Sony Music has promoted Stephanie Yu to General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs, putting her in charge of the company's global business, legal and governmental affairs strategy. She takes over from Julie Swidler, who departed at the end of June after 18 years in the role, and will report to Chairman Rob Stringer and COO Kevin Kelleher, both of whom praised her as a long-serving internal candidate ready for the top legal position.

Yu joined Sony Music in 2005 as a litigator after three years at law firm Covington & Burling, later spending nine years as EVP of Business and Legal Affairs at Epic Records before returning to a Sony Music-wide EVP role covering US frontline labels for over two years. During her career at the company she has helped shape legal approaches to generative AI, championed the Artists Forward transparency initiative, and been repeatedly named to Billboard's Women In Music power list; she also sits on the Entertainment Law Initiative's Executive Committee and has served on the board of the charity Womankind.