10k projects
McHale’s Bar & Grill, a pub in midtown Manhattan, bills itself as “the best Irish bar in NYC.” It opens bright and early, at 10 a.m. on weekdays; it also happens to be right around the corner from Warner Music Group’s New York office. And on Thursday (Sept. 19), it was crammed full of Atlantic Music Group employees gathering to honor colleagues who had been laid off earlier that day. Several staffers clambered onto chairs to deliver spontaneous speeches about their time at the storied label.
McHale’s “is the only thing open during the day in that area,” says one employee who survived the cuts. At the impromptu gathering, “Lots of people who have been at Atlantic for 10- or 20-plus years said they loved being able to work with everyone. People were feeling supported since a lot of staff had been let go” — around 150 layoffs in total, according to WMG’s SEC filing.
Multiple sources stress that these departures, as well as the new regime being put in place by incoming Atlantic Music Group CEO Elliot Grainge, represent a seismic shift for Atlantic — a generational changing of the guard. A number of high-profile executives will be leaving the company, including Atlantic Music Group CEO Julie Greenwald, who co-led Atlantic for nearly 20 years; WMG’s CEO of recorded music Max Lousada, who had been at WMG for decades; 300 Elektra Entertainment chairman/CEO Kevin Liles; Atlantic general manager Paul Sinclair; and Atlantic co-president of Black music Michael Kyser, along with several department heads at both Atlantic and Elektra Records.
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In the wake of the cuts, sources say the Elektra side of 300 Elektra Entertainment is down to fewer than 20 people; Warner announced that 3EE president Gregg Nadel will move to become co-chair of Warner Music Nashville, but did not mention a replacement. (Lousada and Liles will also not be replaced.) Atlantic made further cuts to its radio team, which now has fewer than 10 employees, having already been hit in previous waves of layoffs. The label slashed the publicity department to just a handful of people.
In addition, Atlantic and Elektra eliminated their touring teams, which help artists with promotion and production on the road. The creative departments of Atlantic and 300 — the staffers who help furnish artists with the content they need in a visual, social media-driven age — suffered losses as well. And the label cut some A&R executives.
All these vanished jobs are the latest sign that the definition of a major label is transforming rapidly. “The old advantages that a big label had in the past, radio and press and TV, those just aren’t as powerful as they were,” says Jonathan Daniel, a veteran artist manager. The industry is trying to “remodel what a major label is, because the old way is unsustainable at this point.”
That retooling process has led to a number of layoffs at both WMG and Universal Music Group over the last 18 months. (Cuts at Sony Music have been more moderate, sources have said, at least so far.) Executives in traditional departments, like radio and press, have been especially vulnerable. And companies have tried to reduce overlapping roles at frontline labels in favor of a shared central system of services.
Grainge, 30, has expressed disdain for the more sprawling, old-fashioned major label model in the past. In 2016, he founded the label 10K Projects, which has billed itself almost as an anti-major: Small and fleet-footed instead of large and lumbering, with a heavy focus on modern tools (digital marketing) at the expense of more old-fashioned ones (radio). He has had success with this approach, helping boost the early careers of artists like Ice Spice, XXXTentacion and Trippie Redd.
Several Atlantic staffers started to worry about the possibility of additional staff cuts in August, as soon as WMG unexpectedly announced that Grainge would replace Greenwald starting October 1. In the past, major leadership changes at labels have often been accompanied by layoffs. Roughly 20 years ago, for example, not long after Lyor Cohen took over as chairman/CEO of WMG, the company let go of around 1,000 employees.
That said, the record business was shrinking then, rather than growing. And WMG had already made three rounds of cuts in the past 19 months before last week’s layoffs.
Some executives believe that Atlantic Music Group, which has struggled to produce new breakout artists in the last two years, was still too big and too inefficient, even after the previous reductions in staff. It’s nearly impossible to turn a massive ship quickly, and speed is crucial in what WMG CEO Robert Kyncl recently called a “fast-paced, fiercely competitive industry.”
The company’s realignment is intended to strengthen the core Atlantic Music Group structure while also making it more flexible, so it can throw its full weight behind artists at Atlantic, 300 or Elektra at any given time, sources say. “Elliot is confident in the team he’s put in place and they’re all focused on moving the needle,” a source inside WMG tells Billboard. The mission, this person continues, is focusing on “artists, artist development, great music. With all the anxiety about changes, there is excitement about the future, too.”
