FEATURE:
Modern-Day Queens
IN THIS PHOTO: Isabel Garvey, Chief Operating Officer at Warner Music UK (a role which she steps down from at the end of this year), was the winner of Outstanding Contribution at the Women In Music Awards 2025 on 10th October, 2025 at JW Marriott Grosvenor House London/PHOTO CREDIT: Music Week
Isabel Garvey
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ONE of the most important events…
PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Louise Bennett
in the music calendar occurred on 10th October. It took place at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London. I think that more focus needs to be put on the event. Not only because women in music are not celebrated as much as they should be. We do not spend enough time spotlighting and commending the incredible work that women do throughout the industry. At a time when there is still huge imbalance and misogyny. Technical roles and studio jobs. Still dominated by men. Not as many opportunities for girls and women as there should be. In another feature, I will reflect on a scheme FKA twigs is launching. Someone who recognises that women are underrepresented, Saffron is designed to challenge that. You can read more here. The New Artist award winners are Alt Blk Era. I am going to shine a light on them in another feature. For this Modern-Day Queens, rather than highlight an artist, I instead want to talk about Isabel Garvey. It has been announced that she is stepping down from her role as Chief Operating Officer at Warner Music UK. Prior to her work with Warner, Garvey was the managing director of Universal Music's Abbey Road Studios. There is no denying the huge contribution that she has made to music. I am going to come to the Music Week interview with Isabel Garvey. I will come to a couple of other interviews before that. I want to start out with an interview from Music Ally. Isabel Garvey discussed what success means now for artists. Whereas a chart-topping album was a real peak, now things are different. It is more complex and multifaceted. I am really interested in what Garvey says and I wanted to bring in the first parts of the interview:
“Isabel Garvey has been COO of Warner Music UK since May 2023, having previously been MD of Abbey Road Studios (owned by Universal Music Group). Going from where records are crafted to where hits and success have to be minted marks a creative shift, a business shift and a cultural shift.
What shape that success takes, however, depends on your expectations, your scale of investment and what angle you are looking at it all from.
“Success is very different in the world we live in today – or the metrics of success are different,” says Garvey. “An artist’s definition of what success looks like can vary as well.”
Under the ownership of Edgar Bronfman Jr (from 2004 to early 2012), the focus at Warner Music was around multiple-rights deals (or, ideally, 360-degree deals), in a large part a spread bet response to cratering CD sales. That era, says Garvey, is firmly in the past for Warner, outside of a handful of smaller markets. “There is no prerequisite that you must sign up to these things,” she says of current artist contracts. The focus is on recorded music revenues, although that can include partnering on D2C.
“The reality is we probably pick up artists at a lot of different phases,” says Garvey of how acts are signed at Warner. “I can think of a couple of signings we did this year that are super early stage and there are no followers of social media. They are very music-driven signings. Then there are artists where you can see the bubblings of social media picking up on a song or on the artists themselves. And then there’s the signing frenzy around these artists.”
She says that acts must be backed in the long term as the build is longer and harder. Charli XCX, with Brat, is a solid example of that, taking six albums before hitting the mainstream (or what we understand as the mainstream now).
“We’re investing [in acts] at the same rate, if not more, because the media environment and the media landscape is so changed,” she says, arguing the acts can run at a loss for longer than in more impatient times in the past – all in the hope or belief that success is coming. “I think we tolerate the red for a long time.”
She points to Fred Again.. as an act that might not have one of the key success metrics of the past (major chart hits). “But he is streaming incredibly well, building a hugely engaged listener base and selling out stadiums around the world.”
She adds, “We’re investing for the longer term, so we will stick with things. Charli is on album six now. We’re really sticking with artists. It’s not: ‘That didn’t work – goodbye.’ The whole point of A&R is to pivot. We saw some shoots of success here, so let’s pivot towards that and let’s grow that audience”.
