Emily Stephenson announced as President of Publishing, Downtown Music
March 30, 2023 by team downtown
Nashville-based Stephenson, most recently served as the division’s Vice President of Business Operations and during her 10-year tenure at the company has been responsible for all aspects of publishing administration and client services for Downtown’s songwriter and publishing clients, including Ryan Tedder, Big Yellow Dog, and the John Lennon Estate. In her new role, Stephenson will report to Downtown Music President, Pieter van Rijn and oversee all publishing efforts, including client acquisition and business development, A&R, rights management, and client services for the group’s publishing companies – Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust, and Sheer. Downtown’s publishing administration services currently have nearly 2 million songwriters and more than 1.5 million copyrights under management.
Also announced today is the news that Mike Smith is departing Downtown after nearly three years as Global President of Downtown Music Services. Smith – a highly regarded music industry veteran with a career spanning four decades – is leaving the company to pursue several personal projects and to focus on his ongoing charitable work, which includes board positions with Teenage Cancer Trust, EarthPercent, In Place of War, and The Creative Society.
Since joining the company in 2020 Mike was instrumental in steering Downtown’s move away from traditional music publishing models towards a services-based approach. He was also responsible for integrating global digital distribution specialists DashGo into Downtown Music Services and artist signings during his tenure included: Masego, Anohni, Bashy and Magic Sticks alongside C Tangana’s publishing company Yelo. He also oversaw catalog agreements with many high-profile artists including acclaimed French band Air, and instigated the recently announced administration and funding of Alternative Songs, a joint venture between Stellar Songs and Various Artists.
Said Mike Smith, “It has been my pleasure and privilege to lead Downtown Music Services through a significant period of restructuring and realignment that has seen it become a global leader in artist services. I have been very fortunate during my time at the company to work with a team of highly passionate, creative and artist-focused people and with many inspiring artists, labels and music publishers. I look back on our many achievements during the last three years with pride. After nearly 40 years at the coal face of the UK music industry, I have decided to take some time away from the day-to-day business of music to refocus my energies into a number of personal, creative projects and to devote more of my time to the charitable work that is so close to my heart. “
Since the foundation of Downtown Music Publishing in 2007 and Songtrust in 2011, publishing has been at the core of Downtown’s mission and as the landscape transformed, Downtown divested its owned song catalog in 2021 to focus exclusively on providing world-class publishing administration and creative services. With the addition of large-scale recorded music distribution companies to the Downtown portfolio, such as FUGA which was acquired in 2020, new opportunities for supporting existing and future publishing clients have never been more significant.
Said Emily Stephenson, President of Downtown Music Publishing, ”Thanks to Mike’s fantastic leadership over the past three years, Downtown’s publishing divisions are in a great position to align our efforts and maximize revenue for our clients, whether they use Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust or Sheer. This unified approach means that Downtown can offer the industry’s leading publishing services both at scale and in-depth, working more closely with our current and future clients at every stage..”
Under Stephenson’s leadership, Downtown Publishing will employ the strengths of each division, creating an aligned offering that shares technology and expertise. Notably, Songtrust has experienced significant growth over the past five years and in 2022, reached the milestone of having distributed over $100,000,000 in royalties to independent songwriters, producers and creators. In recent months, Downtown has made a series of high-profile signings including the Grammy Award-winning The National, whose upcoming ninth studio album, ‘First Two Pages of Frankenstein’ is due to be released on April 28, 2023, and features guest appearances from Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers, and Taylor Swift. They join Alison Goldfrapp, one-half of the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated Goldfrapp.
The Ivor Novello-winning songwriter recently announced her debut solo album; the house and disco inspired ‘The Love Invention’ is due to be released on May 12, 2023. Stephenson will be joined by Jedd Katrancha, who after sixteen years at Downtown is promoted to Chief Commercial Officer, Publishing. New York-based Katrancha joined Downtown Music Publishing in 2007, the first hire to be made by founder, Justin Kalifowitz, and subsequently led the company’s creative services and sync licensing business from its inception. In his new role, Katrancha will report to Stephenson and oversee Business Development, A&R, and Sync for Downtown’s group of publishing companies.
Said President of Downtown Music, Pieter van Rijn, “Emily is a proven leader and Downtown Publishing is excellent hands. Mike stewarded Downtown Music Services through a period of great change and leaves it as a global leader. Now, with Downtown’s publishing companies aligned, we’ve created a powerful service offering that will maximize client revenue and present new opportunities to Downtown’s client base.”
