Warner Music Group (WMG) announced today that Maria Weaver has been named President of WEA, Warner Recorded Music’s global artist and label services network. Weaver was most recently SVP/Chief Marketing Officer at Comcast Advertising and previously held senior marketing and creative services posts at Interactive One, HBO, and Showtime. She will be based in New York and report to Max Lousada, Global CEO of Recorded Music for WMG.
Weaver will oversee the array of expertise and resources under the WEA umbrella, including streaming account management & playlisting, direct-to-fan and merchandising operations, consumer acquisition, content creation, legal & business affairs, and finance. In addition, she will lead the growth of Warner’s network of owned-and-operated consumer brands, which encompasses EMP, the merchandising e-tailer; HipHopDX, the music news site; Songkick, the live music app; and UPROXX, the youth culture website, among other digital destinations.
Lousada said, “As both art and entertainment, music has an unparalleled power to ignite passion, inspire loyalty, and attract audiences, consumers, and fans. In this attention economy, WEA is the global backbone that connects and strengthens almost all aspects of our artist development and creative marketing strategies. A multimedia innovator, Maria comes to us with three decades of wide-ranging leadership experience. She’ll be a catalyst for change, helping us to redefine our artist and label services as a unified global platform for talent, and to put our artists at the center of a whole universe of possibility.”
Weaver said, “Throughout my time in the TV, film, and cable worlds, I’ve seen how music is one of the most powerful drivers of consumer excitement and demand. The lines between visual and audio media are more blurred than ever, and I’m impressed by Warner’s progressive approach to expanding music’s reach and influence across global platforms. I want to thank Max for this wonderful new opportunity, and I’m looking forward to working with the teams at WEA, EMP, HipHopDX, Songkick, and UPROXX to pioneer the future of music on behalf of our artists, labels, and brands.”
