The past week has seen two major announcements shake up the UK record business. First came the news that Tony Harlow will step down as CEO of Warner Music UK at the end of October 2025, after six years in the role. Hot on its heels was confirmation that Warner’s flagship labels, Atlantic and Warner Records, will now operate in a newly integrated UK-US structure, with British label heads reporting directly into global leadership in the US.
At first glance, this may look like a straightforward management shuffle. But step back and the message is clear: the role of the UK in the global music ecosystem is changing.
Here are three insights we think the industry should be paying attention to:
1. The UK market alone isn’t enough to sign and break the best talent
For decades, London was the epicentre of the global record business outside of New York and LA. It was the city where a generation of A&Rs turned local acts into global household names. But the new Warner framework makes explicit what many have sensed for years: success today requires instant global scale.
Streaming has flattened borders, population size drives algorithmic reach, and artists expect their careers to be international from day one. The UK is still a cultural ignition point; but on its own, it no longer offers the competitive firepower needed to land and develop global superstars.
2. The UK’s most successful A&Rs now answer to global leadership
The executives behind some of the UK’s most powerful artist signings such as Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Charli XCX and Fred again.. are no longer reporting solely into a London-based structure. Instead, Ed Howard and Briony Turner (Atlantic UK) now report to Elliot Grainge, and Joe Kentish (Warner Records UK) reports to Aaron Bay-Schuck and Tom Corson. Grainge, Bay-Schuck and Corson are all based in LA.
It raises the question of whether this restructuring is really about amplifying talent, or more about geography. The UK’s most accomplished A&Rs, responsible for signing and developing some of the biggest artists of the past decade, now find their reporting lines routed through US-based leadership. That shift suggests the change is less a recognition of merit and more an acknowledgement that the centre of gravity for decision-making has moved firmly across the Atlantic.
3. Is the UK being relegated to “local office” status?
Perhaps the most provocative question is whether the UK is being repositioned less as an autonomous centre of gravity and more as a regional hub within Warner’s wider European and global operations. With Simon Robson (President, EMEA, Recorded Music) and Isabel Garvey (COO, WMUK) overseeing shared services, and label presidents reporting to the US, the lines of accountability suggest a structure where London no longer calls the shots on its own.
This doesn’t mean the UK market is unimportant. Quite the opposite. British acts still shape global culture, and executives here remain some of the sharpest in the business. But the framework now looks more like a “local office” plugged into global HQ, rather than a standalone powerhouse.
The bigger picture
For artists, managers, and the wider creative economy, the implications are twofold:
Opportunities are bigger: UK acts now have more direct access to global resources and coordinated campaigns.
But autonomy is smaller: the levers of power and investment are increasingly centralised in the US.
As Tony Harlow bows out, he leaves behind a reminder that UK music has always punched above its weight. The question now is whether it can continue to do so in a world where sheer market size increasingly dictates strategy, and where local expertise is expected to serve global priorities rather than set them.