Warner Music Group has appointed Mateusz Smółka as Managing Director of Warner Music Eastern Europe, taking up the newly created role from 7 September. Based in Warsaw, he will report to Simon Robson, President of EMEA at Warner Music, and will oversee operations across Poland, the Czech Republic, South Eastern Europe and Ukraine, with responsibility for talent development, distribution and mergers and acquisitions. The appointment reflects Warner Music's broader push to build scale and market share in the region while supporting local music scenes.

Smółka joins from Spotify, where he spent eight years leading editorial and artist and label partnership teams across ten Eastern European markets, and brings more than two decades of experience in music, media and technology, having started as a journalist. The move follows a series of Warner Music acquisitions across Central and Eastern Europe, including stakes in Slovenia's NIKA, Hungary's Magneoton and Serbia's Mascom, investment in Czech label Mike Roft, backing for Polish promoter Big Idea and label Step Records, the 2019 purchase of Slovakia's Forza Music, and the 2015 acquisition of Poland's oldest label, Polskie Nagrania, for €1.9 million.