Publishing Onboarding Manager

ROSTR, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Create Music Group is seeking a Publishing Onboarding Manager to oversee catalog transitions from deal handoff to steady-state administration in a fast-paced music publishing environment.

You will drive ingestion, registration, and delivery to PROs, sub-publishers, and digital endpoints, ensuring accurate metadata and rights ownership alignment while coordinating with M&A, Royalties, Business Affairs, and Legal.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience
• 4+ years in music publishing administration including onboarding catalogs
• Hands-on catalog ingestion: validating works, writers, splits, and identifiers against deal schedules
• US and Canadian PRO workflows (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN)
• Chain-of-title and split-conflict resolution
• Advanced spreadsheet work on large catalog datasets
• Direct partner- and seller-facing communication
• ISWC, IPI, ISRC knowledge

Responsibilities

• Own onboarding of catalogs end to end, from deal handoff to steady-state administration and collection
• Create transition plans with named owners and deadlines within five business days
• Be the day-to-day operational contact for partners and sellers on transitions
• Validate schedules of works, identifiers, and ownership splits against deal schedules
• Register and deliver works to societies, sub-publishers, and digital endpoints including YouTube
• Identify, transfer, and redirect rights and royalty streams
• Coordinate with M&A, Royalties, Legal, and Finance on third-party payments
• Maintain per-deal status in Atlas and report progress
• Document SOPs and surface workflow gaps
• Support pre-closing diligence and onboarding readiness

Job description

Established in 2015, Create Music Group is a leading music and entertainment company. The company operates as a record label, distribution company, and entertainment network which generates over 15 billion music streams each month on DSP’s. Named #2 on the Inc 5000 Fastest Growth Companies in America in 2020, the company has grown exponentially by leveraging its owned IP with its media and technology platform. The company works with superstar artists, major and independent record labels, and global media brands. It operates a number of companies including Label Engine, one of the largest independent music distribution platforms in the world, with over 75,000 artists and 5,000 label clients; and Flighthouse, a digital entertainment brand focused on Gen Z,which has more than 300 million followers across social media. Create Music Group is based in Hollywood, CA and has 400 employees worldwide.

Job Summary

The Publishing Onboarding Manager runs assigned publishing catalog transitions end to end, from deal handoff through steady-state administration. Executes the standard onboarding playbook across catalog ingestion, registration, and works delivery to societies, sub-publishers, and digital endpoints, and owns the identification and redirection of rights and royalty streams for assigned catalogs. Serves as day-to-day operational contact for partners and sellers, coordinating with M&A, Royalties, Business Affairs, and Legal throughout each transition. Reports to the Publishing Onboarding Director.

Responsibilities

• Owns the operational onboarding of assigned catalogs end to end, from deal handoff through absorption into steady-state administration and collection, executing the standard playbook at every stage.
• Turns deal diligence materials into a transition plan with named owners and deadlines within five business days of handoff, and keeps partners, sellers, and internal teams on schedule against it.
• Serves as the day-to-day operational contact for partners and sellers on assigned transitions, running onboarding calls, setting documentation expectations early, and escalating to the Director when partners are missing records or administrative know-how.
• Executes catalog ingestion for assigned deals: validates schedules of works, identifiers (ISRC, IPI, ISWC), and ownership splits against deal schedules, and resolves metadata gaps and chain-of-title conflicts before works are registered and delivered.
• Executes registration and works delivery for assigned catalogs to societies, sub-publishers, and digital endpoints including YouTube, including CWR submission, acknowledgement processing, and remediation of non-accepted works.
• Owns the identification, transfer, and redirection of rights and royalty streams in assigned catalogs, including US and CA PROs (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN), mechanical and digital collections, and international collection.
• Liaises with the M&A team on prior-administrator wind-down for assigned deals, which the M&A team leads, ensuring pipeline income is captured and revenue leakage prevented during handover.
• Liaises with Royalties, Business Affairs, and/or Legal on third-party payment obligations for assigned catalogs, including payee changes and account setup, ensuring these are initiated and completed on time during each transition.
• Manages several transitions at once, maintaining current per-deal status in Atlas and checking in with stakeholders on a frequent informal cadence between formal reviews.
• Delivers per-deal status, risk, registration completeness, and pipeline income capture for assigned transitions into the monthly reporting package, attributing recovered and pipeline income to the onboarding actions that produced it.
• Executes the standard playbook as written and feeds gaps, exceptions, and deal variance back to the Director, who owns the playbook and its improvement.
• Documents new procedures as SOPs at the point of first execution, and surfaces manual steps, workflow gaps, and data quality risks across assigned transitions for prioritization.
• Supports pre-closing review for deals in diligence, applying the pre-close checklist so incoming deals land onboarding-ready.
• Keeps Business Affairs, M&A, Legal, Finance, Royalties, Digital Rights, and Data & Analytics informed on assigned transitions, escalating decisions to the Director.
• Stays current on society delivery requirements, CWR versions, and identifier standards as they affect assigned catalogs.
• Supports the Director with special projects and deal-related analysis as needed.
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• 4+ years in music publishing administration, with direct experience taking catalogs from acquisition or agreement through registration and delivery
• Hands-on catalog ingestion: validating works, writers, splits, and identifiers against deal schedules
• Registration and delivery to PROs, mechanical societies, sub-publishers, and digital endpoints
• Managing multiple concurrent transitions or catalog projects with external counterparties
• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent professional experience, plus 4+ years in music publishing administration including direct experience onboarding catalogs — taking works from acquisition or agreement through registration and delivery to societies and digital endpoints.
• CWR delivery and acknowledgement processing, including diagnosing and remediating non-accepted works
• Working knowledge of identifier standards — ISWC, IPI, ISRC — and how they behave across systems
• US and Canadian PRO workflows (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN) plus mechanical and digital collection paths
• Chain-of-title and split-conflict resolution
• Advanced spreadsheet work on large catalog datasets; comfort with publishing admin systems
• Direct partner- and seller-facing communication, including holding counterparties to documentation deadlines

Preferred Qualificaitons

• Experience with JV, co-publishing, or acquired catalog onboarding specifically
• International sub-publishing and foreign collection
• SoundExchange, YouTube, and other digital rights administration
• Documenting procedures as SOPs

Pay Scale

• $65,000 - $75,000 USD per year
• The final compensation within this range will be determined based on the candidate’s experience, skills, and overall fit for the role.

Fair Chance Policy

In accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider employment for qualified applicants with criminal histories. We evaluate candidates based on their qualifications and the nature of the offense in relation to the job for which they are applying.