Julie Swidler to Exit Sony Music After 18 Years, Launch Advisory Firm
Julie Swidler, Sony Music's executive VP of business affairs and general counsel, is stepping down after 18 years to launch an advisory services company. Her departure has been planned for some time, according to Sony Music Group chairman **Rob S...
After a remarkable 18-year tenure as Sony Music’s executive VP of business affairs and general counsel, Julie Swidler is set to depart at the end of June.
"Julie has been a vital component of the Sony Music senior management team for many years, and her wisdom, experience and knowledge has been a bedrock of our company’s strategy and growth,” stated Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer. “She leaves us with our deepest respect and gratitude. As a friend and colleague, on a personal note, as Julie and I have planned together her departure for a while now, she will be missed at Sony Music, but I know that her next working chapter will be equally stimulating and rewarding.”
Swidler, a regular on Billboard’s Power 100, Top Music Lawyers, and Women in Music lists, is embarking on a new venture: launching an advisory services company focused on creative endeavors.
"Every great adventure eventually makes room for a new one, and this feels like the right moment for mine,” Swidler shared. “There are few companies in the world like Sony Music that carry this much history and remain this relevant. Being part of that legacy has been a privilege. That journey would not have been the same without Rob Stringer’s leadership, friendship and trust, and I’m grateful for all of it. I’m just as proud of our global business and legal affairs practice and the extraordinary people in it who are truly second to none. We have always been guided by what is fair and right for artists, and that compass never failed us.”
During her nearly two decades at the company, Swidler, one of the highest-ranking women in the record industry, has overseen Sony Music’s business, legal, and governmental affairs globally. Her responsibilities included advising the company’s record labels and operating units on negotiations, talent agreements, litigation, transactions, and joint venture operations. Notably, in 2015, she oversaw Sony Music Nashville during a transition period, and in 2018, she served on the Recording Academy’s task force to examine diversity and inclusion issues within the recorded music industry.
Swidler's extensive career also includes senior legal and business affairs positions at Polygram Records, Mercury Records, Arista Records, J Records (where she helped launch the label with Clive Davis), RCA Records, and BMG. She also served as lead counsel for the 1994 Woodstock Festival.
Swidler will be honored on June 8 by the UJA-Federation of New York at the 26th annual music visionary of the year award celebration, alongside Universal Music Group’s Jeff Harleston and Warner Music Group’s Paul Robinson. She is a recipient of the Grammy Foundation’s Entertainment Law Initiative Service Award, the T.J. Martell Foundation’s Lifetime Music Industry Award, and the Music Business Association’s Presidential Honor.
Swidler, an alumna of Union College, has served as the chair of the board of trustees at her alma mater since 2023.
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