Cameron Strang is the former CEO of Warner/Chappell Music and Warner Bros. Records.
He stepped down from the roles in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
As MBW noted in 2015, Strang is the only person in the entire business to simultaneously run both a frontline major record label and a leading music publisher – Warner Bros. Records and Warner/Chappell.
Cameron Strang: company founder
Before joining Warner, Cameron Strang founded New West Records in 1998 and then Southside Independent Publishing in 2004. Three years after launching New West, the label had its first Grammy success, with Nothing Personal by veteran rocker Delbert McClinton picking up Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2001.
He is also co-founder of DMZ Records, a joint venture record label he launched with Grammy-winning producer, T-Bone Burnett, and Academy Award-winning filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen.
Cameron Strang: Time at Warner
Warner Music Group appointed Cameron Strang CEO of publishing arm Warner/Chappell Music in January 2011. He also became Chairman in July of the same year. Strang’s Southside Independent Music Publishing, which was behind some of the biggest hits of 2010 including two of the songs nominated for the 2011 Record of the Year Grammy Award — B.o.B.’s Nothin’ on You and Cee Lo Green’s F*** You, was also acquired by Warner/Chappell.
In 2015, Strang stepped down from his role of CEO of Warner/Chappell Music, choosing to promote ‘Big’ Jon Platt into the role. He continued in his role as Chairman & CEO of Warner Bros. Records (WBR), as well as serving as a member of the Warner Music Group Corp. Board of Directors.
Strang stepped down from the Board in October 2017, amid speculation that Sony/RCA’s Tom Corson and UMG/Interscope’s Aaron Bay-Schuck were set to be unveiled as the new duo running Warner Bros in Los Angeles.
Cameron Strang: Personal philosophy
Speaking at Canadian Music Week in 2015, Strang shared some of the lessons he’d learned from some of his biggest career moments, including the importance of persistence and growing slowly.
He said: “New West Records was a great lesson for me. When I started the record company, I was the only employee for four years. I learned to do everything; make records, mix records, make the deals, all of that stuff.
“Slowly we built it to 22 or 25 employees. Our biggest years were selling $20m-$25m of music around the world.
“It was all achieved through a slow building network of relationships.”
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