Michelle Jubelirer has been promoted to chair and CEO of Capitol Music Group. She joined the company in 2013 as EVP and was upped to COO in 2015. She succeeds Jeff Vaughn, who leaves the company “to pursue new opportunities,” per a release, and will report to Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge.
Jubelirer will have oversight of labels Capitol Records, Blue Note Records, Astralwerks, Harvest Records, Capitol Christian Music Group and Virgin Music Label and Artist Services. She’ll remain based in the company’s Capitol Tower in Hollywood.
As the top executive at CMG, she becomes the first female to head the company in its 80-year history.
Capitol is home to such acts as Katy Perry, Halsey, Sam Smith, Beck, Maggie Rogers and Toosii, as well as iconoclasts Neil Diamond, Barry Gibb and Paul McCartney.
Before joining CMG, Jubelirer was a partner alongside Howard King and Peter Paterno at one of music’s top law firms (now King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, LLP) where she represented the likes of Avicii, Kesha, M.I.A., Damian Marley, Stephen Marley, Nas, Frank Ocean, Odd Future, Pharrell, Slipknot, Swedish House Mafia and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, among other entertainers and fashion names.
Her career began at New York’s Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 1999; she joined Sony Music in 2003 and moved to Los Angeles in 2005.
Through her experience as an attorney, Jubelirer developed a vast network of industry relationships, which brought her to the attention of major labels. She joined Capitol as part of former chairman Steve Barnett’s team, which revitalized the company after years of cost-cutting and diminished influence, and is widely regarded as among the most respected executives working in music today.
Said Grainge: “Michelle is a highly experienced executive and inspiring leader who has been integral to the success of Capitol Music Group since we relaunched the company nearly ten years ago. She is a fierce advocate for artists, a savvy deal maker and a hands-on builder of partnerships within the industry and creative communities I’m confident that Michelle will strengthen CMG’s 80-year legacy and lead the company to new levels of success and influence, and I congratulate her on this well-deserved promotion.”
“I am grateful to Sir Lucian and everyone within UMG who continue to support me and the incredible team of creative and hard-working professionals at CMG,” added Jubelirer. “Lucian fosters a company culture in which music and artistry are always the priority, and I will continue to dedicate myself to that ethos by advocating for our artists and helping them to achieve their dreams. I am also committed to further establishing diversity and inclusion as our norm, while nurturing our executive talent and helping them develop into the next generation of industry leaders. This is such an exciting time in music and I’m thrilled and humbled to be leading such a dynamic Capitol Music Group, while at the same time honoring its historic legacy.”
Vaughn joined Capitol in Jan. 2020 as label president and was promoted a year later to chairman.
