Jeffrey Harleston

Universal Music’s top lawyer on negotiating with streaming services, exclusives and the paltry number of black execs in the music business

- Gail Mitchell

AS GENERAL COUNSEL FOR the world’s largest music company, a key skill that Jeffrey Harleston relies upon is adaptability.

“The one thing I know for sure is that whatever I’ve planned that day, I’m going to get hit by something different,” says the 55-year-old Boston native. “The business is changing just that fast.”

Harleston has been in the trenches for much of that evolution. In 2013, he negotiated behind the scenes on Jay Z’s $30 million partnership with Samsung, in which the tech giant became the ‘first brand to premiere and distribute a major album (Magna Carta Holy Grail). More recently, Harleston helped Universal Music Group hammer out a licensing deal with SoundCloud that allows the label to decide whether its music appears on the service’s free or paid subscription tier.

Harleston, who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley’s Boalt Hall law school, joined UMG some 23 years ago as senior vp business and legal a‚airs for MCA Records, working with a roster that included Mary J. Blige, New Edition and Common. Previously, he was associate independent counsel during the investigation and prosecution of the Iran-Contra scandal and worked as a litigation associate with the firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. (He was also GM of UMG’s Geffen Records for several years.) A year ago this month, his purview for UMG expanded from North America to the company’s worldwide operations; he simultaneously joined UMG’s 10- member executive management board, helmed by UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge. Harleston oversees a team of more than 26 lawyers dealing with litigation, transactions, digital, government relations and other legal specialties.