Sr Manager, Music Research

Sr. Manager, Music Research

The Disney Music Group (DMG) includes Walt Disney Records, WDR, (its label imprints Disney Pearl, Disney Sound, and Buena Vista), Hollywood Records, HWR, (its label imprint Mammoth Records), Lyric Street Records, Disney Music Publishing and Disney Concerts.  DMG is a business unit operating under the Studio Entertainment business segment of The Walt Disney Company (TWDC).  DMG is responsible for releasing music content created by all divisions of TWDC, including but not limited to Pixar, LucasFilm, MARVEL, ABC, Fox Film and TV Studios, and Disney+.   

As part of DMG, Music Research is a division of the Administration and Operations Department, and its top-level responsibilities are to lead a team that collaborates with others to secure, process and submit music cue sheets to various stakeholders ensuring music is correctly credited to support the proper distribution of performance royalties.  The role also oversees the support to provide music identification expertise and support to various teams across the company.   

The Senior Manager, Music Research oversees a team of Specialists/Coordinators responsible for collection, creation and data entry on cue sheets for tv/film, parks and resorts, advertising, games including, but not limited to, long and short form audio visual content.  This role also includes facilitating request for music identification, the oversight of updates and maintenance to technology tools, routine adjustments and corrections, while always ensuring accuracy and completeness of the data. In this capacity, the Sr. Manager assigns projects to the team, managing their workload via daily interaction and ensuring that they are meeting all deliverables according to timelines and requests from various internal and external partners.  As the leader of this team, they are the de facto “Cue Sheet Expert,” in charge of all music research work, metadata, identifying and leading discussions about complex issues whenever/wherever necessary, and reviewing the team’s work to ensure accuracy.  Aside from managing the Music Research specialists/coordinators, this role also has regular communication with Disney Music Group departments and Music Departments from other Disney lines of business ensuring appropriate training, data collection and delivery are delivered within all requested deadlines, as well as managing all talent expectations for registrations of the cue sheets with external Music Publishing societies around the world.  Finally, the Sr. Manager will work closely with Studio Technology on making improvements to existing systems and any other future systems that may materialize within DMG.   

The following characteristics are essential in this role: the ability to efficiently delegate and supervise the work of others, provide objective statistics of team and individual performance, provide consistent and constructive feedback; excellent interpersonal skills; strong attention to detail skills; highly organized; the ability to prioritize and juggle multiple projects at once while working under tight deadlines, with clear, concise communication.  Flexibility and independent critical thinking skills are also crucial, as is learning to adjust and adapt to multiple working styles.  The ability to learn/retain institutional and industry knowledge is also crucial towards managing a very high volume of throughput.     

Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership and support to the Music Research team by guiding task planning, monitoring progress, providing ongoing feedback, and fostering a productive work environment to meet workload targets and departmental goals. 

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with various DMG teams, creative executives, Film/TV production teams, and legal/business affairs partners 

• Serve as a trusted advisor on cue sheet best practices, delivery and music reporting protocols.    

• Collaborate with internal and external partners to gather production information, resolve Music Research issues, and ensure the timely and accurate creation and delivery of cue sheets 

• Oversee scheduling and workload tracking using internal tools to prioritize assignments, evaluate current and upcoming workloads and monitor progress against deadlines with regular updates to leadership on these items 

• Oversee technology tools and work with partners to enhance and integrate with processes and workflows 

• Liaise with external partners to ensure understanding and facilitate training for the correct process and throughput of information 

• Review work to ensure quality standards are met, provide guidance and respond to queries for team and partners 

• Identify areas of improvement for team, processes and technology 

• Develop collaborative relationships with stakeholders across the company 

Basic Qualifications:

• At least 7 years of previous experience including database management 

• At least 1 year of previous experience leading a team

• Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent experience preferred 

• Music Industry Experience, preferred in Music Administration 

• Proficient in all Microsoft Suite Office products 

• Experience managing multiple stakeholders 

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal 

• Thorough understanding of Music Cue Sheets, Cue Identification, and Music Copyrights 

• Ability to work within a team and drive change 

• An entrepreneurial spirit with the ability to work within a large organization 

• Strong problem solving, project management, and time management skills 

• Experience with implementation and use of technology solutions and data sets 

• Demonstrated ability to present complex business issues and solutions clearly and concisely 

• Ability to work in a dynamic and creative environment 

• Ability to manage multiple projects under tight and/or conflicting deadlines  

• Capacity to understand and navigate within the company culture 

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The hiring range for this position in Burbank, CA is $97,600 - $126,200 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.