As chief operating officer at UK Music, Stephanie Haughton-Campbell works with organisation’s small team and its members – AIM, BPI, FAC, The Ivors Academy, MMF, MPA, MPG, MU, PPL, PRS For Music – to collaborate, campaign and champion music. 

Since joining UK Music in 2022 as director of operations, Haughton-Campbell has led successful recruitment campaigns for roles including the head of diversity, filled by Eunice Obianagha and in partnership with recruitment agency Cadence, the campaign for UK Music’s new chief executive, with Tom Kiehl appointed this year, and, alongside delivering UK Music’s Summer Party events since 2022, the important engagement opportunity for the UK music industry to meet and network with MPs and policy-makers. 

Haughton-Campbell began her career as a press assistant at East-West Records, recruited via a youth training scheme, working under the tutelage of Lee-Ellen Newman. During her work in that role, she supported press campaigns for Simply Red, Chris Rea, Human League, Tom Jones, Tori Amos, Dr Dre and Snoop Dog. Completing her MA in music business management in 2002, Haughton-Campbell participated in the all-women Music Leaders Network pilot programme in 2008, a leadership network of exceptional industry women who remain a source of counsel and support.

In a career that has since spanned leadership varying roles at organisations across the creative industries, including Burson Marsteller PR, 1 2 One (Artist) Management, BMG/RCA (now part of Sony Music), music broadcasters Music Choice and MTV, UK Music’s engagement with Creative & Cultural Skills, Haughton-Campbell is seen as a trusted executive, mentor and occasionally a critical friend to colleagues and aspiring professionals in the industry. 

Haughton-Campbell often describes herself as a ‘midfielder’, following a speech given by Chlöe Roberts (COO, Young) after winning Music Week’s Women In Music’s Businesswoman Of The Year Award in 2022: ‘We [COOs, CFOs, lawyers] may not always be in the front like the strikers scoring goals, but, as midfielders, we have to run the entire length of the pitch. One week setting up, scoring the goals and the next week running back to clear up the mess.” Right now, as a premier league midfielder in the music industry, Haughton-Campbell’s aims are to build environments in which individuals, teams, and, ultimately, organisations think at their very best, work phenomenally, and move ever closer to their mission and goals.

How do you feel about joining the Music Week Women In Music Roll Of Honour?

“I am incredibly proud and chuffed, to be honest. It also has a full circle moment to it – my first job in music was as a press assistant at East West Records in the early 90’s and for nearly four years, it was my job to read Music Week from cover to cover, cutting out the articles featuring East West artists. I would read about the music industry’s executives featured in the pages and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to be in Music Week one day’.  When I joined UK Music just over two years ago, there was an announcement on musicweek.com, and I thought I had made it, but this hits different – to be nominated and seconded by your peers hits different.”

How do you look back on your early years getting into the industry?

“I was lucky and in the right place at the right time. When I left college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and going to university didn’t enter my mind. I’m dyslexic – but I wasn’t assessed until my late thirties after completing my Master’s Degree when the stress turned my hair grey – and in my early 20s, I felt like I couldn’t cope with a university, I didn’t feel clever enough. Staying in my parents’ home and not working as an adult was not an option –  my Mum told me, ‘Go learn to type, you can get a job if you know how to type.’ I ended up in a business admin college near Tottenham Court Road, which taught admin skills and sent you on 6-month work placements as a youth trainee. I had two interviews, one was as an admin assistant at a brewery in West London, and the other was at East West Records. Afterwards, I practically ran from Kensington Court, where East West was based, to Tottenham Court Road and begged the course manager to call Lee Ellen Newman, head of press, to find out if I had gotten the role. Lee Ellen said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history! I had no inside contacts or a burning passion to work in music, I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Did you have a mentor at that stage? 

“No, not really. When I joined, I knew nothing about record companies or the industry, I just felt immensely grateful to be there. I didn’t have the concept of building a career and seeking support to achieve any ambitions I might have had at the time. But with hindsight, working in the press office with Lee Ellen Newman, Shane O'Neill, Tony Linkin, Stevie Phillips and Gladys Oghenekaro, to name a few colleagues, was an absolute masterclass in excellence. They had a passion for music media, music and artists and the ambition to do their best work. I learned how to work within a team to understand and serve artists well and work hard to achieve their ambitions. I use those principles today, everyday.”

With both the appointment of a new chief executive, Tom Kiehl, and the election of a new government, how busy has the past few months been at UK Music?

“UK Music is always busy, and given our size, we punch above our weight in terms of representing our members, speaking authoritatively on their behalf, and making sure MPs, governments, policymakers and stakeholders understand how they can best serve the collective interests of the industry across a range of issues. With Jamie Njoku-Goodwin’s departure last year, the recruitment of a new CEO was a critical moment for UK Music and for me professionally. Working closely with our chair, Tom Watson, the UK Music Board and recruitment agency, Cadence Partners, we delivered a robust process which stress-tested everyone – including me! – produced exceptional calibre candidates and, ultimately, the right leader, who is ready to engage and productively influence a new government and beyond.” 

How are you supporting UK Music and the industry's lobbying efforts? What are the key issues that UK Music is hoping to engage on with government ministers?

“My motivation, the thing that gets me out of bed most days, is my passion for creating environments where people and teams think at their very best and work phenomenally. If I achieve that, my incredible colleagues at UK Music achieve our mission to bring all sectors of our industry together to collaborate, campaign and champion music.

