LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) —
Warner/Chappell Music (WCM), the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp., has named Glen Brunman executive vice president, head of Creative (U.S.), Warner/Chappell Music.
Prior to joining Warner/Chappell, Brunman spent more than three decades at Sony Music (formerly CBS Records), more than half of them managing recorded music as well as film and television projects. He most recently served as president of the Soundtrax label which he founded in 1992, and for which he acquired, developed and marketed such soundtracks as "Titanic," "Forrest Gump," and "Chicago," among many others. Based in Los Angeles, Brunman reports to Dave Johnson, chairman and CEO of Warner/Chappell Music.
Brunman will oversee all of Warner/Chappell's A&R, creative and music synchronization efforts in the U.S. He will focus on expanding the depth and breadth of the current artist roster and identifying new opportunities for Warner/Chappell's library across a range of traditional and emerging platforms, including online and mobile.
During the past 15 years, Brunman has forged strong relationships within the film and television industry, developed close ties with many world-class artists and worked directly with record labels and managers through the more than 200 soundtrack albums for which he has been responsible. These albums have achieved sales of more than 140 million copies worldwide and have garnered 21 Grammy Awards and nine Academy Awards. In addition to Titanic, Forrest Gump and Chicago, Brunman's film soundtrack credits include "Armageddon," "Men In Black," "Sleepless In Seattle," "Philadelphia," "Garden State" and "Dreamgirls." In the television arena, his successes include a series of soundtracks for "The Sopranos" and "Ally McBeal."
"We are excited to have an executive with Glen's experience join the first-rate team at Warner/Chappell," said Johnson. "Today's music landscape offers publishers and their roster of songwriters an unprecedented number of music placement opportunities in all forms of media and Glen brings an impressive knowledge of the industry, an entrepreneurial spirit and close ties to the artist community. He also understands first-hand the workings of record labels and music publishers and has a proven track record promoting artists and their music across multiple media platforms."
"It's a privilege to be joining the talented team at Warner/Chappell Music at this transformative time in the music industry," said Brunman. "The chance to work with an amazing roster and deep catalog to further unlock their artistic and financial value will be an exciting challenge. And the opportunity to find and develop new songwriters, as well as new ways of bringing music to an increasingly passionate audience, will be equally important and gratifying."
Brunman founded Epic Soundtrax in 1992 and served as its senior vice president until 1996, when he was put in charge of soundtracks for all of the Sony labels as executive vice president of the newly created Sony Music Soundtrax. During this period, he was a key player in the publicity and marketing strategy for Celine Dion's first two English-language albums: Unison and her eponymous follow-up album Celine Dion. He also engineered Dion's movie-music "marriages" on "Beauty and The Beast," "Sleepless in Seattle," "Up Close and Personal" and "Titanic," the combination of which effectively catapulted her to the most popular female artist in the world in the late 1990's.
Brunman started his career in the music industry in 1975 as a publicist for CBS Records, advancing to director of Tour Publicity and Special Projects for Columbia Records in 1978. From 1975-1978 he served as Bruce Springsteen's publicist for the artist's breakthrough albums Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge Of Town, as well as Billy Joel's lead publicist for his breakthrough The Stranger and 52nd Street albums.
From 1979-1988, Brunman was director, West Coast Publicity for Epic Records, during which time he was Michael Jackson's primary label publicist for his Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad releases. In 1988, Brunman was promoted to national head of Publicity and Media Relations for the Epic label where he served until 1992. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
