MUMBAI: We all know of him as this affable but tough music exec based out of India and has been a familiar face for Sony Music Entertainment (SME)  in India and West Asia. Now Shridhar Subramaniam’s good work in tackling the tough Indian market is being rewarded. He will be moving to the corporate office in New York in a newly created role of president, strategy and market development, Asia and the middle-east. He will continue to oversee SM India and the Middle East and add responsibility for strategy and market development for the Asia region.

In his new role, Subramaniam will partner with each Sony Music company throughout the region to recommend and execute strategic acquisitions, joint ventures, investments and partnerships for the Company and its artists in the Asia and Middle East territories. He also will strengthen strategic relationships with other Sony operating companies and engage in all aspects of SME’s digital and partner development for SME Asia and Middle East.

For the last 18 years, Subramaniam has led Sony Music India to its market leader status. Under his leadership, the Company has built a strong roster in Hindi soundtracks, pop and regional language music and acquired Magnasound, Crescendo and other catalogues to build a strong presence in multiple languages and music genres.

The move is part of an initiative to directly connect its operations in Asia and the Middle East to the company’s leadership team and business strategy through a new reporting structure. Moving forward, there will be new hubs throughout Asia and the Middle East that will report to Sony Music’s New York-based corporate leadership.

Denis Handlin, who has successfully overseen the Asia Pacific region over the last ten years and driven the setup of SME’s Asia businesses operations, will now exclusively focus on leading the future of the Australia and New Zealand companies. As part of this new mandate, the next chapter of Denis’s illustrious career will be to continue expanding Sony Music’s portfolio of new business verticals in Australia and New Zealand while continuing his enviable track record developing local artists and breaking international acts. He will celebrate his 50th year in the Australian company in May.

In making the announcement, SMG chairman Rob Stringer said, “Asia and the Middle East are key emerging drivers of the global music industry and an important part of our current and long-term success. This new structure will enhance collaboration with the regional leadership team to drive our strategic business and creative priorities. “Denis has been very instrumental in our company’s development in this region and has assembled an excellent leadership team in Asia equipped to execute on our strategic initiatives and expand the progress on our commercial activities there.”

Also, as part of the new structure, leading Sony Music’s business in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong will be its managing director, Andrew Chan. Since joining Sony Music in 2017, Chan has signed high profile artists within the region and built partnerships with key digital and mobile companies. Previously, he led One Stop China, a joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group where he facilitated the transition of China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, into a licensed music distribution model.

Joseph Chang will continue in his role of managing director, SME Korea. He joined Sony Music in 2015 and has been instrumental in many major K-pop music deals and building new digital partners and business opportunities for our artists. He played a key role in signing the K-pop superstar Kang Daniel and has also been involved in expanding The Orchard’s business by supporting the signings of the major local K-pop labels.

Ariel Fung will become executive vice president, SME Southeast Asia. Fung joined SME in 1991 and has held various roles throughout SME Asia and Australia including Managing Director, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea. Realizing the opportunity in the marketplace, he opened the SME office in Vietnam and also began SME’s imprint label in Hong Kong called O.U.R. Works.