“I lead our annual Summer Party event coordination, which this year took place less than a month after Tom’s appointment and twelve days after the General Election, with 335 brand new MPs elected. It was a herculean team effort to ensure new MPs were standing alongside established stakeholders, our members and industry in the IET’s Riverside Room to hear Tom Kiehl’s maiden speech as chief exec, the newly appointed Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) Chris Bryant MP, and the fantastic Michelle Escoffery’s impassioned speeches on the importance of music’s political, economic, educational and societal impact from deeply personal perspectives. There was one point during the speeches I stood on a chair, surveyed the room and had a fleeting passion-achieved moment. There is always a next level to be reached, but at that moment – I got it! That’s why I’m thankful for the role I have and the people I work with.

“Tom Kiehl was also featured in Music Week’s Spotlight section in August. He shared details on the key issues, which included a call on the Government to implement a music industry strategy to supercharge sector growth and look to support and protect the next generations of talent across the business. AI and its impact on music remains a priority as we continue to work with policymakers to support the music industry, and the challenges faced by touring in the EU, the need for more music teachers and support for the established music export initiatives are all areas for engagement with this new government.”

UK Music appointed its first head of diversity, Eunice Obianagha, in 2023. You led that recruitment process – how significant has that been in UK Music's ongoing work on supporting diversity in the industry?

“My predecessor, Rachel Bolland, also a Women In Music Roll of Honour alum, was the director of operations and head of diversity when she left in 2022. The UK Music executive team, our board, and the Diversity Taskforce recognised that the depth and breadth of our ambition to boost diversity, inclusion and intersectionality in the industry and support our members’ initiatives required a stand-alone role to focus our efforts. Eunice’s appointment in 2023 has been a game-changer in terms of the work we can do with that. In July this year, we released our biannual Diversity Report, which shows significant improvements in gender and ethnicity in the make-up of the UK music workforce. However, the work of industry initiatives and the support we are campaigning the government for are to address the areas where more progress is needed.”

Do you feel like the COO/CFO and other senior figures get the recognition they deserve in the industry? Why are those roles so important to success?

“I tell this story often. I attended my first Women In Music Awards in 2022 when Chlöe Roberts [COO, Young] won Businesswoman Of The Year and described COOs and CFOs as midfielders. I felt seen as she uttered those words. Job titles can belie the actuality of the work that straddles the entirety of the organisation, particularly in small to medium sized businesses – setting up for success one minute and then tracking back hard to defend and deal with challenges the next.”

What’s your biggest achievement so far?

“I don’t think I’ve completed my most significant achievement yet! However, there are achievements that I am proud of… I am an incredibly proud boy auntie to three six-foot-plus tall young black boys aged 16, 14 and 12, who look to me for love, support and guidance. I’m proud of achieving my Master’s Degree while working full-time as a mature student with no previous university experience and (undiagnosed) dyslexia. And finally, I’ve returned to a role in the music industry after more than ten years out, which included working as an EA for a VP in the Marine division at Lloyd’s Register. I knew I had to let go of the safety I experienced in that role and organisation to allow change to happen, as I wasn't sure how it would work. But I bet on myself, and despite moments of doubt and an unhealthy dose of imposter syndrome, I am here because I inherently knew I could be and do more.”

What advice would you offer young women about enjoying a successful career in music?

“Can I quote myself with a little update? For International Women’s Day in 2023, I wrote the following on the UK Music website, ‘Navigating the myriad of career obstacles is not for the faint-hearted, so on an individual level, I advise women in music to find your tribe, to find the formal or informal communities and networks where you are authentically seen, understood, appreciated, supported, challenged and pushed beyond self-limiting boundaries. Networks like Women In CTRL, She.said.so, Music Leaders Network, Girls I Rate, The Cat’s Mother, Girl Grind UK, We Are The Unheard, Amplify Her, Mamas In Music, and many more. If I had not participated in the pilot Music Leaders Network more than a decade ago with women who continue to show up for me, I doubt I would be joining the Women In Music Roll of Honour at this point in my career. When you find your tribe, your network, you never stand alone in the rooms you are destined for.’”

What’s the best advice you’ve ever had?

“Make the call, take the call. Making the call is about trusting your gut, your instinct, your intuition. If you get a feeling about something, like sending an unsolicited email or making a call to someone about an idea who may be able to guide you, do it! Send that thank you note or the follow-up email. Take the call is about opportunities coming your way; don't count yourself out of one before you know all the facts. An opportunity may not be totally right, but it can give a glimpse of a new path and a different perspective. Take the call; stay open and curious.”

Is there a young woman you'd like to shout out who you think is a rising star in the industry?

“One of the joys of my role, and definitely one of the benefits, is that I meet amazing young people in the industry. The women rising in the sector are next level, like Sharlene Milwood, publisher relationship manager at PRS For Music, MPA’s sponsorship & events co-ordinator Nicky Ojomo, PRS for Music’s event executive Madika Brown, copyright co-ordinator at Kassner Music Natalie Rae Reid, Universal Production Music UK’s partnerships & engagement manager Charlotte-Anne Myler, Girl Grind’s founder & CEO Namywa, or SmallGreenShoots’ managing director Makeda McMillan, the list is a long one. Plus, there are the rising stars I work with at UK Music – the newly-appointed head of public affairs Hannah McLennan, the brilliant Beatriz Ribeiro, our design & events officer; and the latest addition to the team, Courtney Wallace, education partnerships & operations officer.”

Similarly, is there a young woman artist whose music you're enjoying right now?

“Right now, it is Brixton’s finest, Nia Smith, and anything that Yazmin Lacey writes and sings. There is also the brilliant all-female Soulgirl Collective, and I am about to delve deep into the new Nubya Garcia album, Odyssey, which I know will bring fire.” 

Finally, what’s your biggest lesson from 2024 so far? 

“Gratitude goes a long way; be thankful for what you have right this minute, right now – the good, the bad, and the ugly.”