As Elliot Grainge prepares to take his throne as the head of Warner Music’s Atlantic Music Group, WMG boss Robert Kyncl has swung the axe, clearing the path for Grainge to stamp his own mark on the division. Part of a process of “thoughtfully working on how to evolve Atlantic Music Group for the future”, Grainge will be unveiling his new top dogs next week. In a memo sent to staff yesterday, Kyncl says that this will represent “a new dynamic structure for the label group”.
The latest round of layoffs at the major is believed to include somewhere between 150 to 175 people, bringing the total number of people let go since 2023 to more than 1000. “WMG is transforming swiftly this year, in a fast-paced, fiercely competitive industry”, continued Kyncl in his memo.
What’s notable about yesterday’s cuts - apart from the scale - is the breadth and depth of senior executive talent that will be departing the Warner division, which encompasses Atlantic Records and 300 Elektra Entertainment, as well as labels like Roadrunner Records.
While the company itself hasn’t confirmed the names of executives who will be exiting, various sources have said that those leaving include Atlantic’s General Manager Paul Sinclair, who joined Warner in 2001; President Of Black Music Michael Kyser, who joined Atlantic in 2004 after twelve years at Def Jam alongside Julie Greenwald; EVP Publicity Sheila Richman, also ex-Def Jam and who also joined Atlantic in 2004; EVP Marketing Grace James; and SVP Touring Harlan Frey, who joined Roadrunner Records in 1999.
300 Elektra General Counsel Margo Scott - who has been with Warner since 1995 - is also reported to be leaving, as are Chris Brown, Co-Head Of Roadrunner Records and EVP at Elektra Entertainment, who has worked across various Warner-owned labels since 2006; Adam Abramson another long-serving Warner exec who has headed up sales and streaming at Elektra since 2018, after 20 years at Atlantic; Amiee Vaughan-Früehe EVP and head of promotion and streaming at 300 Elektra, hired by then-CEO of 300 Entertainment Kevin Liles in 2018 after seventeen years as VP Promotion at Columbia Records; and Fairley McCaskill, VP Of Media Relations & Strategy.
Earlier this week 300 Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles also announced that he was stepping down.
Since Kyncl took the helm at WMG he has been engaged in sweeping changes across the business. In March 2023 the company announced that it would be laying off 270 people, around 4% of its total workforce. At the time Kyncl said that “in order to take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us, we need to make some hard choices in order to evolve”.
Earlier this year, a further 10% of the major’s staff were told they would no longer be needed as it continued its adjustment, with Kyncl announcing “a plan to free up more funds to invest in music and accelerate our growth for the next decade”. The majority of those 600 job cuts came in Warner’s “owned and operated media properties” which included Uproxx, HipHopDX and IMGN, with additional cuts across “corporate and various support functions”.
At the time, Atlantic Music Group’s then CEO, Julie Greenwald, wrote “Two weeks ago, during the all hands call you heard Robert [Kyncl] and Max [Lousada] talk about the evolution of our music company. They tasked us last year to examine our staffing and ask the tough question, how do we achieve maximum impact for our artists in this ever changing landscape?” She then added, “As part of this shift, I’m sorry to say about two dozen people will be leaving us from across our three labels and their imprints”.
By August Lousada was out, Greenwald was out, and Atlantic Records Chair and CEO Craig Kallman announced that he would be moving into a more A&R focused role.
Various sources suggest that there have been long-running and wide-ranging problems at Atlantic for some time - including dropping market share, spiralling losses and legal woes. Those include allegations that insiders at the label may have been “aware of the pending RICO charges against 300 acts Young Thug and Gunna”, and the fall-out from sexual assault lawsuits brought against the estate of Atlantic co-founder Ahmet Ertegan, which Warner succeeded in getting itself removed from earlier this month.
As Warner tries to reinvent itself for the coming decades, it’s hardly surprising that Grainge and Kyncl want a clear slate. If Grainge plans to be at Atlantic for as long as some of the outgoing execs - which would seem likely, given how comprehensively he has thrown his lot in with the label - he is almost certainly looking at a horizon far beyond the short term, with a strategy that will propel the label through the coming “Streaming 2.0” era, which was comprehensively outlined by papa Grainge earlier this week.
However, with a number of key leadership positions to fill, it will be interesting to see whether Grainge brings in his own team of close associates, or whether he and Kyncl have tapped execs from outside the WMG family, or whether the positions will be filled from within.
Whatever choices are made, eyes will be on Grainge and the new Atlantic leadership to see how quickly he and his new team can drive results at the label - and, inevitably, looking out for the slightest misstep. We should know who that team is by next week, but whatever happens, the ramifications of this week’s upheaval, and any resulting snakes and ladders moves, are likely to be felt across the industry for some time.
