Repertoire Development Manager

Music is Universal. It’s the passionate and dedicated team at Universal Music who help make us the world’s leading music company. From A&R to finance, legal to digital, sales to marketing, Universal Music is the place to grow and develop your career within a truly commercial and innovative business that leads in everything it does.

Everyone is welcome to apply for our roles, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment because of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief, age, marital status, background, pregnancy, or caring responsibilities. We also recognise the importance of diversity of thought within our teams and are fully committed to embracing the talents of people with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and other forms of neurocognitive variation.

We will always seek to make appropriate adjustments to recruitment, workplaces, and work processes to be fully inclusive to people with different needs and working styles. If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments for you from application onwards, including alternatives to the online form or to disclose a neurocognitive condition, please email UniversalMusicCareers@umusic.com.

Working closely with the VP International, the Catalog Manager is responsible for overseeing and planning the release of Spinefarm Music Group catalog projects, both physically and digitally from inception to completion. This position will be about creating and marketing the optimum physical and digital pieces from the extensive Spinefarm Music Group catalog and working with current and legacy artists and managers to successfully plan and release re-issues and capitalise on artist’s current activities as well as provide fans with long-wanted gems.

You will initiate, plan and coordinate the projects that you are assigned from inception to release in full and help to manage the development of each artist and their releases along with your other marketing and production colleagues both in the UK and in other main Spinefarm offices in the US and Germany.

This role will cover a roster of mainly rock, metal, punk and country UK and international artists but given the diverse roster of Spinefarm Music Group, you will be expected to take on and/or oversee projects from a broad range of musical genres. You will report to the VP International and also work closely with the production team and Label Head.

The B Side: Skills & Experience

• Be Organised
  • Prepare a timeline and marketing plan for each project in conjunction with Label Head and project team while working closely with the artist and their management for alignment.
  • Maintain an up-to-date Production, Marketing & Promo budget on each project, ensuring the budget is in line with approved marketing fund or spend.
  • Liaise with artist management and the internal sales team on retail sales initiatives.
  • Liaise with the Marketing Managers to be included in new release campaign planning meetings for active projects, and plugging in existing catalog product into plans for maximum visibility and turnover.
  • Create concepts for box sets, collectible product re-issues and work with artists/managers and production to see them through from concept to reality.
• Be Analytical
  • Prepare and send regular project updates on all active projects, highlighting key performance stats and milestones.
  • Work with the global stock team to track and keep catalog on hand in efficient, profitable numbers using sales and inventory data.
  • Closely monitor project performance on DSP’s and social platforms using PiAS’s suite of data tools and working closely with the Data Analyst and Sales & Streaming team and work with the team on re-pitching any projects with significant upward momentum.
  • Where relevant, commission the UK Insight Team for artist audience insight and liaise closely with PiAS’s Data Analyst on streaming and audience data insights.
• Be Collaborative
  • For current Spinefarm signings, ensure the responsible A&R is kept closely informed of all catalog release plans, meetings, budgets, timelines and creative direction.
  • Liaise with Production to ensure releases are properly set up and all assets (audio, artwork, label copy) are submitted in the correct formats and in a timely manner.
  • Liaise with International Marketing team to keep them up to date on the progress of all catalog projects.
  • Liaise with the digital marketing team and artist management on creative ideas for the artist’s online and social media presence, influencer campaigns, D2C store, website and asset creation, ensuring Spinefarm digital catalog campaigns always incorporate the latest innovations formats and platforms to connect artists with audiences and artist website and social media remain up-to-date and on message at all times.
  • Update the Sales & Streaming team on all project developments and supplying them with the tools they need to best sell our new catalog products e.g. POS/exclusives/D2C bundles/artwork and accurate sales notes.
• Be Creative
  • Working with our insights and data, develop creative marketing strategies and partner pitches for your artists.
  • Work with artists and managers, as required, to come up with an agreed creative direction, including but not limited to video commissioning, artwork commissioning, photo shoots, launch/listening event concepts, social media content and digital asset creation.
  • Plan creative concepts for campaign advertising, where relevant briefing external media agencies and the internal digital media agency (Deviate/CRM etc.) regarding delivery of ads and artwork for TV, outdoor, print and digital campaigns.
  • Develop ideas for creative brand partnerships to support creative marketing ideas that you have developed.

Person Specification

Necessary

• Demonstrable experience in a catalog marketing role within a record label or artist/label services company.
• In-depth understanding of the release and production process, for both digital and physical releases.
• Strong network of culturally-relevant marketing and creative contacts.
• Excellent communication skills – written and verbal.
• Excellent organisation skills and attention to detail.
• Efficient and able to work independently to a high standard.
• Highly organised.
• The ability to learn quickly and use own initiative.
• Ability to remain calm when working under pressure and to deadlines.
• Flexible and able to prioritise a large workload.
• Hard working and enthusiastic team player.
• Self-motivated with the ability to deal with the routine tasks as well as the more challenging aspects of the role.
• Passion for UK and US rock, metal, punk and country rock music.
• Passion for contemporary culture and creative work relevant to Spinefarm’s roster e.g. artwork and packaging design, photography, music video, lighting design, event concepts.

Desirable

• Direct experience of digital marketing and social media strategy.
• Creative skills such as digital asset creation, editing, Photoshop, Powerpoint.
• An established contact network within the UK rock, metal and/or country music scene.
• Flexibility to attend concerts and festivals as needed, beyond normal office hours.

Bonus Tracks: Your Benefits

• Group Personal Pension Scheme (between 3% and 9%).
• Private Medical Insurance.
• 25 paid days of annual leave.
• Interest Free Season Ticket Loan.
• Holiday Purchase scheme.
• Dental and Travel Insurance options.
• Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Salary Sacrifice Cars.
• Subsidised Gym Membership.
• Employee Discounts (Reward Gateway).

Just So You Know…

The company presents this job description as a guide to the major areas and duties for which the jobholder is accountable. However, the business operates in an environment that demands change and the jobholder's specific responsibilities and activities will vary and develop. Therefore, the job description should be seen as indicative and not as a permanent, definitive, and exhaustive statement.