Bart Cools, longtime WMG dance executive, departs after 13 years

End of an era at Warner Dance

Bart Cools, one of the most recognisable figures in the major-label dance world, is leaving Warner Music Group this month after a 13-year tenure. According to Billboard, Cools joined WMG in 2013 as executive VP of global marketing and A&R for dance music, arriving from Parlophone as part of WMG's acquisition of that label following Universal's EMI divestment. Before that, his career stretched back to working with Daft Punk, Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers and Air during their rises in the 1990s.

What he built at Warner

Cools was charged from the start with building a coherent dance infrastructure across WMG's global territories. His key signings in those early years included Robin Schulz in Germany, Feder and Ofenbach in France, and Clean Bandit, Joel Corry and Icona Pop in the UK and US.

Two of the defining moments of his tenure were large acquisitions. In 2017 he oversaw WMG's purchase of Dutch dance label Spinnin' Records, working to, in his own words, "safeguard its independence and 'indie' ways of working." Then in 2021 WMG acquired the David Guetta catalog and signed a new deal for future releases with the artist. That same year the label also acquired a share in SDM management, which represents artists including Schulz, HUGEL and Marten Lou.

Guetta's longtime manager Jean Charles Carre put it plainly to Billboard: "Bart has been part of our team since 2009, through every label transition: Virgin, Parlophone, Warner, he was the one who made sure we never got lost in the shuffle. Someone who can close a major deal on a Monday and be at the club at 6 a.m. on a Saturday, still loving every minute of it. Not many people in this business can say that."

SDM owner Stefan Dabruck was equally direct: "He is amazing to work with and always there when you need him."

What comes next

Cools was featured in Billboard's March 2026 Dance Power Players list, where he pointed to WMG's work with Spinnin's CYRIL and Atlantic's Disco Lines alongside icons like Tiesto and Guetta, who became the first artist to earn 20 No. 1s on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.

As for his own next chapter, Cools told Billboard he is "going to enjoy the summer and think about what's next," adding that he is "not hanging up the headphones just yet."