Sony Music announced Tuesday (Aug. 4) that longtime in-house counsel Stephanie Yu will take over as general counsel and executive vp of business and legal affairs following the recent departure of Julie Swidler from the role.
Yu, who has been with Sony for more than two decades, will oversee the music giant’s business, legal and governmental affairs work, reporting directly to chairman Rob Stringer and COO Kevin Kelleher.
“Stephanie has the expertise, guile and poise in all the appropriate complex areas to take on this incredibly important position in our organization,” Stringer said in a statement. “She has earned the right to be the head legal player at Sony Music.”
Yu, who has repeatedly been named to Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers and Women in Music, fills a spot left vacant by Swidler, who announced in May that she would step down in June. Swidler spent 18 years in the top Sony role and was long one of the highest-ranking women in the record industry.
After a stint as a litigator at the law firm Covington & Burling, Yu joined Sony in 2005 and spent six years working across licensing agreements, distribution deals, M&A and other negotiations. She then spent more than a decade at Epic Records, where she rose to the rank of executive vp for business and legal affairs. She had most recently served as executive vp and U.S. lead of business and legal affairs at Sony itself, where she oversaw legal operations and strategy for all of the company’s U.S. labels.
“I want to thank Rob and Kevin for this opportunity,” Yu said. “Over the past 21 years, Sony Music has supported me to pursue new roles and take on new challenges. I look forward to bringing that same encouraging spirit to this role, working across the company to champion our artists and our teams during this particularly dynamic moment in our industry.”
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