Sony Music Publishing is separate from Sony Music's recorded music business. While Sony Music signs and develops recording artists, Sony Music Publishing signs and represents songwriters and composers, helping maximise the value and use of their compositions. This is the first year with SMP internship opportunities in our programme and we are very excited to be able to offer you the chance to join the Publishing team!
Here at Sony Music Publishing, we are shaping what’s next in a way that creates impact. Forging powerful new ideas at the heart of music, technology, and culture that entertain and move people. This is your opportunity. Part of a global community, united by individual passion, rising to that challenge every day. Adapting at pace and supporting one another, inspired to influence the future. For the benefit of you, our people; our creators, our business, and wider society too. This is your chance to shape your impact on Sony Music and beyond.
The International Legal & Business Affairs Intern at Sony Music Publishing UK will support both the International Legal & Business Affairs and International Sync Licensing teams. The role supports a truly global International London Team by helping coordinate licensing and approval workflows, legal documentation, databases, workflow trackers, correspondence, expenses, invoices, meeting minutes and wider administrative activity. Working with SMP affiliate offices across Continental Europe, South-East Asia, India, Australia, the Middle East and Africa, the intern will gain practical exposure to music publishing rights, licensing and business affairs processes within an international environment.
Please note: This application form cannot be saved part-way through. We recommend preparing your answers in a separate document and then copying them into the form when you’re ready to submit. If you’d like to take additional time to complete your application, please ensure you gather your responses externally before submitting in one go.
If you have any reasonable adjustment requests, please reach out to [email protected].
Ways of Working
- Office attendance: Monday to Thursday
- Offsite working: There are no offsite working opportunities in this role
- Provide diary management for International Legal & Business Affairs Team members, using Outlook and diary information to keep the department aware of key deadlines, timings and staff locations
- Check mailboxes where required, respond proactively to diary, meet and call requests where possible, flag urgent emails and keep an up-to-date schedule of all contacts
- Coordinate and book worldwide travel arrangements, arrange meetings with SMP affiliate offices and local Legal & Business Affairs teams, and prepare detailed travel itineraries
- Support legal, licensing and administrative processes including filing, scanning, amending and distributing documentation, maintaining internal databases and managing external contact records
- Assist with international sync licensing activity by helping gather rights information, tracking approval and clearance requests, monitoring deadlines and maintaining accurate licensing records
- Maintain workflow trackers and reporting tools across legal, business affairs and sync licensing activities, including songwriter agreements, acquisitions, synch licenses and social media enforcement
- Coordinate document management, signatories and executed agreements; help prepare PowerPoint presentations; draft and distribute correspondence; arrange courier collections and drop-offs within the UK and overseas
- Process expenses, liaise with Finance on songwriter advance payments and other fee payments, manage external legal and notary invoices, take and circulate minutes for the monthly European Legal & Business Affairs meeting, and arrange notarisation and apostille of documents as required
Essential
- The ability to communicate in a courteous and professional manner and escalate issues appropriately
- Strong attention to detail and the ability to work accurately with rights information, documentation, databases and workflow trackers
- Effective at working with internal colleagues and external bodies to support the smooth and efficient running of the department
- Able to prioritise workload efficiently, meet responsibilities on time, follow through open issues and maintain appropriate handover documentation for planned absences or holidays
- Flexible, cooperative and enthusiastic, with the motivation to support a changing environment and recommend process improvements where this would create a more effective service
- Confident using MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook and able to navigate new technological systems
Nice to have
- Interest in developing legal, business affairs, music licensing and rights management knowledge within a global music publishing environment
- Experience supporting document management, databases, travel coordination, minutes, presentations or invoice/expense processes would be beneficial but is not required from day one
- An annual salary of £28,480 (London Living Wage)
- You join a vibrant global community with the opportunity to channel your passion every day
- A modern office environment designed for you, empowering you to bring your best
- Investment in your professional growth and development such as focused workshops and a dedicated mentor, enabling you to thrive in our vibrant community
- The space to accelerate progress, positively disrupt and create what happens next
- We give you the platform to champion positive change, with the opportunity to contribute to our social impact, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives
- We provide an excellent range of benefits like private medical cover, a generous pension scheme, life assurance, income protection, plus loads of music industry perks. There’s also time off over winter break
Process Overview
- Applications open August 10th at 10:00 and close August 24th at 10:00. Candidates whose applications are selected will be invited to complete a video interview between September 28th and October 3rd.
- Candidates who pass this stage will then be invited to the final stage of the process, an in-person assessment centre in early November. We will send further information on this stage before the date arrives.
- Successful applicants will start in January 2027.
We are committed to providing an accessible recruitment process and encourage you to let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the process by contacting this email: [email protected].
As an active part of a culturally and socially diverse society, Sony Music’s aim is that our workforce is diverse and inclusive. Sony Music is an equal opportunity employer and supports workforce diversity.
We employ, retain, promote and otherwise treat all employees and job applicants according to their merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We apply this policy without regard to any individual’s sex, race, religion, origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition or disability.
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Please note that applicants must be at least 18 years of age.
