Warner Chappell Music (WCM) co-chair and CEO Guy Moot has spoken exclusively with Music Week – you can read the interview in full but here we cover some key highlights including the music publishing leader on AI, A&R and David Bowie.
WCM had writers on nine of the Top 10 US Hot 100 tracks of 2024 and six of the Top 10 Global 200,topping both via Teddy Swims and Benson Boone, respectively. Recent signings, meanwhile, have included Rosé and Diplo.
“We had the Triple Crown at the end of [Q4] last year in America: No.1 in the Country Radio and Hit 100 Songs [Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy)], plus Top Radio Airplay [Amy Allen for Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso],” said Moot. “We signed some great stuff. We were incredibly blessed to have Benson Boone, Teddy Swims and Amy Allen, and lots of others.
WCM UK’s Dua Lipa was the UK’s most played artist of 2024 (according to PPL data for radio, TV and public places), Amy Allen won Songwriter Of The Year (Non-Classical) at the 2025 Grammy Awards, while WCM UK’s Jacob Manson co-wrote the UK No.1 hit Dior by MK featuring Chrystal.
“We had another great year in 2024, and we’re going to have another good year this year but the growth of our reputation is just as important,” said Moot, speaking in our September issue. “Yes, numbers are great, but market share comes organically, growth comes organically and your reputation is organic. What’s most fulfilling for me now is when people re-sign to us. That is the ultimate health check of our company – that means we’ve done what we said we would.”
I’m not sure that we’ve recalibrated what success is or celebrated some of the newer forms I see of it in our business
Guy Moot
He continued: “Hits are good – we still love hits. But the industry is struggling with re-identifying what success means. Success when I started in the industry was, ‘We’ve done five million albums!’ It’s a different industry now, and I’m not sure that we’ve recalibrated what success is or celebrated some of the newer forms I see of it in our business.
“I’m looking for tangibility, somebody who can sell out shows. [Warner Chappell’s] Zach Bryan has sold out two nights at BST Hyde Park, but I don’t think I’ve seen him in the UK Top 10.”
Moot, who took the WCM helm alongside Carianne Marshall six years ago, suggested the path to success was now more reliant on individual A&R instinct than ever.
“If you go with the algorithm, data and research, it’s only going to take you where everyone else is,” he said. “I was going to festivals in recent years thinking, ‘I would quite like an elbow in my eye again – where is that energy in the festival line-ups?’ And so we deliberately pivoted a bit more to rock. Dave Goldsen – who signed Zach Bryan – went and signed Sleep Token.
“That’s one of the UK’s biggest successes. Everybody looked at them, but I don’t think it was in the ‘cool lane’ of UK A&R. When I was growing up, the UK was always trying to do something different but the algorithm only pushes you to the same stuff.”
You’ve got to keep a brand high, you don’t just take the cheapest syncs
Guy Moot
Moot also pondered the pros and cons of AI, insisting the company is “going to protect artists’ rights and get them recognition”.
“Rightfully, with the debate about protecting IP, we’re passionate about that and [Warner Music CEO] Robert Kyncl’s been at the forefront of it,” he said. “We’ve got to look at how it can affect our business, both internally and then externally. If it’s ingesting – hopefully legally, or maybe some illegally – our repertoire, it should also be able to then fingerprint that and have the DNA of everything. It can be a help.
“We’re going to protect artists’ rights and get them recognition, we’re passionate about that. I’m really surprised that, out of all the companies, nobody has stood up and said, ‘We’ll do the right thing, credit you and work out a way to remunerate you.’ You’d win the creative community over in a heartbeat. I’ve spoken to some of those people and I’m like, ‘Why don’t you just do the right thing? You’d smash it!’”
In July, Warner Music Group partnered with private investment firm Bain Capital for a joint venture that will deploy up to $1.2 billion to spend on “legendary music catalogues” across both recorded music and music publishing.
“Bain get music and that passion for music really helps,” said Moot. “They are experts at what they do and we complement that with what we’re experts at. That’s the difference with the Bain relationship. You’ve got to keep a brand high, you don’t just take the cheapest syncs.
“There’s also a moral obligation to add long-term value to catalogues and it’s all about picking the right things, the right syncs, the right projects when they come along.”
There are multiple phases of David Bowie to be talked about. We’re very respectful of the estate and the legacy
Guy Moot
While Warner Chappell acquired the global music publishing rights to David Bowie’s song catalogue in 2022, Moot played down the chances of a biopic.
“The great people who run the estate explained that Bowie never wanted a biopic, because a biopic was finite,” he said. “Maybe one day in the future, but there’s not really just one David Bowie. There are multiple phases of David Bowie to be talked about. We’re very respectful of the estate and the legacy.”
Nevertheless, Moot indicated there were other ways of opening up Bowie’s body of work to new generations.
“Speaking in terms of numbers and revenue, we’ve done a great job, we have grown substantially. But I would actually say there’s work to do there,” he said. “With catalogues you’re constantly trying to introduce it to a younger audience. It’s all very well people and superfans in my generation saying, ‘I love him!’ but how do we get a younger demographic to go to the Bowie V&A East exhibition? That’s what we think about all the time. You’ve got to find so many different touch points. If we’re just talking to the fans who already exist, we’re missing a trick.”
Read the full interview with Guy Moot in the September edition of Music Week – it’s available online in full here.
