The view is impressive.

Doreen Schimk and Fabian Drebes know that all too well.

So they first lead to the narrow balcony of the striking brick building in Hamburg's warehouse district, where Warner Music's headquarters for the German-speaking area is located.

There are worse locations, but it's not just the view of the Elbphilharmonie that keeps the duo from thinking about moving to the neighborhood of their big competitors Sony and Universal Music.

Benjamin Fisher

Editor in Business.

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"We are in Berlin every week and there we exchange ideas with our teams and partners," says Schimk.

"Hamburg-Berlin as a route is no longer a problem today, and with hybrid working models even more flexibility is possible anyway." Berlin is an enormously international and creative city, adds Drebes.

But sometimes you get the impression “that all German artists are romping about in Berlin, and they come from all parts of the country.

Germany is very decentralized, and that also applies to the music scene.” With DJ star Robin Schulz, one of the most successful local Warner artists comes from Osnabrück, for example.

"The Metaverse isn't future, it's present."

On October 1 of last year, Schimk and Drebes jointly took over the management of the Speicherstadt.

They form the first dual leadership in Germany with a "major", as the three global music giants are also called.

Schimk is also the first woman ever in this role.

The duo succeeded Bernd Dopp, who had managed Warner Music in German-speaking countries since 2004.

Big footsteps, with Dopp managing the change well, as both emphasize.

They are still in weekly contact with their old boss, who now acts as an advisor.

Nevertheless, they attach great importance to wanting to shape a new style.

"We aim to really live the issues of parity and diversity, and that also applies to our management team," says Schimk.

These are “visible things and not just nice announcements.” After around seven months, she draws a positive conclusion for the Doppelspitze project, which by no means always works everywhere: “We are very lucky to complement each other fantastically.

We have also recognized that clear role assignments are important and that we too have to live an open feedback culture.”

While Drebes concentrates on the marketing of the repertoire and the areas of law and finance, Schimk is in charge of human resources and issues such as brand partnerships or the transformation of the company.

"We didn't directly present a finished new structure, but rather took our time and made it clear in discussions with our management: this will not be frontal teaching in the future, everyone should help shape the change," explains Drebes.

"For Coldplay, for example, global cooperations on the subject of sustainability were concluded with BMW or SAP for the tour from the teams."

Universal, Sony and Warner dominate

In the core business, the situation is rosy anyway.

Warner said goodbye to Dopp with reference to "the most successful year in the company's history".

The German market for music recordings has recently grown by 10 percent, primarily due to streaming.

After a turnover of 1.96 billion euros in 2021, the step over the two billion mark is only a matter of form.

According to the Music & Copyright specialist website, Warner had a global market share of 16.7 percent in the music recording business in 2021 – behind Sony Music (21.7 percent) and Universal (32 percent).