Warner Music Group has appointed Ariel Bardin to the newly-created publish of President of Know-how.
WMG says that Bardin will function “a key member” of the corporate’s Government Management Workforce, overseeing expertise and knowledge groups in addition to the event of methods, processes, and merchandise.
Based mostly in New York, he experiences to WMG’s CEO Robert Kyncl.
Bardin is Kyncl’s second ex-YouTube/Google rent because the latter exec turned Warner Music Group CEO in January 2023.
Kyncl final month appointed Tim Matusch – previously Managing Director, Technique & Enterprise Operations at YouTube – as WMG’s EVP of Technique & Operations
Kyncl is ex-Google/Alphabet himself, after all, having spent over a decade at YouTube as Chief Enterprise Officer earlier than becoming a member of WMG.
Ariel Bardin spent 16 years at Google and YouTube, the place, based on a Warner media launch, he “constructed, launched, and led a few of the firm’s most profitable initiatives”, together with Google AdWords and Google Funds.
At YouTube, Bardin labored carefully with high creators to make sure the platform helped them construct their companies, and he headed the groups growing creator merchandise and ContentID.
Previous to becoming a member of WMG, Bardin was Chief Product Officer at Celonis, which based on the announcement, “has created a brand new class of software program to assist most of the world’s largest firms use ‘course of mining’ to boost their operations and efficiency”.
“Ariel understands how expertise can serve creativity to have actual, long-lasting cultural and industrial affect.”
Robert Kyncl
Kyncl mentioned: “Ariel understands how expertise can serve creativity to have actual, long-lasting cultural and industrial affect.
“He has an amazing appreciation for artistry, deep technical experience, and a confirmed observe document in execution on the highest degree. We’re lucky to welcome him to our staff.”
“WMG is coming into an thrilling new period beneath [Robert Kyncl’s] management, and I’m trying ahead to becoming a member of him and the remainder of the corporate on a mission to offer the very best degree of service to the corporate’s artists, songwriters, and groups.”
Ariel Bardin
Bardin mentioned: “I had the pleasure of working with Robert throughout our time collectively at Google, the place I particularly loved our work empowering and equipping YouTube creators.
“WMG is coming into an thrilling new period beneath his management, and I’m trying ahead to becoming a member of him and the remainder of the corporate on a mission to offer the very best degree of service to the corporate’s artists, songwriters, and groups.”
In 2016, the document business attacked YouTube within the media for its so-called “worth hole” – i.e. the distinction between the massive quantity of music consumption occurring on the platform, and the royalties being paid out.
That 12 months, in an op/ed article for the Monetary Instances, Ariel Bardin, then VP of Product Administration at YouTube, wrote: “The reality is that YouTube takes copyright administration extraordinarily severely and we work laborious to make sure rights holders become profitable irrespective of who uploads their music. No different platform provides as a lot a refund to creators — huge and small — throughout every kind of content material.”
He defined that ContentID “robotically detects whether or not an uploaded video accommodates content material — like music — initially created by that proprietor. It then gives rights holders a selection: they will block that video or go away it up and earn income from it”.
Bardin argued that, partly because of ContentID, YouTube had by this level “paid out greater than $3bn to the music business — and that quantity is rising considerably 12 months on 12 months”.
It continued to develop: In accordance with now-Head of Music at YouTube, Lyor Cohen, YouTube paid out over $6 billion to the music enterprise within the 12 months ended June 2022.
Round $2 billion of that determine, mentioned Cohen, got here from income generated by music on user-generated movies, recognized by rightsholders by way of ContentID.
Bardin has an MS diploma in Administration Science & Engineering from Stanford College and a BS in Pc Science & Engineering from the College of Southern California.
