The former Iconic Artists Group executive will oversee how music feeds Mattel’s content, products, marketing and experiences.
Mattel has named Samantha Juneman as its new Head of Music, putting a veteran of Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group into a role built around turning music into a bigger commercial lever across the toy company’s brands.
Juneman started on August 31 and reports to Natalia Premovic, Mattel’s Chief Consumer Products and Experiences Officer, who confirmed the hire in a LinkedIn post. Mattel said Juneman will lead the company’s effort to make music a more strategic part of its franchise and commercial strategy, spanning content, products, marketing and experiences.
A music executive moving into brand-building
Juneman arrives from Iconic Artists Group, where she was Senior Vice President and led legacy artist management for acts including Wu-Tang Clan, Cher and The Beach Boys. Mattel said she brings more than 15 years of music and entertainment experience.
Her background runs through some of the industry’s most familiar commercial lanes. Before Iconic, she was Head of Marketing & Services at Warner Music Group’s ADA Worldwide, joining that division in December 2021. Earlier, she spent time at Universal Music Group, which she joined in 2016 and where she most recently served as Vice President of Music Strategy & Tactics. At UMG, she worked across marketing, content and commercial partnerships for artists including Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Big Sean.
The move gives Mattel a music lead with experience on both the label side and the rights-management side. That matters for a company that has been steadily treating its brands less like shelf products and more like entertainment properties.
Mattel keeps building out its consumer products bench
Juneman was one of three appointments announced by Premovic. Gerardo Leon returns to Mattel as Head of Consumer Products for the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand after five years at Netflix. He reports to Meredith Norrie, Mattel’s Head of Global Consumer Products. Rahul Lakhwani joins as Head of Strategy and Operations for Consumer Products and Experiences from Fever Originals and reports to Premovic.
Mattel said the hires reflect its investment in leadership and capabilities needed to build its brands into wider cultural and commercial platforms. Premovic herself joined Mattel on January 5, 2026, from Netflix, where she built the streaming company’s consumer products business. Her title there was Head of Consumer Products for the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — the same title Leon now holds at Mattel.
Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz said of Premovic’s arrival: “We welcome Natalia to Mattel at an exciting time for the company, as we continue to expand our entertainment offering and capture more value from our IP.
“Her expertise building and scaling global consumer products businesses at pace bodes well for Mattel’s next chapter as we accelerate our growth in entertainment.”
Music remains part of Mattel’s IP play
The company’s music business already has a long paper trail. Warner Music Group’s Arts Music division has distributed Mattel’s music catalog since May 2020, when the companies signed an exclusive, multi-year global music licensing agreement. At the time, the catalog included more than 1,000 songs drawn from Mattel brands including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Thomas & Friends, American Girl and Fisher-Price.
Fred Soulie, then Mattel’s Senior Vice President of Content Distribution and Business Development, said when the deal was announced that “music is an important part of Mattel’s DNA, and has been integral to our brands’ ability to connect with children of all ages to help them learn and grow.”
Warner Music Group’s proxy statement identifies that distribution arrangement as a related-person transaction, citing Kreiz’s position as Mattel’s CEO and Noreena Hertz’s seat on the Mattel board. Hertz is also a WMG director and chairs Mattel’s Governance and Social Responsibility Committee.
WMG said it earned approximately $2.3 million from the arrangement in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, up from $2.2 million a year earlier.
Juneman’s hire lands at a moment when Mattel is pushing harder on the value of its intellectual property. Music is now part of that equation, not just as a licensing line, but as a tool for extending brands across content, products and experiences.
