We chat with Warner/Chappell U.K.'s Mike Smith.

What do you consider the greatest areas of opportunity—and the biggest challenges—facing publishers now?
This is a golden age for songwriters. Artists and bands are working with third parties to an unprecedented degree, and there is a boom in co-writing. There is a huge opportunity for publishers if we can get our A&R right. At Warner/Chappell, I’m looking to expand our A&R team and place it at the heart of what we do as a music company. We already work with a huge breadth of talented songwriters—from Radiohead to Skepta—which means we are well positioned in the marketplace. I think publishers face a challenge in ensuring they are monitoring, collecting and paying songwriters for their work across all digital channels around the world. At Warner/Chappell we are making significant investment in technology to ensure we’re at the cutting edge of this field, delivering our songwriters a service that is second to none.

How are you working with your writers to develop new revenue streams?
Warner/Chappell is committed to striking pioneering deals with digital services, making our songwriters’ music available for fans while ensuring they are paid a fair price for their work. We’re also working with app developers who are designing whole new ways for fans to interact with music, ensuring that our songwriters can make the most of the opportunities opening up. We’ve also invested in growing our sync team in recent years, mindful that we have to replace falling mechanical royalties with new revenue streams.

Our songwriters know that they can plug into a global network that will fight hard to place their music in the best possible opportunities offered by advertisers, film and TV producers without ever compromising their artistic vision. Warner/Chappell recently won Sync of The Year at the Music Week Sync Awards for the placing of Grace’s version of “You Don’t Own Me” in the House of Fraser [department store group] Christmas TV campaign.

What do you consider your most significant successes from the past year, and what are you lining up for 2017?
I have to point to Skepta’s Konnichiwa, which won the 2016 Mercury Prize. It was an amazing recognition for a writer, producer and performer who is at the cutting edge of developing grime as a genre in the U.K. and looking to take it global. We also saw Michael Kiwanuka’s Love & Hate, a beautiful album which tackled tough themes of ethnicity and belonging, receive a Mercury nomination. It’s also been an amazing year for Stormzy, who has been hailed by critics and is preparing his debut album. Rag’n’Bone Man topped the charts in several European countries with his first single, “Human,” and RAYE has reached a whole new audience with “I, U, US.” We’re also seeing our songwriters come up with great hit songs for the biggest names in pop, with the likes of Bully and Ed Drewett writing for acts such as Galantis and Olly Murs. We’ve got some great music coming in 2017 that will reflect the strength and diversity of Warner/Chappell U.K.’s incredible roster of songwriters, including planned new albums from Elbow, Goldfrapp, London Grammar, Royal Blood and Gorillaz.