Warner Chappell’s ruling tandem of Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall took over the leadership of the pubbery in 2019, and since then they've punched considerably above the company’s weight in terms of signings, market share and new initiatives. They and their team have inked Dua Lipa, Zach Bryan, Benson Boone and writer-producer Salaam Remi (Doja Cat, Amy Winehouse), among many others, and done big catalog deals with the estates of Tom Petty and David Bowie. Despite their very different backgrounds, the two execs have found a unique synergy—and they still claim to like each other. We didn’t bother asking what they thought of us.

Say a bit about WCM’s place in the present marketplace and how it got there.

Guy Moot: April 1 marked the five-year anniversary of Carianne and my joining forces. When we got here, it was a company with great catalog but needed a revamped strategy. When Carianne and I first came together, it was like one of those blind dates. But we immediately saw eye-to-eye on what we loved about publishing and what we wanted to do.

It’s simple: We want to sign culturally relevant artists, songwriters who we feel proud of, who stand for something and resonate.

Carianne Marshall: We knew exactly what we wanted to do, what we wanted it to feel like. And then we had to think about how to do that. One of the things that makes us different from our competitors is our structure. We have global leads across business, finance, administration, creative services, synchronization and digital. And of course we have MDs in every territory. The MDs are responsible for their territories, but they also have to make sure that they’re aligned with the broader global business goals. And so we came up with a new company strategy.

Moot: And we involved everybody in the strategy.

Marshall: Including songwriters. We came up with values that are important to us: collaboration, commitment and curiosity. Because there are people who can be incredibly talented, but if they’re not embodying those three principles, this is probably not the right place for them.

Tell me about your place in the larger Warner edifice and the one Warner philosophy.

Marshall: Obviously it’s evolved. We both came here initially under Steve Cooper and Len Blavatnik. And of course, Len was—and is—very influential. It’s clear Robert Kyncl really understands publishing. He respects what we do.

Moot: Robert believes in the potential and growth of publishing. He has been very supportive.

Marshall: And the board has been really supportive too. Of course, we’ve had the opportunity to interact with them, discuss our strategy. And we’ve helped them understand the true value of publishing.

WMG has been going through a lot of change, not so much on the publishing side but on the recorded-music side. How is that affecting things?

Moot: Music companies often experience change - we’re not unique in that. During my time at EMI, we navigated many shifts in ownership, from private equity to sovereign wealth funds. So, by comparison, Warner’s solid, stable ownership situation is a big strength.

I’ve been close with Max [Lousada, outgoing recorded music chief] for many years, since well before my time at Warner, and we’re lifelong friends. I think he’s exceptional at what he does: creating an environment where both artists and execs can do their best work.

You spoke about songwriters becoming savvier about the larger picture of their careers and about the involvement of these other departments. What is being done and can be done to improve their economic outlook, given how unbalanced things have been for writers in the biz?

Marshall: It’s always a fight. We partner in the U.S. with David Israelite and the NMPA; they’ve been incredible advocates, especially with what’s going on right now with Spotify, which is so disappointing. I think education is power. We’re trying to make sure that our writers understand what they can do and how they can advocate.

Moot: We can talk about streaming rates, but it’s also how quickly you get paid. Why is there so much delay in getting writers paid? It’s also how much commission is coming off along the way. We’re pretty vocal about trying to drive down costs and commissions at the PRO level.

What do you look for as you determine whether to pursue or sign a writer or encourage your team to do so, and to what extent have your criteria changed, if at all?

Moot: I use the phrase “culturally relevant.” That type of writer and artist creates other opportunities around them. Whether it’s IP, films or musicals, it attracts other artists. It’s not just about market share during a quarter. It’s much more of a long-term game. The development process is gonna take maybe three to five years.

Marshall: We don’t go after everything. We go after the things that our teams care about, and we think we can add value to.

What has it been like working with your recorded-music counterparts? What do you expect will change with this leadership transition?

Moot: There’s a lot we’re already doing together. The foundation is strong, and it’s something that Robert’s been passionate about. We recently partnered with ADA and 300, and also did a deal with 10K to sign new writers together and administer their existing publishing deals. Benelux is a market where there are unique dynamics, and there we brought in Niels Walboomers. He’s running both records and publishing and doing brilliantly.

Marshall: There’s also crossover with our catalogs. [SVP Creative Services, WCM] Ashley Winton and her team have been working closely with [President Global Catalog, WMG] Kevin Gore for some time to unlock different opportunities and collaborate on new projects. There’s a lot of excitement there. Recently, they partnered on Madonna’s 40th anniversary campaign as well as the David Bowie Moonage Daydream Grammy campaign. It’s all part of what differentiates WMG.

You spoke about songwriters becoming savvier about the larger picture of their careers and about the involvement of these other departments. What is being done and can be done to improve their economic outlook, given how unbalanced things have been for writers in the biz?

Marshall: It’s always a fight. We partner in the U.S. with David Israelite and the NMPA; they’ve been incredible advocates, especially with what’s going on right now with Spotify, which is so disappointing. I think education is power. We’re trying to make sure that our writers understand what they can do and how they can advocate.

Moot: We can talk about streaming rates, but it’s also how quickly you get paid. Why is there so much delay in getting writers paid? It’s also how much commission is coming off along the way. We’re pretty vocal about trying to drive down costs and commissions at the PRO level.

At the other end of the value chain, we’ve seen catalogs balloon in value. And that seems to be in part a product of a change in terms of the players on that landscape.

Moot: It’s great that people see the value in catalogs and songwriters. We’re lucky to be in a group that’s quite entrepreneurial in its investment. And we brought in a younger catalog team because it’s important to look through catalog not just through my age group, but through generations below.

Marshall: To us, it’s not a good investment if our teams around the world don’t want to work on it. This isn’t specific to catalog, but it reminds me, we want to be a destination for writers because they want to be partners with us. And that is really starting to happen. It’s exciting.

Please say a little bit about the team, and maybe you can start by talking about the A&R people.

Moot: Ryan Press is president of North America. He’s a publisher through and through. There are people in the business who talk a lot and don’t do much. He’s the other end of that. He’s an incredible executive. He’s built a great U.S. team. We’ve recently promoted and extended David Goldsen; obviously he’s signed Zach Bryan; he’s signed Mitski. We’ve got Gabz Landman; she signed Amy Allen. They’re both building incredible rosters.

Marshall: It’s been really fun to see our teams develop too. What Ben Vaughn’s doing in Nashville and Gustavo Menéndez in Miami and Latin America.

Moot: And Shani Gonzales in Europe, who is running international A&R.

Marshall: It’s important to mention, when we talk about the broader team, some of the folks we have in senior positions, they’ve done a bunch of different jobs before. We think it’s really interesting to hire people with different types of backgrounds as long as they’re super-passionate about music. Ashley Winton, who runs creative services, was previously a music supervisor. She ran the music team at Nat Geo. Claire McAuley, who runs the administration team for us globally, worked at an ad agency and worked in legal at a publishing company. Jenni Pfaff runs our strategy and operations team, and comes from HR. Rich Robinson, who runs sync, came from the advertising world, and so on.

Guy and I have been publishers our entire careers, pretty much, so that means there are also some blind spots. So you hire people from outside the business or who come from different places, and it really rounds it off very well.