Back in May, Music Business Worldwide spoke with Isabel Garvey and asked her to name the songs that define her life. Those that are most important. The Music Week interview I will come to explains why Garvey is so important and influential. Why she richly deserved the Outstanding Contribution award at the Women in Music Awards 2025:
“1) Dave Brubek, Take 5 (1959)
I’m one of four girls, and when I was growing up my dad used to take himself off on a Sunday to listen to jazz on vinyl, it was quite religious for him. Jazz was very much part of the soundtrack to my very earliest days, hearing trumpets and piano coming out of his room while he escaped for a couple of hours!
It brought a kind of calm to the house – which wasn’t always there thanks to there being four girls. I associate it with the smell of print from the Sunday papers, and it’s just a very warm memory for me.
“I still love jazz to this day, to the extent that I’m currently trying desperately to force my eight-year-old to learn the trumpet.”
It also clearly seeped in, because I still love jazz to this day, to the extent that I’m currently trying desperately to force my eight-year-old to learn the trumpet.
There was a lot of music in the house generally. My mum actually grew up in a very classical music environment. And, like I say, my dad was really into his jazz. But then whenever we’d go on car journeys we’d force him to put musical soundtracks on while all four of us sang our heads off.
I think that’s why he needed his Sundays.
3) Corona, Rhythm of the Night (1993)
This takes me back to night clubs, growing up in Dublin and being with all my childhood friends.
This was our song, it was the one where you put your bag down and you went onto the dance floor.
I struggled to pick just one track from that era of dance music, because there was so much of it that we loved.
There was Haddaway, there was Daft Punk, there was Darude… they’re all tracks that take me back to a real time and place and bring me such a lot of joy, still to this day.
“I was at a birthday party recently, this came on and I couldn’t have been happier! It’s amazing the impact one track can have.”
In fact, I was at a birthday party recently and this came on and I couldn’t have been happier! It’s amazing the impact one track can have.
It was a great time to be going out in Dublin, whether to bars that hosted live gigs with DJs coming on after. or the clubs on Leeson Street.
7) The Beatles, Come Together (1969)
Obviously I had to have at least one track with an Abbey Road connection, and this one just seemed perfect.
Running Abbey Road for eight years has been one of the absolute privileges of my life. It’s just a phenomenal place, steeped in history. You still get the goosebumps going up the steps.
Of course its story is so interwoven with the Beatles, and this particular song is from Abbey Road, which is the album that named the studio. Until then, it had always been known as EMI Studios.
The connection between the two is magical, and when you bring people to the studio, the first thing they want to see is Studio Two, the Lady Madonna piano, etc.
These are the fables that the studio is built on, but they’re not fables; they are part of the reality of that building, they’re the result of how the Fab Four – along with Sir George Martin – worked with that studio.
We did a lot of playbacks of Beatles songs, and this is one that we used quite a lot, so it’s ingrained in me as a track that represents my time there.
My time at Abbey Road was full of very surreal moments: I’m in Abbey Road, which is mad enough, I’m running Abbey Road, which is crazy – and now I’m just casually saying hello to Paul McCartney in the corridor!
8) Dua Lipa, Levitating (2020)
I actually feel like I owe a lot to Dua Lipa, for this song and this album. It came out in lockdown when we were all in the depths of depression, a lot of us struggling quite a bit with this unprecedented situation, and then there’s this irresistibly joyful and uplifting album reminding us that we will be back out there at some time in the future.
One thing I did to preserve my sanity in lockdown was go for a run along the Thames, and I would make sure I planted this song halfway through my playlists to lift me and keep me going.
It was the album we all needed. It was kind of a throw back to the eighties, and to the days of disco, so it was both familiar and new – all made even better by a phenomenal voice. It was my salvation”.
