A TASTE OF RAINMAKERS 2024: JENNIFER KNOEPFLE

The biggest album of 2024 is largely a UMPG affair.

On April 19, Taylor Swift, a Universal Music Publishing Group songwriter, released her 11th LP, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. As was the case with Swift’s Grammy-winning Midnights album, her chief collaborator on TORTURED POETS is songwriter-producer Jack Antonoff, who, like Swift, is now a UMPG client, having followed his longtime publishing exec, Jennifer Knoepfle, when she left Sony Music Publishing to join UMPG as the pubco’s co-head of U.S. A&R.

Knoepfle reunited with UMPG Chairperson/CEO Jody Gerson in 2022 after spending 13 years at Sony, with Gerson serving as her boss and mentor for about half of that tenure. At Sony, Knoepfle signed or developed such artists, writers and producers as Antonoff, Noah Kahan, Aaron Dessner, Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo), Tate McRae, Leon Bridges, Ariel Rechtshaid, BloodPop, Willow, King Princess, Lord Huron, Wallows and Maggie Rogers.

Since joining UMPG, a number of Knoepfle’s songwriters, producers and artists followed her to the pubco, including Antonoff and his band, Bleachers, Maggie Rogers, Lord Huron and Wallows. She has also signed a number of major stars to UMPG like boygenius’ Lucy Dacus and Dan Wilson (Adele, Chris Stapleton).

“As far as I am concerned,” says Gerson, “Jenn Knoepfle is one of the best music executives I have ever known. She has impeccable taste in music and deep belief in the songwriters and artists she signs. She commits to them and knows how to support and amplify their talents. She is also a tremendous leader, mentor and role model. I am so happy she is leading our A&R team in the U.S.”

How would you compare the culture at Sony to that of Universal?

At Universal, A&R is at the center of every decision. Everything we do is centered around, “Do we feel this artist or this songwriter is going to be important for a long time? Are we the people who are going to be able to help this person get to where they want to be? Are we the right fit?” And Jody has built one of the best rosters in the entire business. Even when I was at Sony, I was looking at Universal and like, “Oh my God, this artist roster is absolutely insane.”

I mean, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Ariana Grande, Drake, Metro Boomin, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, Rosalia, SZA. The most important artists of the last 10 years are at this company.

When I was at Sony, we were always trying to figure out how to get our writers and producers on to those projects. I had a great experience at Sony, but when we merged with EMI, we went from being a small company to a very, very large company.

The difference I see here is that there is a lot of focus around “What are we trying to achieve? What are the things that are going to be meaningful in the next 10 or 20 years?” It’s quite deliberate in terms of how we approach A&R, which I think is a very good strategy, because it doesn’t really burn your A&R team to the ground.

What do you value most in your boss and co-workers: Jody and COO Marc Cimino in particular?

Obviously, Jody and I have had a long relationship. Eight years had passed between us working together. She’d gone on to become the chief executive of a company. I went on to be a head of A&R. Each of us was doing our thing. So coming to UMPG, I was really excited to see how our relationship had grown. And she’s delivered on absolutely everything that she’d said this would be.

Mark is like the North Star—he’s just steady. He’s a family man. He’s really caring and collaborative. We share a similar musical background, so we align on a lot of artists that we love: the Chili Peppers, Wilco, Tom Petty, artists like that.

Do you think there’s a difference working at a woman-led company?

Yes. It’s subtle. I think the best way to put it is that there’s a shared understanding. I’d never worked at a woman-led company, and towards the end of my tenure at Sony, I started to feel that that was very important to me. It’s so hard for women to get into positions of power in the business, and I wanted to put my money where my mouth is. I wanted to work with a woman. I wanted to work at a place where not only do we have a chairwoman, but where the head of Latin is a woman [Alexandra Lioutikoff] and where our head of sync is a woman [Marni Condro].

I don’t want to generalize, but I do feel that a more collaborative spirit exists here. And I also think that women can multitask better than men.

I am a parent to an 8-year-old boy, and I’ve always worked for family-friendly bosses. Certainly, no one has ever asked me to put my child aside to do my job. But you start to become very cognizant when you look at the lives of people at the top of the companies and think, “That’s not my situation. I don’t have a partner who stays at home and raises my children. I have a husband who has an equally demanding job. I have to balance family and work.”