Warner Music Promotes Andy Ma to CEO for Greater China

By Rebecca Davis

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Warner Music Group has promoted executive Andy Ma to a new role as CEO for Greater China, the company has announced.

Ma has been with Warner Music since 2011, most recently as CEO of Warner Music China and executive vice president of commercial and business development for Greater China. Since stepping into that position in 2018, he has expanded the company’s mainland China presence and established strategic partnerships with local concert promoters and original soundtrack companies.

In prior roles within Warner Music, Ma helped develop the company’s strategic relationship with Tencent, the Chinese tech giant behind many of the country’s top digital music services, as well as with China Mobile and other Asian partners in the digital space, such as South Korea’s Melon.

In his new post, Ma will continue to report to Simon Robson, president of Warner Music Asia, and oversee the company’s business in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. His team will be “focused on creating more opportunities for development and growth across the three territories,” the firm said.

The greater China region is the sixth-largest recorded-music market in the world.

“East meets West is a mega global music trend that nobody can ignore.  It’s such an exciting time in Greater China with new scenes exploding in genres from hip-hop to dance,” said Ma, who added that he looked forward to helping their artists connect with fans both in the region and beyond.

Robson said that Ma has been “instrumental in helping forge the modern Chinese music business,” adding: “
Now this new role will allow him to combine the firepower of our operations in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei to amplify our artists in Greater China, Asia and internationally.”

Ma began his career as a business development officer at fashion giant Esprit Asia, before working in various roles across the fashion, consumer electronics and software industries.