About
Jane Dyball is one of the first, and very few CEO-level women executives in the music industry, running 3 collection societies (MCPS, PMLL and IMPEL) with a combined turnover of £150m and the trade association which owned them (the Music Publishers Association) between 2014 and 2019. Consolidating the companies, she led the renegotiation of MCPS’ arrangement with PRS and the paying down of over £20m of debt at MCPS, while also creating new training, mentoring and networking initiatives for music publishers at the MPA.
In November 2018 she won the Outstanding Contribution award at the Music Week Women in Music Awards, and in October 2019 she was recognised for her contribution to the songwriting community at the Ivors Academy Gold Badge Awards.
Jane’s road to the top was long and winding. She graduated from Bristol University in 1984 with a degree in law and a knowledge of all the lyrics to the top 10. After sending out multiple CVs she got a job in music publishing at Virgin Music, home of Culture Club, The Police, Pet Shop Boys and many more. Benefitting from working in such a fast-growing company she progressed from basic admin to synch licensing (the use of songs in TV, film and commercials) and international copyright. When Virgin was sold to EMI Jane moved to Warner/Chappell as a paralegal working with songwriters such as Eric Clapton, Morrissey, George Michael, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Muse, Xenomania and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. By the time she left 20 years later she was SVP International Legal & Business Affairs, which included international responsibility for litigation, collection society relationships, the creation and implementation of Warner/Chappell’s digital licensing strategy, public policy and mergers and acquisitions. She also worked very closely with Radiohead on their In Rainbows project.
In 2019 Jane co-created the inclusive Primadonna literary festival and sits on the Board of Primadonna Festival CIC as its Chair. She’s also Co-Chair of Deaf/disabled charity Attitude is Everything and of the Suffolk community arts charity Suffolk Artlink. She’s a regular speaker with charity Speakers4Schools and at corporate awaydays, and runs her own music, tech and digital strategic consultancy business. She’s passionate about fair access to opportunity, developing talent and is a mentor for tech music incubator Abbey Road Red, based at the iconic Abbey Road studios.
Jane is the proud mother of twins Andrew and Caitlin and lives with her partner Andy in Suffolk. Her hobbies involve areas of culture - music, theatre, literature, film, tv and travel - along with karaoke and cider.