Apple Music poaches Google’s Lindsay Rothschild to nurture relationships with songwriters and artists

Apple Music’s strengthened its publishing arm with creative services head Lindsay Rothschild who arrives from Google where she led YouTube’s songwriter and publisher relations.

Variety has learned that Rothschild started at Apple on April 29.

Described as a professional who can “speak and understand the language of songwriters,” Rothschild will focus on building working relationships with the songwriter community. In addition, she will manage key creatives and A&R on the publishing side of the music industry.

For those wondering, A&R, or artists and repertoire, denotes a division responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters.

Variety says her position also entails “guiding rights-holders through the Apple ecosystem and identify areas of incremental value within their musical compositions.”

From the report:

The hiring comes at a time of strain for songwriter relations as they pertain to tech companies. In recent months, Spotify has come under vocal criticism of its attempt appeal a 2018 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to raise the rate paid to songwriters by 44 percent over the next five years. Amazon, Google and SiriusXM/Pandora joined in the battle, but Apple sat it out, winning the PR war.

Aside from managing YouTube’s songwriter and publisher relations, she was head of music publishing business development for YouTube and Google Play. The Los Angeles native previously worked at Disney Music Group and Warner/Chappell.