AWAL promotes Arif Mahmud to General Counsel & SVP of Global Business Affairs

10 October 2025 - Press release

 

Arif Mahmud has been promoted to the role of General Counsel and SVP of Global Business Affairs at AWAL. Arif is based in AWAL’s London office and will continue to report to Lonny Olinick, the company’s CEO. 

Arif started his career as a city lawyer, before pivoting to entertainment and sports law in 2004. He focused his attention to music law specifically while at the private practice firm, Clintons, combining his background as a DJ and promoter with his legal career before joining the Business Affairs team at Universal Music (Polydor, Fiction and Capitol Records). Arif joined AWAL as VP, Business Affairs (UK) in February 2017 after experiencing a shift in the music industry’s power dynamics during the mid 2010s when he was General Manager and General Counsel at the management/entertainment company, Three Six Zero—observing first hand the rise of the all-encompassing entrepreneurial model of modern talent representation stables, and the desire to engage with alternative, non-traditional business strategies. 

At AWAL, Arif has contributed to its development of closer links with, and understanding of, the management community as well as pushing a viable but flexible suite of agile deal offerings to allow AWAL to partner with a wide array of clients and artists. He became SVP, Business Affairs (UK) in 2018, and was previously promoted to SVP, Global Business Affairs in 2023, coinciding with AWAL’s operations expanding internationally.

“AWAL has always had a reputation for approaching things in a characteristically distinctive manner, but it’s been a genuine pleasure to be part of its growth and development in new markets over the past few years. It validates the ‘AWAL model’ as being truly translatable across the globe and, more importantly, allows independent artists the room and reach to tell their compelling stories regardless of where they come from or what cultural experience may have informed their creative voices. The team we have here is incredibly inspiring at each and every level, and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved to-date and what we’re building for the future. Thanks, as ever, to Lonny and Paul [Hitchman, COO] for their laser-focussed vision, ambition and support.”—Arif Mahmud 

“Arif has been an integral part of AWAL’s success since he joined. His ability to put himself in the shoes of our artists and in turn create partnerships where our artists are the ultimate winners is completely unique. He has done this all while helping us expand the business to benefit artists throughout the globe, building an incredible team in the process. He is viewed as a true partner to our whole company, finding solutions at every step of AWAL’s evolution.”—Lonny Olinick