But others wonder if deep cuts will ultimately affect a label’s ability to deliver on behalf of its artists. “They’re smart people; obviously there’s some sort of plan” with the restructure and the layoffs, says Motti Shulman, who exited his role as senior vp of rhythm promotion at 300 Elektra Entertainment in 2023. “But if you keep cutting the fat, at some point you dig into the muscle. I think they’ve gone beyond the fat.”
Earlier this month, WMG employees say Grainge spent time in the company’s Los Angeles and New York offices along with Zach Friedman and Tony Talamo, who are set to become chief operating officer and general manager of Atlantic Music Group, respectively. Several Atlantic staffers believed that the incoming leadership was evaluating their work and weighing who might be cut.
When layoffs began in New York last Thursday, a number of employees were told they were being let go in individual meetings with Greenwald — who had, in many cases, played an instrumental role in hiring them, sometimes decades ago. Some staffers started to call the artists they had collaborated with to notify them that they had been laid off. Others updated their LinkedIn profiles: #OpenToWork.
Historically, when labels cut a lot of employees — as Universal Music group did in 1999, and WMG did in 2004 — they often trim artist rosters as well. Specific employees often champion specific artists in the building; if those cheerleaders are gone, the label may in turn sever ties with the acts they cheered for. On top of that, remaining staff might be spread too thin to aid as many acts as it did previously. Many managers are still waiting to hear if their artists will be affected in the shakeup.
Todd Rubenstein, a veteran music lawyer, has been watching the steady drumbeat of layoffs across the major labels since the start of 2023. “I find it all sad,” he says. “Not just from the human level of people losing their jobs, but everyone was already complaining before about what labels were not doing for their artists. What happens now that a hundred people got let go?”
On Monday (Sept. 23), Atlantic started trying to answer that question. The company announced a “new era” and a series of promotions. “We are committed to a single principle,” Grainge said in a statement. “Maximum impact for original artists.”
08/19/2024
Tracing the rapid ascent of the 30-year-old record executive (and son of UMG’s Lucian Grainge), from his early entrepreneurial ventures to his industry-shaking new role.
08/19/2024
The power of the major label has been completely decimated.”
That broadside came from Elliot Grainge during an interview with The Los Angeles Times last year. In the profile, Grainge, founder of the independent label 10K Projects and son of Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge, added that the majors were like “a conveyor belt with 100 other priorities” and “mediocre-at-best product-management departments.” In his view, there was “not one example” of an artist “signed, developed and marketed from scratch to huge fanfare by a major label in the last three years.”
Sixteen months later, one of those conveyor belts will soon belong to Grainge. In a sudden and surprising shakeup, Warner Music Group announced that the 30-year-old will take over as CEO of Atlantic Music Group on Oct. 1, less than a year after WMG entered a joint venture with 10K. In his new position, Grainge will oversee the renowned Atlantic Records, as well as 300 Elektra Entertainment and his own imprint.
This means he will jump from managing a staff of around 30 in 2023, according to The L.A. Times, to commanding hundreds of employees. And as part of the overhaul, at least two well-regarded WMG veterans are headed for the exits: Max Lousada, who served as the company’s CEO of Recorded Music since 2017; and Julie Greenwald, who had led Atlantic as chairman and COO since 2006.
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The upheaval marks an abrupt generational shift for Atlantic, the storied label co-founded by music legend Ahmet Ertegun in 1947. “They’re going from the most traditional, A&R-driven leadership to a very contemporary, digitally-native new administration,” says one executive who has worked with Grainge in the past. “It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.”
“Cutting Away the Bullshit”
Grainge has risen rapidly in a remarkably short time in the business, and several executives who have worked with him cheered his latest promotion. “We’re still operating in an antiquated system, and Elliot’s found his success by cutting away the bullshit,” says Solomon Sobande, who managed XXXTentacion, the SoundCloud rapper-turned-streaming superstar, before his death and teamed up with Grainge to release X’s ? album in 2018. “There’s a certain level of commitment to his artists, making sure they had everything they needed to be successful, that I was always enthralled by.”
