Head of Direct to Fan

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.

In October 2024, Universal Music UK brought together two iconic music labels, Island and EMI Records, to create Island EMI Label Group. The new powerhouse label group is designed to help deliver our strategy to support artists from the wider Universal family, linking closely with US label partners REPUBLIC Corps, and Interscope Capitol Labels Group. 

Blending these labels brings Island's unique ethos of launching pioneering and influential global artists such as Bob Marley, U2, Amy Winehouse, Hozier and The Last Dinner Party, with EMI's illustrious history and roster of diverse acts from the UK, including Sir Elton John, Queen and Metallica. 

The label group is also home to a star-studded US and international roster which includes artists such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Drake, Lewis Capaldi, Noah Kahan and Chappell Roan. 
  
This is an exciting new role within the Island EMI Label Group, running our artist and label brand Direct-to-Fan strategy. You will lead a cross-functional team, managing all touch-points of the Direct-to-Fan channel, covering eCommerce, artist product and CRM, ultimately leading a strategy that unlocks all the possibilities that arise from having a direct relationship with our fans. 
 
You will be the voice and advocate of the Direct-to-Fan channels within the Island EMI Label Group, working closely with the Marketing, Creative teams within the label, as well as the UMG Audience team and wider UMG teams. You will work closely with the Senior Director of Commerce for the label, alongside other key label and group stakeholders and our artist teams.   
  
You will be a data driven and assured self-starter, who is adept at running eCommerce product strategies across multiple channels and building first party audiences, all routed in the best possible customer experience for fans.   
  
You will lead and coach your team, bringing experience in having coached and developing high performing teams. You will be a process driven, creative problem-solver with great commercial acumen, all routed in a desire to manage a develop the labels Direct to Fan business.    
 
 
You will have a strong track record in delivering engagement and growth across eCommerce businesses using performance marketing strategies across paid media, social commerce channels and a particular expertise in CRM and direct-to-fan email marketing. 

The B Side: Skills & Experience  

 Role and Responsibilities 
 

Lead the team 

• Be a true advocate for the Island EMI Label Group Direct-to-Fan eCommerce and CRM channels, with artists, managers, and wider UMG teams.  
• Take ownership of delivering core Direct-To-Fan goals for the label via the team. 
• Oversee project delivery across Direct-To-Fan, keeping teams to milestones and timelines. 
• Lead regular reviews of performance with the team and senior stakeholders. 
• Hold a very high bar to the eCommerce and CRM service offered by labels to their Artists.  
• Manage and coach the Direct-to-Fan Cross-Functional-Team (CFT) to ensure the team delivers; engaging products and the best possible user and customer experience on stores, all in line with Retail best practice. 
• Foster a culture of high performance, innovation, collaboration and results for team members. 
• Be the first line of support for the team in escalations and stakeholder management. 

Use your eCommerce marketing and product skillset 

• Develop and overseeing the launch of new artist stores across the label, working with the Store Management and central eCommerce teams to oversee timely builds and launches. 
• Implement the labels eCommerce and product marketing strategy across CRM, social commerce and paid media with an emphasis on growth, retention, acquisition and creating engaging creative content to optimise a return on ad spend. 
• Collaborate with other key commerce team members and label marketing teams, build relationships and ensure reports are in place demonstrating key sales trends and store performance, manage escalations and identify campaign pitfalls and sharing learnings to inform future campaign and strategy. 
• Analyse and communicate marketing performance, using analytical insights to create actionable strategies to support customer growth and engagement.  
• Work with members of the group marketing and data teams to deliver a cost-effective marketing activity with the emphasis on lifetime value.  
• Develop and oversee the labels eCommerce pricing & deals strategy for campaigns and promotions. 

Think Strategically 

• Develop Direct-To-Fan strategies at Label level, working with Marketing and Audience teams 
• Constantly review new business opportunities and innovation potential. 
• Use data available to refine our direct-to-fan strategy.  
• Develop and oversee the implementation of new eCommerce demand opportunities and programs that deliver strong long-term results for fan engagement and retention. 
• Be abreast of developments in the e-Commerce area, particularly other artist store offerings, but in addition, good retailing and store UX outside of the music industry. 
• Build out best practices for the eCommerce labels marketing strategy across content marketing and product. 
• Oversee the labels ecommerce forecast and ecommerce marketing budget.  
• Work with our central technology and cross-organization partner teams to identify and scope new capabilities needed to support and accelerate Direct-To-Fan channels. 

Work collaboratively 

• Manage relationships with key partners in the eCommerce space; central commercial teams, international repertoire owners, Bravado and finance teams as well as merchandise companies and artist managers. 
• Work with Audience, CRM and artist Marketing leads to ensure marketing is optimized. 
• Work with the Senior Director of the department and label BAs to negotiate artist deals for eCommerce rights. 
• Report on sales trends and store performance, manage escalations, identify campaign pitfalls and share learnings to inform future campaigns.  
• Think global and work with the UMUK international to ensure that ecommerce campaigns.  
• Work with Bravado to grow the artists product strategy across tour, retail and licensing.  

Qualifications and experience 

• eCommerce experience covering store, marketing and product/merchandise.  
• Experience managing teams, ideally with working experience of working cross-functional teams of 5 people +.  
• A critical thinker with complex problem-solving ability, understanding of core eCommerce retailing best practice across marketing, UX and offering a great customer experience on stores.  
• Commercially astute, owning the departments forecast and P&L. Some experience of contract negotiations a plus.  
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and client facing/consulting skills.  
• A commercial & analytical approach to business, adept at working and achieving budget and revenue targets. 
• Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 
• Experience in managing marketing campaigns performance across paid digital marketing such as Social, Programmatic, Search.  
• Demand marketing experience, covering acquisition, social commerce pricing and promotions, analytics and product management. 
• Broad analytical skills, experience with large data sets and interpreting data analysis (quantitative and qualitative data) into meaningful strategy.  
• A passion for providing the best UX for all fans/customers  
• Ability to multi-task, problem solve, and execute tasks with accuracy in a high-pressure, fast-paced agile environment. 

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.

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