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For an industry that is always on the lookout for the next big thing, Maryrose Maness is an outlier. The SVP and deputy general counsel at Warner Music Group (WMG) has been in-house with the music giant since 2008. That’s more than sixteen years, or 160 in music business years. A veteran of employment, records management, and trademarks and domains at Warner, Maness continues to help one of the most recognizable names in the music business evolve at a rapid pace.
When Maness accepted her role at Warner, the iPhone was a year old. Music lovers carried both a cell phone and an MP3 player, requiring regular syncing with computers back home. Streaming was an emerging concept; now it accounts for more than 80 percent of the music industry’s revenue. Very few industries have had to change so quickly, but luckily for Warner, Maness has been behind the scenes, helping chart and finesse each new step.
Most recently, that change wasn’t related to wireless earbuds or a new streaming service; it was about how people work. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted WMG to rethink office use, collaborative spaces, and the future of work. The SVP says her organization initially piloted hot-desking—more of a coworking space feel, where no desk is owned by an employee—but it didn’t allow for the kind of collaboration the company needed.
“We wound up assigning permanent desks for those of us who went back into the office and [having] different office space designs, which altered my work style a lot,” Maness says. “I used to have a more traditional office, and now I have a large conference table with a huge screen. It allows me to invite people in, to collaborate more easily, including with people who aren’t onsite.”
Remote work has provided some additional challenges for managers, the SVP says. It requires both managers and employees to develop new ways to interact and a different style of performance management. While WMG has returned to a hybrid four-day work schedule for most employees, lessons learned during the pandemic have had lasting power.
“We’ve continued to push a lot more cross-functional collaboration,” the SVP says. “Even when we’ve got colleagues across the world up on screens, it still feels intimate. It still feels like everyone can contribute. Our work product has improved significantly. There had to be some kind of silver lining to such a terrible time.”
Maness quotes a favorite saying, “Change is the only constant in life.” It’s a mindset that’s responsible for Maness’s continuing efficacy in a business that often has high turnover and must reinvent itself.
Last year, WMG restructured key operations and consolidated and streamlined its processes. For Maness, that meant even more collaboration and strategic support during a challenging moment.
“I used to have a more traditional office, and now I have a large conference table with a huge screen. It allows me to invite people in, to collaborate more easily, including with people who aren’t onsite.”
Maryrose Maness
“Internally, we’re focused on our employee talent,” Maness says. “We’re embarking on the creation of a more robust talent framework. The goal is to connect internal talent with opportunities to grow and develop. It defines clear roles for employees and provides them with a road map to get where they want to go in their careers.”
The SVP says this transparency and support will ensure the development and retention of key talent. Maness’s employment team is also developing an employment foundation series. This set of modules will train HR and managers in performance management and other HR processes.
For those hoping to build a career in the music business, Maness says that getting experience early on, whether it be volunteering with a music nonprofit or a college internship program with a music company or firm that specializes in this area, this demonstrates a love and appreciation for music.
“When it comes to the music business, drafting is so key,” Maness says. “Everything you touch includes drafting and negotiating—employment and commercial agreements.”
Then there’s the personality type, which can be a little harder to cultivate. Being flexible, nimble, and open-minded is not the way everyone is built. But in a business that continually finds new ways to reach its audience, to market new products, and to adapt to the marketplace, it’s incumbent on attorneys to be fluid, finding ways to elevate the business while still providing sound legal counsel.
To retain that flexibility, Maness continues to seek out new challenges. During the pandemic, the SVP took up tennis, and it stuck. Maness sometimes takes two lessons a week and says tennis has made her a better lawyer. Consider the junk ball, an intentionally wonky shot that can throw players off their game.
“Tennis made me more prepared for the ‘junk balls’ of life,” Maness says laughing. “It may have some weird spin to it, but I’m going to figure it out. That applies to the tennis court just as much as the challenges I see at work every day.”