Some Warner employees, however, said they were upset at the departures precipitated by Grainge’s promotion. For them, losing Greenwald, who has been at Atlantic for two decades and assured Ertegun she would take care of the company upon being named president back in 2004, symbolizes the end of an era. (Craig Kallman, who served as chairman/CEO of Atlantic alongside Greenwald for many years and focused on A&R, will remain as CEO of Atlantic Records, albeit in a diminished role.) “We did not think Julie’s run was up yet, and we did not think Max’s run was up yet,” says one WMG executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Both Lousada and Greenwald were known for their close connections to marquee artists on WMG’s rosters; filling the void left by their departures will be no mean feat. Each has spent decades at record labels, developing reputations for their relationships with both artists and staff. Several executives expressed surprise that the new Atlantic boss is relatively inexperienced — even at a time when younger CEOs have taken over Columbia Records, Def Jam, Island Records and Warner Records, Grainge is the youngest major-label chief by a wide margin — rather than someone who has invested the years to learn how the majors operate.
Multiple WMG employees also wondered how 10K’s approach to signing and building artists will translate to Atlantic. While Grainge’s label has helped generate billions of streams, it has not yet nurtured an arena-headlining superstar in the mold of Atlantic’s Bruno Mars or Ed Sheeran, two artists whom Lousada and Greenwald helped shepherd to global success.
“Julie was widely regarded as one of the last real artist advocates who prioritized substantial songwriting over memetic share-ability,” says one manager who has worked closely with Atlantic. “She knows superstars transcend the algorithm. I really haven’t seen 10K develop anything that I think will last a generation or more.”
In addition, some employees said they are struggling to wrap their heads around the fact that the father of their incoming boss runs their biggest competitor. Together, father and son will lead companies that control more than a third of the U.S. recorded music market.
And some executives are worried that additional consolidation might mean more layoffs. Earlier this year, Atlantic laid off roughly two dozen staffers, mostly from radio and video; any new CEO at any company is likely to have new priorities. Grainge will do “some creative marketing that might not be ‘traditional’ for the majors,” predicts a second executive who has worked with him.
“Some labels still send shit to radio as their primary marketing strategy,” adds a third source who knows Grainge. “10K hasn’t done that. They invest heavily in digital — their ways of working with artists are much more modern.”
A rep for WMG declined to comment. On a recent earnings call, WMG CEO Robert Kyncl said he was “excited by the prospect of taking Atlantic’s culture-making capabilities” and “adding Elliot’s digitally native approach into the mix.” That combination, he continued, will “grow the label’s outstanding reputation.”
“Labels Are Trying to Adjust”
All the majors are facing an increasingly tough landscape because their influence over what music becomes popular is diminished — “decimated,” in Grainge’s words. As a result, “Labels are trying to adjust and test different methodologies to figure out what the future of a major will look like,” says a fourth executive who has worked with Grainge in the past.
In the last year, outside of the superstar ecosystems, music industry wins have often come from smaller, more agile outfits like Pulse Records (Tommy Richman) or Artist Partner Group (Odetari, Lay Bankz). 10K’s biggest success since moving to Warner has been Artemas’ “I Like the Way You Kiss Me” — low-slung club-pop — which peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100, and, to a lesser extent, Rich Amiri‘s “One Call” (No. 60).
These artists typically thrive in niches online, and don’t necessarily release the type of blockbuster albums that linger near the top of the Billboard 200 for weeks on end. But many young executives believe that this “riches in the niches” approach is the future — they argue that hardly any new superstars will be created now that audiences are spread across dozens of online platforms and mass media has lost much of its firepower.
Grainge’s rise, then, is a nod to the success of these streamlined, quick-on-the-draw operations, with their lower overheads and digital expertise. “It says something about the state of the industry as a whole that one big label system made a bet on a more independent, lean music business strategy,” says the first executive who has worked with Grainge.
But there’s no guarantee that the two systems will mesh. “There’s a political element to going into a place like Atlantic which is very different from running an independent company,” the executive continues. “It’s a challenge to be in that position and inherit decades worth of custom and chains of command.”