I will end with the main interview. When Music Week spoke with its main award winner recently. Someone who has made a huge impact on he music industry, it is fascinating reading her words. What she has accomplished. Also, the question regarding what comes next, as she is leaving her role as Chief Operating Officer at Warner Music UK in December:
“Isabel Garvey has always been someone who is willing to embrace change, who will invest in new technologies, adjust business structures or look for patterns in consumer behaviour. And, days before being presented with the Music Week Women In Music Award for Outstanding Contribution, she turned towards another huge change and announced she would be stepping down from her role as chief operating officer at Warner Music UK in December.
Garvey informed colleagues that her decision was made following the reorganisation at the major last month when Tony Harlow stepped down as CEO. Under the new framework, Atlantic and Warner Records presidents report to US management, while Warner Music UK’s other teams will be overseen directly by Simon Robson, president, EMEA, Recorded Music.
“The structure of our UK business has changed quite fundamentally,” Garvey tells Music Week. “I've worked with leadership here to figure out if there's a path for me going forward. But, I think, the structure has changed so much that there isn't much of a COO role anymore. So it felt incredibly logical to step down and think about the next thing. I do wish everyone at Warner, and the new structure, well. I am sure it will be a raving success.”
Garvey’s time at Warner has been full of highs. Since joining in 2023, she has overseen the commercial, legal, business affairs and artist relations teams, as well as Rhino Records UK and The Firepit Studios. This has included restructuring the commercial team and establishing a data and insight team.
“There was always a brilliant data team here at Warner, so it was just about creating easy reference tools,” she says. “It’s almost like a new language of how we communicate with the artists and with the labels, to make sure that the data is actually changing behaviour and really accelerating artists profiles… We have a lot of data scientists who've done really smart work around the correlation between social media discovery and streaming. It has been a really exciting area to be in, it felt very cutting edge.”
Prior to her work as COO of Warner, Garvey was the managing director of Universal Music’s Abbey Road Studios, where, amongst many other things, she launched the legendary venue’s digital production services and Europe's first incubator for music tech innovation. She has also held various other senior roles, including SVP of commercial channels and consumer marketing at Warner Music International and VP of digital at EMI.
So, what’s next?
“I'm very excited about the future,” she says. “I think there's plenty I can still contribute and do and I'd like to be somewhere where I can be the mastermind of that.”
And so as Garvey ponders her next outstanding contribution, we reflect on her story so far...
Firstly, what are your initial reflections on winning the Outstanding Contribution honour?
“It was a huge honour to be in that room and amongst so many incredibly talented women, and to be singled out feels really special. It's brilliant. I love this industry, so to be honoured by the industry is a real, real joy.”
With this award and your impending departure from Warner, is this a time for reflection on your years in the industry?
“Yes, the beauty of this award is it really forces you to reflect on the journey. I mean, my entry into the company was particularly interesting. One of the first things I did was stand in front of a government inquiry on misogyny. That's very apt to bring up for this interview, but that was a baptism of fire. But we liaised with the government and the BPI and did a lot of work on that. We’ve worked with the government on AI challenges and looked at what we need to do to lean into a new government and make sure this industry was set up for growth. I've also done a lot of work with a team here and internally on how we kind of become a lot more strategic, a lot more data-led in terms of our decision making.”
With the likes of Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, PinkPantheress, Rachel Chinouriri and more, Warner acts have been at the heart of a period of female acts dominating the charts and the live circuit. Why do you think these acts are doing so well at this time?
“Personally, I think it's long overdue. Previously we were all terribly concerned that the representation in the charts still wasn’t female enough. Now the pendulum has swung the other way, where we have almost a dominance of female artists who are real lyricists and storytellers. It’s not throwaway pop, it’s relatable and thoughtful artistry.”
In terms of female talent on the executive side, are you seeing enough coming through? Is this something that you've been involved in nurturing?
