VP, Artist & Label Operations

Who We Are

UnitedMasters is building a marketplace that connects artists, brands and fans - empowering artists to earn and grow. UnitedMasters has taken the bold step of building a music distribution service that, radically, puts artists first - disrupting the legacy music business by letting up-and-coming artists distribute their music directly to fans through streaming services while maintaining ownership of their master recording rights and up to 100% of royalties. Through the combination of UnitedMasters’ music distribution platform and its deep ties to brands, UnitedMasters enables independent artists and change-makers to grow and earn unlike any other platform.

The UnitedMasters team is made up of musicians, marketers, engineers, and storytellers with backgrounds from YouTube, SoundCloud, Pandora, Facebook, Uber, Dropbox, Complex, VICE, and more. We work hand in hand with the award-winning creative teams that forge those innovative partnerships at Translation (our in-house creative advertising agency).

The Vice President, Artist & Label Operations is a critical, senior leadership role responsible for the financial accuracy, operational integrity, and strategic planning of our exclusive artist and label partnerships. This leader will bridge the gap between creative execution and business administration, ensuring a seamless and profitable experience for our top-tier partners.

This role is based in Brooklyn, New York with four days in-office and one day remote.

What You'll Do

Operational and Financial Oversight

• Royalties & Accounting: Oversee the end-to-end royalty accounting and payment process for our exclusive artist roster, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with all contractual obligations.
• Invoicing & Revenue Streams: Lead the process for generating, verifying, and tracking all third-party invoices across digital and physical revenue streams.
• Financial Reporting: Consult with the Finance team to track artist P&Ls, recoupment schedules, and financial forecasting related to our exclusive deals, providing strategic insights to senior leadership.

Release Management & Product Logistics

• Release Strategy: Lead and manage the UnitedMasters release schedule for the exclusive roster, coordinating internal teams (Marketing, A&R, Product) to ensure flawless and timely content delivery across all DSPs (Digital Streaming Platforms).
• Metadata Integrity: Directly oversee the management and quality control of all contractual metadata, neighboring rights data, and publishing information for the roster.

Label Services & Client Onboarding

• Label Services Management: Partner with the Label Services team to onboard, setup, and service labels who subscribe to UnitedMasters' label service suite of products.
• Product Integration: Active participant in suggesting advancements for the label service products, ensuring labels are effectively utilizing the tools for distribution, analytics, and content management.
• Contract Compliance: Monitor and administer exclusive license agreements and (SLAs) for label clients, ensuring contract terms are executed and that all Artist Services Teams (Marketing, A&R, Artist Relations, Brand/Sync) provide best-in-class support and rapid issue resolution.
• A&R Administration: Oversee the collection of producer agreements, side agreements, mix engineer agreements, sessions reports, and other final delivery paperwork. Lead the sample clearance and label waiver processes from A to Z with internal stakeholders and artist teams. 
• Physical Product: Manage logistics in tandem with the Artist Marketing team to manufacture and release physical products (vinyl, CD’s, cassettes, and soft goods).

Team Leadership & Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop the Artist and Label Operations team, fostering a culture of precision, accountability, and artist-first service.
• Interpret complex artist and label agreements (JV deals, licenses, side artist agreements) to implement correct operational and financial protocols.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Exceptional financial acumen with deep, expert knowledge of music industry royalty accounting, collection societies, and publishing rights.
• Proven experience in designing and implementing scalable operational frameworks for a high-volume, high-value content pipeline (e.g., release schedules, asset delivery).
• Ability to read, interpret, and operationalize complex contract language.
• Expertise in standard practices and procedures within the music industry across major and independent labels. 
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex workflows and deadlines concurrently.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the credibility to influence senior leaders and communicate financial complexities to artists and managers.
• A passion for the independent music economy and a commitment to championing artist ownership.

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in Operations Management, A&R Operations or Administration, Business Affairs, or Royalty Administration, with at least 7 years in a senior leadership role (Director or VP level) within a record label, music publisher, or major distributor.
• Extensive experience with music industry royalty accounting software (e.g., RoyaltyShare, Curve, RightsHub) and enterprise-level financial and contract systems (e.g., NetSuite, Bill.com, IronClad, Navan, Concur, etc).
• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business Administration, Music Business, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).
• Must be familiar with music licensing and the license requirements to release music.

About UnitedMasters, Inc.

UnitedMasters Inc. represents the creative solutions company, Translation, and the leading software and services platform for independent creators, UnitedMasters. UnitedMasters enables ownership, exposure, and new paths for financial return for independent creators, while Translation helps brands leverage the power of contemporary culture to achieve transformational growth. Combined, UnitedMasters, Inc. is the world’s leading marketplace for cultural capital, connecting independent artists and brands to realize a future in which all creators own their future. Backed by Alphabet, Andreessen Horowitz, and Apple, UnitedMasters, Inc. is reimagining how brands and artists come together to tell their stories, build profitable growth, and push culture forward.

Salary Hiring Range: $175,000 - $220,000

Our salary ranges are based on paying competitively for our size and industry, and are one part of many compensation, benefits and other reward opportunities we provide (e.g. bonus, stock options, 401(k) match, etc.)

Individual pay rate decisions are based on a number of factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company.  We expect the majority of the candidates who are offered roles at our company to fall healthily throughout the range based on these factors. 

The range above is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however we are often open to a wide variety of profiles, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted.  If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated with you as a candidate.

The salary range above is for the NY/CA.  As a company, we have a location based strategy, which means the salary range could be lower or higher than this if the role is hired in another location.

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