Elliot Grainge
Logan Mock
“The Red Tape Doesn’t Exist”
Grainge founded 10K Projects in 2016 and connected with many of his biggest acts early on — often rappers with avid online followings. Grainge was quick to dive into the volatile, punk- and emo-inflected hip-hop that erupted on SoundCloud in this era, signing Trippie Redd, 6ix9ine and XXXTentacion, among others. (More recently, 10K signed Ice Spice in partnership with Capitol Music Group; while most artists moved to WMG with 10K in the joint venture last September, Ice Spice remained under 10K/Capitol.)
At the time, the major labels hadn’t yet built the tools they now use to scour the internet’s nooks and crannies looking for viral phenomena, which left an opportunity for executives immersed in these digital scenes to find talent. The majors may also have been wary of the media controversies and legal troubles that dogged artists like 6ix9ine and XXXTentacion. (At the time, Universal Music Group distributed 10K.) Grainge has “never been afraid to jump out the window for something he believed in,” Sobande says.
“The first time I spoke to Elliot, I was really shocked — everybody knows who his dad was, so I was expecting a spoiled rich kid,” Sobande continues. Instead, he found Grainge “was down to get in the trenches. He was with us flying out to Florida, picking singles, coming in the studio, actually doing the work.”
10K developed a reputation for finding online phenomena early and marketing them savvily, especially on youth-friendly platforms like TikTok — an approach that has now been widely adopted by labels. “The guys at 10K are quick and nimble as it relates to digital strategy and taking risks,” says Karl Fowlkes, an entertainment attorney who has signed several clients to the label. “That’s what makes them special. The red tape doesn’t exist.”
Grainge’s “word was as good as a contract,” the first executive who worked with him agrees. “If you spoke to the guy and he agreed to do something, it would get done without having to jump through a million hoops.”
10K was also known for offering flexible — and generous — short-term deals to artists with momentum, and getting those agreements done speedily. (In contrast, multiple lawyers say Atlantic favored much more traditional deals until relatively recently.) XXXTentacion was initially signed to EMPIRE, but “they could only do so much at the time — it wasn’t the huge company it is now,” Sobande says. “Elliot wanted to get in the X business. And I remember calling him one day, like, ‘Listen, I’ve got an opportunity for you to get involved.’”
Grainge’s response: “Tell me how much, and I’ll do it.”
In the music business, financial commitments often come with strings attached, but multiple sources who know Grainge say he is uninterested in meddling in artists’ processes. He’s very much “this is their idea, let’s go with it,” says the third executive who has collaborated with Atlantic’s incoming CEO.
Birdman Zoe manages the producer Taz Taylor, whose Internet Money record label signed a joint venture with 10K in 2019. “We had a lot of label meetings early on,” Birdman Zoe says. “We really liked the fact that Elliot told us, ‘I want to let you guys do your thing. I’m not here to give you my opinion on something I might not know about. I’m going to back you and financially support you.’”
“You’ve Got to Be Able to Move Quickly”
Independent operations like AWAL, 300 and Alamo have all been snapped up, wholly or partially, by major labels in recent years, part of the majors’ never-ending struggle for market share. 10K was also a target: In September 2023, the company ended its longtime association with UMG and announced a joint venture with Warner Music Group. As part of the move, 10K became a standalone frontline label at WMG and Grainge joined the company’s leadership team.
Forging this partnership was one of the first big moves by Kyncl, who held roles at YouTube and Netflix before taking over WMG in January 2023. (His background in tech has been a point of contention with staff — multiple executives worry that he and the former tech employees he has hired understand data but not culture.) Kyncl inherited a challenge: Halfway through 2024, Republic Records’ current market share was greater than all of Warner Music Group’s. Without big releases from marquee stars, Atlantic in particular has slipped; it’s now behind sister label Warner Records in current market share so far in 2024.
Grainge will be partially responsible for reversing that decline. Sobande is confident he can pull it off. “To be successful, you’ve got to be able to move quickly, and a lot of times the corporate structure slows that process down,” Sobande acknowledges. But if anybody can figure out a way to navigate that tension, “it’s going to be Elliot.”
In the wake of his major move to the new title of Atlantic Music Group CEO, 10K Projects founder/CEO Elliot Grainge sent a note to the staff of the label that he founded, which was obtained by Billboard, saying that “we don’t expect any changes to take place at 10K” and that the shift represents “business as usual.”