“Yes, yes, yes. I personally grew up in an industry where I never had female leadership above me and anyone to model myself against. I've always taken my role very seriously in terms of being hopefully inspirational and definitely a mentor to people coming through. But Tony [Harlow] and I have very purposefully thought about diversity, particularly gender diversity, in the UK team. We have an incredible generation of women that are coming through in numbers. It's not just identifying talent, it is also having the right parental leave in place and nurturing a culture that supports women through all their various life stages. I feel like there's excellent groundwork in place and a generation that's ready to push through.”
How would you describe your own journey through the music business?
“I've been in this industry now for over 20 years, and I have just loved it. I joined it when Napster was stealing the world's music. The parallels with today are quite ironic, it’s strange that we're on the next iteration of that [technological shift with AI]. I've always been at the intersection of creativity and commerce, and the changes that are forcing the business to innovate.”
You started out at EMI, how do you reflect on that time now?
“I joined as the chief of staff at EMI Music. I was working for Alan Levy and David Munns. It was a great introduction, because they were chairman and vice chairman of the recorded music side and they taught me the industry top to bottom. So I got the best schooling you could get. And then I moved into business development. That was the era of ringtones and going over to the West Coast of the US to do ringtone deals with Microsoft. It was a really exciting time, it was that cusp of change again, because at that point only 2% of revenue was digital. Just imagine how far we’ve come.”
And from there you took a job at Warner Music International…
“I ran the European digital business there. That was an era where we talked about 360 degree deals a lot, so it was about expanded rights. But rather than grabbing rights from artists, it was about building capabilities, buying merch companies and live companies, many of whom are still in the portfolio today throughout Europe. I’ve always been very digital and technology leaning in what I’ve been doing. But then I got the call to go and run Abbey Road…”
How exactly did that come about?
“Universal had just acquired EMI and with it Abbey Road. They had really exciting entrepreneurial plans about what you could do with a brand and a place as magical as Abbey Road. I spent seven years there reimagining this place that’s an incredible cultural icon, but working on how to take it outside just being a physical studio in north west London. So we built tech incubators and schools and retail stores, and it became a business with multiple strands, but always with creativity and music production at its core.”
What do you think the future of the industry looks like?
“I wish I had that crystal ball. It feels daunting, but I have no doubt that if the government puts the right legislation in place, if we're smart about how we licence and how we represent artists in this new AI world, then I think there's plenty of opportunity. I think the challenge for all of us is we can see how powerful the technology is, but we don't see what the consumer proposition is just yet. There are so many articles out there at the moment about how disruptive AI can be. But in terms of actual industry uptake, how we use it day-to-day, or how we use it facing our audiences… we’re not there yet. It's kind of like Skype. We all know Skype and video calling now, but it took 10 years for that technology to make sense. So I think it's going to be a journey. Change has just been such a constant in our industry, I have no doubt that we will be able to hold hands with all of the various stakeholders and actually find something that kind of comes through.”
And, speaking personally, what would you like to do next?
“I don’t know… I am definitely the person who is the commercial brain, and I love this beautifully creative business that we work in. I love the clash. It can be really frustrating, but it’s also really rewarding, that clash of creativity and commerce. I'd love to stay in that intersection and find a growth business, a business that has a real energy about doing something different. We're about to hit another phase of serious disruption, so being able to plot something disruptive, disrupting with the disruptors, feels really compelling. It can feel quite daunting, reading the headlines and trying to get our heads around AI in the first instance. How do we market effectively? How can we be really good champions of artists in this world and this landscape? But it brings huge opportunities and new ways of working. Who knows where the next opportunity is?”.
A hugely important figure in the music industry, I wanted to shine a light on the award-winning Isabel Garvey. It will be exciting to see what her next step is and what opportunities lie ahead. The Women in Music Awards 2025 celebrated everyone from Chantal Epp, Semera Khan and Amy Wheatley. I will be spending time with some of these amazing women for future features. However, I did want to spend some time with Isabel Garvey. A modern-day queen and incredible influence and force for good in music, small wonder that she received such a high accolade from Music Week. The amazing and inspiring Isabel Garvey is such…
AN incredible human.