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Warner appoints Cools to global EDM role

By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 27 September 2013

Warner Music has announced the appointment of Bart Cools to the role of Executive Vice President, Global A&R And Marketing, Dance Music, Warner Recorded Music, which will certainly fill his business card.

Cools had a similar role at the pre-sale EMI where, having led various European units for the major, he ended up as overseer of the globally-focused EMI Dance Network. He also worked with EDM juggernaut and tedious-pop-template-maker David Guetta. Some of the EDM artists Cools worked with at EMI, including Guetta, have since moved to Warner via its acquisition of the Parlophone Label Group.

In his new role at Warner, Cools will report into Atlantic Records chief man Craig Kallman who told CMU: “There are few executives that can match Bart’s track record in dance music and I’m delighted to welcome him to the team. This is a dynamic genre that breaks many of the rules of traditional artist development, and Bart’s unique insight – gained working with some of the world’s biggest and most successful artists – will be invaluable as we continue to transform our capabilities”.

Cools himself added: “There have never been more opportunities for dance music artists than there are today and, in order to fulfil their potential, they need the support of a closely coordinated, multi-disciplinary and agile network across all their key territories. Warner Music has those elements in place and I look forward to working with Craig and the talented team here to discover amazing new artists and to continue to deliver best-in-class support to the incredible dance acts we already represent”.