Earlier today (Aug. 1), the Warner Music Group announced a major executive shakeup, which will see CEO of Recorded Music Max Lousada exit the company at the end of September and Grainge move into the CEO role of Atlantic Music Group, with longtime leaders Julie Greenwald moving to chairman and Craig Kallman remaining CEO of Atlantic Records. As part of the shift, 10K — which had operated as a standalone label since Grainge brought it to WMG last September — will become part of Atlantic Music Group, alongside 300 Elektra Entertainment.
“This new structure will give the 10K team and artists more visibility, more global exposure, and bigger opportunities across the Atlantic and WMG network,” Grainge wrote, adding that he’d continue to work alongside 10K co-presidents Zach Friedman and Tony Talamo “to create opportunities for our amazing roster of artists.”
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Grainge, the son of Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge, founded 10K as an independent company in 2016, and saw success with artists such as XXXTentacion, Trippie Red, Ice Spice and Surfaces, among a slew of others. Originally affiliated with the Capitol Music Group, 10K moved to Warner in September, and Grainge joined WMG’s global leadership team. He’ll now helm one of the most historic and decorated label groups in recorded music history.
Read Grainge’s full letter below.
Dear 10K Family,
This good news is confidential until the official announcement which will be issued shortly, but I wanted all of you to hear it from me first. I wanted to let you know that I have accepted the extraordinary opportunity to become CEO of Atlantic Music Group. As part of this change, in the coming weeks, 10K will officially join Atlantic Music Group, alongside Atlantic Records and 300 Elektra Entertainment. I am so happy that this new role allows me to continue to be able to work with Zach, Tony and all of you to create opportunities for our amazing roster of artists. This new structure will give the 10K team and artists more visibility, more global exposure, and bigger opportunities across the Atlantic and WMG network. We don’t expect any changes to take place at 10K. It’s business as usual moving forward, so I’m counting on your focus and dedication more than ever. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done to make 10K Projects the incredible place it is today and for the future. I’m looking forward to our next chapter together.
Sincerely, Elliot
12/29/2023
The year saw K-pop companies making mega moves on a global scale, while the catalog market remained hot.
12/29/2023
Warner Music Group and Elliot Grainge’s 10K Projects announced a new joint venture today (Sept. 5). As part of the deal, 10K will become a standalone label under the WMG umbrella, joining the likes of Atlantic Records and Warner Records among WMG’s collection of record labels.
Grainge, the son of Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge, initially launched 10K Projects in 2016 under Universal’s Capitol Music Group umbrella, with many of its projects distributed through Virgin Music. The label found success with artists like XXXTentacion, Trippie Redd, iann dior, Internet Money, controversial artist 6ix9ine and, most recently, Ice Spice.
As part of the switch from UMG to WMG, Eliot Grainge will remain as 10K’s CEO, and co-presidents Zach Friedman and Tony Talamo will also remain in place atop the label’s leadership ranks. Additionally, Grainge will join WMG’s global leadership team, the company said.
“Joining Warner Music Group provides us with the backing, the collective expertise and vision to empower our artists and our employees on the next phase of our journey,” Grainge said in a statement, pointing to Warner Recorded Music CEO Max Lousada and Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl as reasons behind the switch. “Max and Robert have been making all the right moves to position WMG for the future in what I think is one of the most fertile and exciting growth periods for the global music business. They have also shown that they value the kind of independent spirit and commitment to artist development that has made 10K successful so far. I know I speak for Zach, Tony and the entire team when I say how excited we are to get started in our new home.”
10K will be bringing along its full roster of artists, which also includes Surfaces, Aitch, YTB Fatt, SXMPRA and COIN, among others, while through its Homemade Projects subsidiary it also manages influencers and has a merchandise operation that works with several artists as well. Ice Spice will continue to record for 10K Projects/Capitol Music Group.
“Elliot and 10K don’t just discover original talent, they understand how to ignite fandom and create fresh impact with each release,” Lousada said in a statement. “It’s a label full of next generation possibilities — with its artists, its leader, and its team. As 10K joins our thriving network of independent music brands, we’re committed to giving it the freedom and backing to reach new heights.”
“We welcome 10K’s extraordinary artists, its talented founder Elliot, and his entrepreneurial team to WMG,” Kyncl added. “Together, we’ll grow our investment in artistry and accelerate the pace of our innovation.”
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