Business Development & Strategic Partnerships Manager

We are looking for a Business Development & Strategic Partnerships Manager to lead relationship development with DSPs, music platforms, industry associations, licensing bodies, YouTube networks, distribution partners, and music technology companies.

This role will be responsible for identifying, building, negotiating, and managing strategic partnerships that support the company’s global music distribution, rights management, YouTube CMS, Content ID, licensing, and monetization infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with global DSPs, music platforms, YouTube networks, CMS providers, rights management companies, and music technology partners.
• Identify new business opportunities across digital music distribution, YouTube monetization, Content ID, licensing, publishing, neighboring rights, and platform partnerships.
• Approach and negotiate with partners such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, TikTok, Meta, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tencent, Yandex, Merlin, FUGA, The Orchard, Believe, AudioSalad, Revelator, Sonosuite, Zebralution, and other relevant industry players.
• Build relationships with music industry associations, licensing bodies, PROs, CMOs, and independent label organizations.
• Lead commercial discussions, partnership proposals, revenue-share models, distribution agreements, licensing frameworks, and backend platform deals.
• Work closely with internal teams including legal, operations, content, royalty, product, and technology teams to execute partnership agreements.
• Manage the full partnership pipeline from prospecting, outreach, negotiation, onboarding, implementation, and account growth.
• Represent the company in industry meetings, conferences, trade events, and partner discussions.
• Research market trends in streaming, music licensing, creator economy, AI music, UGC monetization, and rights management.
• Prepare business proposals, partnership decks, email outreach, reports, and deal summaries for management.

Requirements

• Minimum 3–5 years of experience in Business Development, Strategic Partnerships, Licensing, Label Relations, Platform Partnerships, or Music Distribution.
• Strong understanding of the digital music industry, including DSPs, distribution, rights management, YouTube CMS, Content ID, metadata, and monetization.
• Existing network with DSPs, labels, publishers, distributors, YouTube networks, music platforms, or industry associations is highly preferred.
• Experience negotiating commercial terms, revenue-share agreements, licensing discussions, or platform partnerships.
• Strong English communication and negotiation skills.
• Ability to work independently with international partners across different time zones.
• Strong research, outreach, follow-up, and relationship management skills.
• Comfortable preparing professional emails, decks, reports, and business proposals.
• Knowledge of DDEX, music metadata, publishing, mechanical licensing, neighboring rights, or royalty reporting is a strong advantage.

Preferred Background

Candidates with experience at or working with the following types of companies will be prioritized:

• Digital music distributors
• Record labels
• Music publishers
• YouTube MCNs or CMS networks
• DSPs or streaming platforms
• Music technology platforms
• Rights management companies
• Creator economy or digital media companies
• Industry associations or licensing organizations

Key Objectives

Within the first 6 months, the candidate is expected to:

• Build a qualified global partnership pipeline.
• Secure meetings with key DSPs, networks, distributors, and licensing partners.
• Support the company in approaching strategic partners such as Merlin, FUGA, AudioSalad, YouTube CMS partners, and DSP platforms.
• Help close or progress several high-value partnership opportunities.
• Build a structured database of global contacts and partnership opportunities.