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Music’s Top Money Makers: The Highest-Paid Executives at Publicly Traded Companies


The highest-paid music executives at publicly-traded companies in 2023 include leaders at Universal Music Group, Sphere Entertainment and Live Nation.

These grants included a $100 million “one-time transition award,” according to the company’s 2023 annual report, to move Grainge from all-cash compensation in his previous contract to “a combination of cash and equity” under the stock incentive plan UMG adopted in 2022. “Shareholders typically prefer that at least half of a CEO’s equity awards be based upon performance criteria,” says Stephanie Hollinger, vp at ISS-Corporate, a Rockville, Md.-based provider of data and analytics to corporations. Grainge’s five-year employment contract, which took effect April 1, 2023, reduced his base salary by 72% and added stock-based compensation that accounts for 57% of his target pay package.

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