Tracy Gardner

With her first job in the music industry at the age of 18, Tracy Gardner has seen more than two decades of the industry evolve.  ‘I was an intern at Warner Bros. Records at the time when Napster was just taking off’ says Gardner.  Since that time, she has seen how music streaming has brought the music industry back to a place of growth.  As Head of Label Licensing & Partnerships at Bytedance/TikTok, Gardner is excited to be part of the next music revolution that TikTok presents.  In her role, Gardner is charged with negotiating complex global licensing agreements with record labels for Bytedance’s products.  She is responsible for driving commercial relationships with TikTok’s label partners while also leading music strategy and business development across various cross-functional teams at Bytedance.  Since joining TikTok in 2019, Tracy has been instrumental in building a powerhouse music team.  The team, which doubled in the past year, has solidified music industry relations and secured global license renewals with labels while also supporting important artist initiatives such as the Creator Fund and tentpole livestreams, most recently with Ed Sheeran (which just happened to break records with 5.5 Million viewers). 

Prior to joining TikTok, Gardner was Senior Vice President of Global Business Development & Strategy at Warner Music Group (WMG), based in London.  In her role, Gardner evolved WMG’s global strategy for the audio and video streaming space, while coordinating with WMG’s international affiliates and licensees.  During her time at WMG, she negotiated and drafted ground-breaking deals with the industry’s premier digital players, including YouTube, Spotify and Apple.  She was also involved with various WMG acquisitions including Parlophone Label Group, X5 and Spinnin’.  Gardner joined WMG in 2011 as part of the Digital Legal Affairs team in New York.

Before her time at Warner, Gardner spent two and a half years at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom where she worked in the firm’s Intellectual Property, Information Technology and E-Commerce Group.  During law school she also spent time as a law clerk at Proskauer Rose, LLP and entertainment firm Davis Shapiro & Lewit.  Gardner holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business & Marketing from New York University/Stern Business School and a Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School.