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Mike Smith steps down and Emily Stephenson moves up in Downtown executive rejig
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 3 April 2023
Downtown Music Holdings last week announced a rejig within its top team which sees Mike Smith stand down as Global President of Downtown Music Services, and Emily Stephenson promoted to President of the company’s music publishing operations.
Confirming his departure, Smith says: “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”.
That restructuring and realignment included Downtown’s decision to sell its more traditional music publishing business in 2021, putting the focus on the company’s divisions that provide services to artists, songwriters and other music rights companies.
“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”, he goes on.
“After nearly 40 years at the coal face of the UK music industry”, he adds, “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”.
In her new role, Stephenson will oversee all of Downtown’s publishing activities and businesses, which includes Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust and Sheer. She will report into Downtown Music President Pieter Van Rijn.
She says: ”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 maximise revenue for our clients, whether they use Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust or Sheer”.
“This unified approach”, she continues, “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”.
Commenting on all his, Van Rijn adds: “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”, he goes on, “we’ve created a powerful service offering that will maximise client revenue and present new opportunities to Downtown’s client base”.
