Legal Affairs Manager

This is a Full Time Job

At Warner Music Group, we're a global collective of music makers and music lovers, tech innovators and inspired entrepreneurs, game-changing creatives and passionate team members. Here, we turn dreams into stardom and audiences into fans. We are guided by three core values that underpin everything we do across all our diverse businesses:
• Curiosity: We do our best work when we're immersing ourselves in culture and breaking through barriers. Curiosity is the driving force behind creativity and ingenuity. It fuels innovation, and innovation is the key to our future.
• Collaboration: Making music and bringing it to the world is all about the power of originality amplified by teamwork. A great idea, like a great song, travels globally. We ignite passions and build connections across our diverse community of artists, songwriters, partners, and fans.
• Commitment: We pursue excellence for our team and our talent. Everything in music starts with a leap into the unknown, and we're committed to keeping the faith, acting with integrity, and delivering on our promises.

We remain committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We know it fosters a culture where you can truly belong, contribute, and grow. We encourage applications from people of any age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, and any other characteristic or identity.

Consider a career at WMG and get the best of both worlds – an innovative global music company that retains the creative spirit of a nimble independent.

Job Title: Manager, Legal Affairs, Business and Legal Affairs

A little bit about our team:

Warner Music's Center of Excellence opened in 2017 and is the home to the financial, legal, and administrative functions that provide critical support and best-in-class services to our US Recorded Music and Publishing businesses. The Nashville center embodies the innovative and creative spirit that stems from the company's deep history in nurturing entrepreneurial thinking and artist-focused innovation, enabling our employees to develop a wide range of skills through cross-function collaboration and development opportunities.

As part of the Global Catalog Business and Legal Affairs team, the Legal Department is responsible for enforcing WMG's rights in the recorded music catalog repertoire controlled by its U.S. record labels, managing litigations involving WMG's recorded music rights in conjunction with WMG's corporate litigation in-house counsel, fielding inquiries and claims from third parties, researching WMG's recorded music catalog rights, filing applications to register copyrights in and to WMG's recorded music repertoire, and managing WMG's relationships with the labor unions with which WMG's U.S. record labels have collective bargaining agreements.

Members of the Legal Department work closely with employees in the Business Affairs, Finance, Production, Operations, New Media, and Marketing departments of each label client to fulfill the above-referenced responsibilities for the recordings and records those labels release.

Your role:

This position will conduct general legal research pertaining to WMG's rights in its existing recording agreements and advise various internal business units regarding those rights and recording agreements. In addition, this role will field, research, answer, and resolve inquiries from both internal business units and artists, producers, and other third parties. This role will deal predominantly with WMG's catalog repertoire and Rhino label.

Here you'll get to:
• Draft, review and approve letters of direction for payee changes from recording artists, producers, and other third party royalty participants and their representatives
• Review Estate documentation for recording artists, producers and other third party royalty participants and draft letters of direction for estates/beneficiaries, where needed
• Review, analyze and interpret various provisions in the recording agreements that govern WMG's existing catalog recordings, and accurately and succinctly communicate findings to appropriate individual or department
• Conduct chain of title review and provide concise analysis
• Prepare contract summaries of the recording and other agreements that govern WMG's existing catalog recording assets
• Review accounting and royalty provisions in recording and other agreements and work with finance/royalty teams to ensure that payment requirements are met
• Perform general research pertaining to WMG's rights in its existing recording agreements
• Conduct research within internal royalty systems, databases and files
• Assist the corporate in-house litigation team by performing research relating to litigation matters
• Perform such other duties and tasks related to the Business & Legal Affairs Department's role and responsibilities as reasonably may be required

About you:
• Able to distill and explain research to requesting parties outside the legal team
• Problem solver, with the ability to find timely and creative solutions to unique issues and assignments
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills
• Outstanding analytical, mathematical, and organizational skills
• Strong legal and Internet research skills
• Works well independently and as part of a team
• Meet deadlines consistently and effectively while working under pressure
• Manage multiple assignments at any given time and prioritize them effectively and appropriately

We'd love it if you also had:

As the home to 10K Projects, Asylum, Atlantic Music Group, East West, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Rhino, Roadrunner, Sire, Warner Records, Warner Classics, and several other of the world's premier recording labels, Warner Music Group champions emerging artists and global superstars alike. And our renowned publishing company, Warner Chappell Music, represents genre-spanning songwriters and producers through a catalogue of more than one million copyrights worldwide. Warner Music Group is also home to ADA, which supports the independent community, as well as artist services division WMX. In addition, WMG counts film and television storytelling powerhouse Warner Music Entertainment among its many brands.

Together, we are Warner Music Group: Independent Minds. Major Sound.

Love this job and want to apply?

Click the ''Apply'' link at the top of the page or apply directly with your LinkedIn. Applying with LinkedIn will import all of the information you put in your profile but will still allow you to upload a resume and cover letter.

Don't be discouraged if you don't hear from us right away. We're taking our time to review all resumes, and to find the best people for WMG.

Thanks for your interest in working for WMG. We love it here, and think you will, too.

#LI-Onsite

Effective October 1st, 2023, this position will require being in the office 4 days a week. We believe that an in-office presence is critical for talent development, collaboration and building strong relationships.

WMG is committed to inclusion and diversity in all aspects of our business. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and will evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, religious creed, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, marital status, medical condition as defined by state law (genetic characteristics or cancer), physical or mental disability, military service or veteran status, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.