Steve Barnett (Born February 19, 1952 Wolverhampton England) is the Co-president of Columbia Records.
Barnett began his music career as an agent in London in 1970, working for the Bron Agency [Gerry Bron] and dealing with legendary bands such as Colosseum and Uriah Heep. He would briefly manage Rough Diamond in 1977, a short lived British band that featured David Byron [ex Uriah Heep], Dave Clempson [ex Colosseum] and Geoff Britton [ex Wings]. In 1980 he became a manager and partner in the UK artist management firm Part Rock, where his clients included AC/DC, Cyndi Lauper, Foreigner, and Gary Moore, among other artists. In 1988 he established Part Rock's U.S. company, Hard to Handle Management, where he served as President.
Barnett joined Epic Records in 1996 as Senior Vice President International, was named Senior Vice President Worldwide Marketing for the label in 1997, then Executive Vice President/ General Manager in 2001. He was named President of Epic in 2004. At Epic Barnett took a key role in marketing artists including Pearl Jam, Audioslave, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Good Charlotte and Natasha Bedingfield.
In December 2005 he became Co-president of Columbia Records, with responsibility for the management of the label.
Barnett has presided over successful campaigns for Beyoncé, John Mayer, Maxwell, AC/DC, Susan Boyle, soprano prodigy Jackie Evancho and the marketing and release of the Glee soundtracks. He has also overseen critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion and Harry Connick Jr., as well as breaking new artists such as Grammy winner Adele, along with two of 2010's Best New Artist nominees MGMT and The Ting Tings.
Columbia has forged label deals with both Nickelodeon (producing new artists Miranda Cosgrove, Big Time Rush, and Victoria Justice) and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, while restructuring the company’s marketing efforts into two teams. He also helped forge an innovative marketing agreement with Integrity Music Group, one of the leading companies in the Christian Music market.
Barnett was instrumental in bringing AC/DC to Sony Music, where they have since sold over 38 million albums.
Columbia’s accomplishments during Barnett’s tenure include scoring the label's biggest first week sales with AC/DC’s Black Ice which resulted from an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart[1] (this was also AC/DC’s biggest debut sales week ever). Columbia also delivered I Dreamed A Dream by newcomer Susan Boyle, the fastest and biggest selling album released in 2009.[2] Columbia scored three consecutive #1 albums and over 4 million albums sold worldwide with the TV show Glee. This period also saw Bob Dylan release back to back #1 albums with Modern Times and Together Through Life, as well as Neil Diamond receiving his first #1 album with the release of Home Before Dark.