Celine Joshua is joining Universal Music Group as General Manager, Commercial, Content and Artist Strategy after five years at Sony Music.
Joshua was most recently SVP Commerce for Epic Records and Sony Music, starting up a roster at Epic which saw her sign online ‘influencers’ as content creators.
She joins UMG on May 1, working across the company’s labels, publishing company and global territories to ‘maximize commercial opportunities, promote product innovation and implement new artist development strategies’.
Joshua will also form a new UMG label called 10:22 pm and lead a staff charged with signing and developing recording artists, social media influencers and digital media creators with a focus on creating multimedia content.
Joshua will report to UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge and be based at the company’s global headquarters in Santa Monica.
Grainge said, “Universal Music continues to lead the industry in developing new creative and commercial opportunities for our artists and labels around the world.
“Our success will only accelerate with the addition of Celine, who has built an exceptional track-record of identifying projects that drive tangible results.
“I’m looking forward to having her work with our label and territory leaders to find even more opportunities across digital services and platforms, while building 10:22 pm into a progressive home for new forms of digital content.”
“Our success will only accelerate with the addition of Celine, who has built an exceptional track-record of identifying projects that drive tangible results.”
sir Lucian Grainge, UMG
Said Joshua: “We have only begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible on digital platforms in terms of building the artist fanbase, delivering content for a digital-first audience and driving new sources of revenue.
“Universal Music has continued to be at the forefront of these efforts and I’m thrilled to take this next step in my career with an entrepreneurial-minded executive team. I would like to especially thank Lucian for this incredible opportunity.”
Joshua joined Sony Music Entertainment in 2013 as Senior Vice President, overseeing digital sales across the company’s labels, before moving to Epic Records, where she oversaw all aspects of commerce and strategy for several top artists including 21 Savage, Future, DJ Khaled, Fifth Harmony, French Montana, Travis Scott and Camila Cabello.
In her prior position, Joshua is credited with creating the release strategy that helped the Future secure sequential week No. 1 debuts on the Billboard Top 200 for two different albums.
Joshua launched her career in music at Warner Music Group in the IT department, moving to a global e-commerce role at the company’s Rhino Entertainment.
Next, she joined Disney Music as Head of Digital, working across Hollywood Records and Walt Disney Records as well as the company’s film studios and consumer products division.
At Disney, Joshua worked on campaigns for Selena Gomez, The Avengers and Demi Lovato, among many more projects.
[Picture credit: Jimmy Fontaine]Music Business Worldwide
