During this year’s Women In Music Awards, we inducted a host of trailblazing industry executives into the Roll Of Honour, in association with TikTok.
They join a huge list of previous honourees, including some of the leading names from across the business like Kanya King, Sarah Stennett, Emma Banks, Charisse Beaumont, Rebecca Allen, Stacey Tang, Shani Gonzales and Mary Anne Hobbs, who have been selected since the awards began in 2014. The Roll Of Honour aims to shine a spotlight on the variety of individuals who are leading the charge in the music industry and consistently using their platforms to support women, or focus on empowerment and gender disparity.
Following the Women In Music Awards ceremony, Music Week is running Q&A interviews with all of this year’s Roll Of Honour inductees.
Victoria Needs’ early steps in the music industry included an act of teenage audacity. In 1997, she asked Paul Burger, then CEO of Sony UK, for a job on a children’s TV show – a moment written about in Music Week. Almost 30 years later, Needs is now co-managing director of AWAL UK, leading one of the industry’s most exciting labels alongside Matt Riley and Sam Potts.
Needs developed her expertise in international marketing at some of the world’s most iconic labels – Virgin, Atlantic, EMI, Syco, Ministry Of Sound, Black Butter, Warner, RCA, and Columbia. As a junior, she cut her teeth learning on campaigns for icons like The Rolling Stones and Mariah Carey, before going on to run global campaigns for James Blunt, Little Mix, Robbie Williams, Calvin Harris, Paloma Faith and James Arthur. She notably led the international campaign for Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk. At AWAL, alongside oversight of the wider UK company, Needs oversees marketing across the business — spanning UK marketing, international, digital, and artist development.
In 2024, her team delivered Sony Music’s biggest global streaming hit of the year with Djo’s End Of The Beginning. This year, the team have delivered Top 3 UK album chart entries for Little Simz, Laufey, James Marriott, and CMAT, alongside campaigns for rising artists including The Beaches, Clara La San, Wasia Project, Luvcat, and Chloe Slater.
Needs believes in fostering innovation by creating a culture where teams can be safe to do their best work, but take risks, whilst also having space to challenge one another in pursuit of constant improvement. She has been a key part in AWAL’s growth in recent years from a nimble disruptor into a global force for independent music, and ensuring the company’s tools, teams, and culture evolve in step with the unique artists they support.
Needs believes the future of the industry lies in asking questions, building trust, keeping things simple, with artists always first, and fans close behind. She takes the long view, focused on shaping careers that endure, finding stories that shape culture, whilst always listening to, understanding, and executing on an artists vision and ambition. From the teenager who once asked a CEO for an opportunity, she has become a leader who creates the conditions for the next wave of artists, executives, and innovators to challenge convention and push past typical...
How do you feel about joining the Roll Of Honour this year?
“Exceptionally honoured, proud, flattered – and if I’m honest, a little uncomfortable. Sitting in the limelight isn’t always natural for a lot of female executives. That’s exactly why the work Alison Wenham and Lara Baker have done with this event over the last eleven years is so important for the industry.”
How do you look back on your early years getting into the industry?
“I was persistent and very lucky to have a family who supported me choosing a job at an indie label over university. My dad encouraged me, and challenged me to find ways to get my foot in the door. Once I had my way in, I worked hard, knowing someone else was always ready to take my spot. Retrospectively, it's a shame I didn't realise how valuable my digitally native perspective was at the time. The things that felt normal to me as a teenager were exactly what the business needed to hear in the Napster era.”
Did you have a mentor at that stage?
“Not officially, but Lucie Avery was one of my first bosses and I'm grateful I saw a woman in a big job early on in my career. As my career has become more established, I've realised that mentorship comes from above, below and sideways. I'm currently working with a young woman from the AWAL Canada office who finished her internship six months ago, and it feels like a very valuable two way exchange.”
The WIM Awards shines a light on inequality and deep-seated issues around this area in the music industry. Can you share any personal experiences or points of view on this topic?
“There's no question that to deliver the highest level of service for artists, there needs to be varied perspectives and view points in a business. I'm always impressed with the work done by the Sony Music internship scheme, including paying interns properly so they can live in London, and widening their recruitment pools. For artists, we need to make sure that music education is accessible to all. It's heartwarming to see businesses like Rock Steady Music providing opportunities for pupils at school to be in a band once a week, but we need to be doing much more in this space.”
You’ve just become co-MD at AWAL and you have campaigns including CMAT and more all flying at the moment – how excited are you about what the company is doing at the moment?
“You know that thing they say about 'doing a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life'? The energy of the team is very special – they are amazing. It's like nothing else I've ever known. The artists we work with all have a common thread: having a distinct and unique vision. Laufey, Little Simz, CMAT – those three women blow my mind, because of who they are and what they stand for, and there's so many others. It feels like we're only just getting started...”
As my career has become more established, I've realised that mentorship comes from above, below and sideways
Vic Needs
How does your passion for tech and social platforms inform campaigns at AWAL?
“Part of my job is looking a year ahead. After nearly 30 years, I trust my instinct on what’s coming and when to ignore the naysayers. I've seen these cycles a few times now! I like to throw myself into new tech and ideas, get a personal feel for it, and bring it into the business when the time is right. What’s special at AWAL is that the structure lets us push boundaries, and quickly. The team is open-minded, the company is nimble, and Lonny Olinick actively encourages it.”
What are the main qualities that you bring as a leader at AWAL?
“I try to create a space where people feel safe enough to do their best work and take risks. My biggest strength is my curiosity, I’m always scanning for what’s next, but also focused on how to bring people together to collaborate and make those ideas real and executable.”
What’s your biggest achievement so far?
“I could say delivering the global campaign for Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk, or my team delivering Sony's biggest record on Spotify Wrapped with Djo End Of Beginning, or the last couple of years building AWAL with Sam and Matt. But, the truth is, my two children are my biggest achievement.”
What advice would you offer young women about enjoying a successful career in music?
“You do you. Don’t worry about everyone else. Consider your career like an artist career: sometimes you’ll see that others have a viral moment – that's great for them, but there's value in being a development artist, putting the graft in and earning your stripes. Enjoy it – this is the best job in the world!”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever had?
“It's a marathon not a sprint.”
Is there a young woman you'd like to shout out who you think is a rising star in the industry?
“I could shout out plenty of very bright young women from within the AWAL team, but I don’t want to single anyone out. What I will say is there’s a wealth of young, smart female superfans on TikTok who want to work in music – and I’m fascinated to watch them come through.”
Similarly, is there a young woman artist whose music you're enjoying right now/excited about?
“Luvcat is wild and entrancing. Chloe Slater may just change the world. Olivia from Wasia Project makes ethereal magic. Hemlocke Springs is an icon in the making.”
Finally, what’s your biggest lesson from 2025 so far?
“That being able to embrace change is one of the most important skill sets of all.”
PHOTO: Louise Haywood-Schiefer
