Warner Music Group’s Paul Robinson to receive 2025 Entertainment Law Initiative Service Award during Grammy Week – Music Business Worldwide

Paul Robinson, Warner Music Group’s EVP/General Counsel, will be awarded the 2025 Entertainment Law Initiative (ELI) Service Award, the Recording Academy has announced.

The award, which is presented each year “to an attorney who demonstrates dedication to supporting and advancing the music community through their service,” will be officially given to Robinson during the annual Grammy Week luncheon, to take place at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday, January 31, 2025.

That takes place just days before the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 2.

Robinson is about to celebrate an impressive 30 years with Warner. He joined the company’s legal department in January 1995 as Associate General Counsel and was appointed Executive Vice President and General Counsel in 2006.

He is also a member of the boards of directors of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

“As a part of its mission, the Recording Academy works to advocate for creators, and the Entertainment Law Initiative advances this through legal representation, celebrating the achievements of entertainment law practitioners, and providing year-round educational opportunities to cultivate future leaders in the field,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said in a statement.

“Paul exemplifies these values, and we are proud to honor him with the ELI Service Award at the 2025 ELI GRAMMY Week Luncheon for his three decades at Warner Music Group, where he has championed fair practices and guided the industry through transformative changes.”

“Paul… has championed fair practices and guided the industry through transformative changes.”

Harvey Mason Jr., The Recording Academy

The son of Irwin Robinson, a prominent music publishing industry lawyer for much of the second half of the 20th Century, Paul Robinson wasn’t always sure he would follow in his father’s footsteps.

In a 2020 interview with MBW, Robinson said he was a chemistry major until his senior year of college, with an eye to becoming a doctor. However, he switched to an English major and went into law school.

“Subconsciously, I must’ve been figuring out how to carve my own path,” he said.

Since joining Warner, Robinson has been involved in most of the company’s major turning points in the past 30 years, including its 2004 sale to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. (under whom Robinson became General Counsel), its sale to Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries in 2011, its acquisition of Parlophone in 2013, and its return to the stock market in 2020.

“Paul’s work ethic, intelligence, and integrity mean he’d have been a success at whatever he wanted,” Steve Cooper, then CEO of Warner Music Group, told MBW.

“Fortunately for us, he has music in his blood, so he chose to dedicate his talents to our company, our artists and songwriters. And it’s not just Warner that’s benefitted. He’s a champion and consensus builder for our whole industry.”

“It’s not just Warner that’s benefitted. [Paul is] a champion and consensus builder for our whole industry.”

Steve Cooper, ex-Warner Music Group

“I love contributing to this organization [Warner Music Group] that puts great music out into the world, that entertains, inspires and challenges people,” Robinson told MBW.

“Also, I get to collaborate with the fantastic worldwide business and legal team that we’ve built at WMG. Not only are they a pleasure to work with but they also make me look my best every single day.”Music Business Worldwide