Repertoire Manager

The role threads between catalog review, licensing conversations, and creative-team support — reviewing works for upcoming production or release, negotiating licenses for inbound or outbound use, supporting A&R or programming decisions with catalog knowledge. You're often the institutional memory of the catalog the organization holds. Catalog activity and licensing outcomes anchor the operating measures.

The harder part is often the creative-versus-commercial tension — repertoire decisions involve artistic, commercial, and rights considerations simultaneously, and managers navigate the trade-offs across stakeholders. Sector variance shapes the role: music publishers run repertoire management focused on songwriter catalogs; theater companies focus on play selection and rights; performing-arts organizations run programming-oriented repertoire work.

Strong repertoire managers tend to be culturally fluent, commercially aware, and comfortable in catalog-and-rights conversations. Industry-specific experience and personal networks anchor advancement more than credentials. The trade-off is the modest scale of many repertoire functions — outside the largest publishers and labels, repertoire roles often live in small teams with broad scope.