that empowers talent to forge long-term global careers,” concluded the exec, who in 2019 founded publisher S2 Songs alongside Savan Kotecha.
With recent weeks having delivered multiple shakeups at WMG – including a high-profile departure at Warner Chappell – are additional shifts on the way?
Time will tell, but it’s not a secret that CEO Robert Kyncl has been overseeing a sweeping transformation at the major.
As such, many twists later, logic and evidence suggest that further recalibrations could be in the cards. Closer to the present, former WMG brass are quietly making professional moves.
Earlier this year, Julie Greenwald and Max Lousada founded “a global boutique record label,” 26.2, in partnership with Sony Music, to name one example. A cursory glance at the appropriate LinkedIn page shows that the newly minted company has been filling out its team – including by welcoming a few Warner Music vets – in the interim.
