UMC Taps Ryan Shepard As National Promo Chief

By External Source

Ryan “Shep” Shepard is Universal Music Canada’s newly anointed Senior Director, National Promotion.

Reporting to JP Boucher, Vice President, Marketing, Shepard will oversee the company’s promotions department, building and forging broadcast partnerships and opportunities nation-wide, developing and leading plans to maximize airplay, increase exposure and growth for UMC artists, and ensuring that the company remains at the forefront of innovation, creativity and strategic leadership in the Canadian broadcast landscape.

“Shep’s expansive industry experience, solid industry respect and future-focussed approach make him the perfect person to lead UMC’s promotions department,” said Boucher. “In addition to his impressive career-history, he is one of the funniest, hard-working and passionate people I’ve had the pleasure to work with, and I look forward to seeing where he takes UMC promotions in the years to come.”

Shepard’s nearly three-decade career includes in-depth experience in multiple pillars of the music industry, making him aptly qualified for this role. Passionate about music from the start, he spent seven years in retail as a floor manager at Sam the Record Man (1993-2000), 14 as the Toronto and South-West Ontario promotions and marketing representative at Warner Music Canada (2001-2008) and UMC (2008-2014). He then became Canadian Label Manager for the boutique label, Glassnote Records (2014-2018). Recently, Shepard returned to UMC as the Senior Marketing Manager where he helped build the profiles of top artists including Shawn Mendes, Bad Child, and Of Monsters and Men.

“I’ve been fortunate to spend much of my music industry career focusing on airplay and promotions to amplify artists and I’m excited to return to my radio roots with this new role,” said Shepard. “It’s an honour to shepherd (pun intended) Universal Music Canada’s world-class domestic and international artists into the ‘roaring twenty-twenties’ with world-class radio strategies and activities that reflect our changing broadcast landscape, and I can’t wait to get started.”