Music Rights & Clearances Manager — Hybrid Role

NPR; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 101,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellness benefits

Paid time off

Retirement plans

Job summary

NPR in New York is seeking a Music Rights & Clearances Manager to bridge NPR Music's creative programming with intellectual property rights. You will lead end-to-end clearance for flagship productions—including Tiny Desk—operating as a critical partner between production units, legal counsel, and rights holders.

This is a high-impact, hybrid role to modernize rights-tracking, execute publishing and master agreements, and protect artistic integrity and legal compliance across NPR's music and

Qualifications

• 5+ years of music licensing or rights management experience.
• Operational mastery of licensing rights and agreements.
• Experience clearing rights on social media platforms and YouTube.
• Experience handling inbound/outbound appearance releases and licensing.
• Ability to design and implement clearance workflows.

Responsibilities

• Clear Publishing & Composition rights for NPR's Tiny Desk concerts and events.
• Secure Master & Synchronization licenses for podcasts and video series.
• Administer releases and rights documentation prior to broadcast.
• Oversee multi-platform digital rights across platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
• Coordinate royalties and distribution accounting with finance.
• Manage inbound/outbound rights agreements and archival of documents.
• Design clearance workflows and collaborate with legal counsel.
• Partner with the Office of General Counsel on IP risk and compliance.

Skills

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

Attention to detail

Licensing processes

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Airtable

Salesforce

Asana

Job description

NPR in New York is seeking a Music Rights & Clearances Manager to bridge NPR Music's creative programming with intellectual property rights. You will lead end-to-end clearance for flagship productions—including Tiny Desk—operating as a critical partner between production units, legal counsel, and rights holders.

This is a high-impact, hybrid role to modernize rights-tracking, execute publishing and master agreements, and protect artistic integrity and legal compliance across NPR's music and