{"id":2134113,"date":"2025-11-04T07:49:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T07:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2134113"},"modified":"2025-11-04T07:49:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T07:49:02","slug":"sony-music-australia-ceo-vanessa-picken-to-leave-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/sony-music-australia-ceo-vanessa-picken-to-leave-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Sony Music Australia CEO Vanessa Picken to Leave Company"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sony Music has announced that Sony Music Australia and New Zealand CEO and Chair, Vanessa Picken, will depart the company after three years.<\/p>\n<p>It is understood Picken will wrap up with the label immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has been a privilege to lead such a dedicated and talented company, collaborating with so many inspiring artists and their teams,\u201d Picken said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSupporting their growth, creativity, and bold visions has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my role. With my term now complete, I feel this is the perfect time to embrace my next opportunity.<u\/><u\/><u\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-5443422882538259616MsoNoSpacing\">\u201cI am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together over the past three years, particularly during this transformative period for our Australia and New Zealand operations. We\u2019ve modernized our organizational structure, enhanced our digital and marketing capabilities, and fueled new growth through experiential and licensing ventures. Throughout it all, we\u2019ve placed a renewed focus on artist wellbeing and deepened their connection to the team.<u\/><u\/><u\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_-5443422882538259616MsoNoSpacing\">\u201cAs I move on from being the first woman to hold this role, I do so with great excitement for the future. I\u2019m confident I won\u2019t be the last, and I hope that in the process, I\u2019ve inspired others to follow their own paths.\u201d<u\/><u\/><u\/><\/p>\n<p>Picken took the top job at Sony Music\u2019s domestic operations in June 2022, following the well-publicised removal of Denis Handlin, who had served with the company for 51 years, including 37 at the helm.<\/p>\n<div class=\"observer-sub-form justify-content-center my-3 p-0 d-flex align-items-stretch bg-dark text-white\">\n<div class=\"observer-sub-form-info p-3\" style=\"justify-content: start;\">\n<h2 class=\"h5 mb-0 observer-title\">Love Music?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"observer-desc mb-2\"> Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian\/New Zealand music and globally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"spinner d-none\"> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"m_-5443422882538259616MsoNoSpacing\">Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group, added: \u201cWe extend our thanks to Vanessa for her time at Sony Music and for her commitment to guiding our artists\u2019 careers and championing local creative talent. We wish her every success in the next chapter of her journey.\u201d<u\/><u\/><\/p>\n<p>In August, reports emerged that formal complaints had been made about Picken and an investigation into her behaviour was launched, which cleared her of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring this chapter of significant transition for our Australian company, it is inevitable that there will be hurdles to overcome in the workplace,\u201d reads a statement to\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/themusicnetwork.com\/sony-music-response-report-toxic-workplace-culture-anz-affiliate\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Music Network<\/em><\/a>, issued by Sony Music Entertainment\u2019s corporate communications team in New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to take any concerns within this environment seriously and look into them thoroughly and fairly,\u201d the message continues. \u201cWith any type of inquiry, following our internal practices, policies, and adhering to local laws, we are conscious at all times of meeting our legal and governance obligations, respecting confidentiality and personal privacy. Any assertions made to the contrary are false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the\u00a0<em>Telegraph<\/em>, some employees are said to have accused Picken of undermining senior employees, making inappropriate statements about people on maternity leave, and saying \u201crude and demeaning remarks\u201d about staff.<\/p>\n<p>The major music company reportedly engaged external counsel to conduct an investigation into those complaints, which, several months ago, ultimately found no evidence of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince my appointment in 2022, my mandate as CEO and Chair of Sony Music Australia is to lead the cultural transformation of the company. That task was urgent, complex, and central to Sony Music\u2019s future in this region,\u201d Picken said in a statement, seen by <em>TMN<\/em> at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the support of an executive team, I have sought to implement a program of cultural reform focused on transparency, respect, and accountability and I am proud of our achievements to date.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeaningful cultural change is challenging, but as we strive for continuous improvement across the business we are also invested in staff engagement, diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI acknowledge that there is always more to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');fbq('init','243859349395737');fbq('track','PageView');fbq.disablePushState=true;<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source au.rollingstone.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sony Music has announced that Sony Music Australia and New Zealand CEO and Chair, Vanessa Picken, will depart the company after three years. It is understood Picken will wrap up with the label immediately. \u201cIt has been a privilege to lead such a dedicated and talented company, collaborating with so many inspiring artists and their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2134114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[307149,47288,406283,354035],"class_list":["post-2134113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-sony","tag-sony-music","tag-sony-music-australia","tag-vanessa-picken"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Sony-Music-Australia-CEO-Vanessa-Picken-to-Leave-Company.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2134115,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134113\/revisions\/2134115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2134114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}