Chip McLean

Chip McLean serves as the Senior Vice President, Business Development & Business Affairs, for the Disney Music Group (DMG), which includes Hollywood Records, Walt Disney Records and the new country music label DMG Nashville, and as Senior Vice President/General Manager of Disney Concerts Worldwide, DMG’s concert production and licensing arm. He is also The Walt Disney Company’s senior executive responsible for Disney Music Publishing (DMP).

In that latter capacity, McLean manages DMP’s expanding businesses, including signing top contemporary songwriters to the roster, collaborating with DMP’s global publishing partners, and developing new strategic initiatives to leverage Disney’s incomparable music catalog.

Songwriters signed to DMP include Evan Bogart, Jess Cates, Andy Dodd, Melissa Pierce and Trion.  DMP also has entered into songwriter agreements with a number of Hollywood Records recording artists, including  ZZ Ward, Joywave, R5, Grace Potter and Breaking Benjamin. Songs penned by DMG’s talented songwriters are regularly recorded by Hollywood Records artists and for Walt Disney Records projects, as well as by major recording artists outside the Disney Music Group.

DMP’s recent successes include #1 Country singles with “Guy Walks Into A Bar” by Tyler Farr and Lee Bice’s “I Drive Your Truck, ” co-written by Grammy-nominated DMP songwriter Jessi Alexander, which was awarded Song of the Year honors at the 47th Annual Country Music Association Awards, #1 singles at the Alternative Radio format with “Dangerous” by Big Data ft. Joywave, “Long Way Down” by Robert DeLong and “Failure” by Breaking Benjamin,  as well as a Juno Awards Song of the Year nomination for “Kiss You Inside Out” (Hedley) written by DMP songwriter Adrian Newman, and a Dove award for Best Rock Contemporary Album for Colton Dixon’s album A Messenger, which was produced by Red Decibel (DMP songwriters Adam Watts and Andy Dodd).  Other recent releases penned by DMP writers include Madonna’s single “Ghosttown,” Garth Brooks’ “Cold Like That,” MKTO’s single “Bad Girls” and Tim McGraw’s “Still On The Line.”

DMP’s successes also have extended into the realm of film music, including Academy Awards™ for Best Original Song for Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez’s runaway hit “Let It Go” from FROZEN, Bret McKenzie for “Man or Muppet” from THE MUPPETS and Randy Newman for “We Belong Together” from TOY STORY 3, and Best Original Score for Michael Giacchino’s work on Pixar’s UP.

Over his nearly ten-year tenure with Disney, McLean has led the development and implementation of many innovative business initiatives and strategic alliances for the company. At Disney Concerts, he has overseen the development, production and licensing of a broad array of concert programs, including orchestral productions such as “Pixar in Concert” and “Fantasia: Live in Concert,” numerous tween-focused concert tours such as “High School Musical: The Concert” and “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” and the upcoming “Star Wars in Concert” worldwide touring show.

McLean launched his career as an associate attorney with a prominent Washington, D.C., communications law firm, representing a variety of media clients. He was later recruited to join the New Media practice group of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, a preeminent technology and venture capital law firm based in Silicon Valley.

In 1995 McLean joined Warner Bros. Records, serving in various capacities there, including Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs. Major artists with whom he worked at the time included Linkin Park, Muse, Flaming Lips, Avenged Sevenfold, Fleetwood Mac, REM, Green Day, Alanis Morissette, Blake Shelton, Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and Damien Rice.

A native of Southern California, McLean graduated from UCLA and Stanford Law School.