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With climate change having widespread effects across the music industry, a new conference will provide education and create action regarding what the music world can do to address the crisis.
The Music Sustainability Summit launches Feb. 5 in Los Angeles and is being produced by The Music Sustainability Alliance, an organization that provide science-based solutions, business case analyses, best practices, and tools for operational change across the industry.
The Summit is the first of its kind in North America.
Happening the day after the Grammy Awards, the event will be moderated by GreenBiz Group chairman and co-founder Joel Makower and feature members of MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative, climate change and food justice focused organization Support+Feed, industry environmental nonprofit REVERB, climate organization Planet Reimagined and global sustainability company ClimeCo. The Summit’s partner is Circular Unity, an organization focused on climate change as it relates to the entertainment industry.
The conference is intended to create alignment within the industry by bringing stakeholders on board to commit to climate action. The Summit will include the establishment of working groups meant to ensure that climate organizations are in the rooms with the key decision makers across the industry. Organizers hope that by the end of the day, those in attendance will have committed to the first steps in the industry’s collective action.
“There’s so much good work people are doing, but nobody knows about it,” says Music Sustainability Alliance co-founder and president Amy Morrison. “A goal of the conference, and what inspired it, is to help people to stop reinventing the wheel, to provide resources and get people talking and collaborating. This is a community. The power of all of this together is so much greater than individual actions.”
Hosted on the USC campus, the day-long conference will be structured into two parts, with morning programming focused on education and getting stakeholders on the same page and afternoon programming geared towards action about what the industry can do to mitigate its carbon footprint.
Along with panel discussions, a team from MIT will present a climate-focused map of the entire music industry, and the conference will provide educational materials so that even people just starting to learn about climate science will be able to follow along.
“We welcome all, the climate curious and the climate experts,” says Morrison. “There will be something for everybody.”
Tickets for the Summit are available on a sliding scale, between $25 and $200.
The Music Sustainability Alliance has already been busy bringing together stakeholders. A July organizing call had more than 30 representatives from businesses including UTA, CAA and WME, along with Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music, along with AEG and Live Nation and a number of managers and nonprofit organizations that work in the climate action space.
“It was really the first time ever all of these people had gotten on the phone together and been in a meeting to actually talk about sustainability,” says Morrison, who was the svp of marketing at Concerts West for more than two decades. “One of things that we find is really important to remember is that everybody’s job is a climate job, and there’s something that we can all do in our daily jobs.”
“It really is about working together and not working in these silos,” adds Music Sustainability Alliance director Eleanore Anderson. “It really is amazing working in these neutral parties and seeing everyone come together.”
Founded during the pandemic, the Music Sustainability Alliance is composed of music industry veterans, companies and scientists who are addressing innovation and sustainability converging in the music industry. The Alliance and the Summit both put a strong emphasis on data, research and science.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s board said on Thursday it was launching a strategic review of changes to its current management team and other options that could maximize shareholder value, as the company braces for a critical continuation vote next week.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s (HSF) stock price hit an all-time low earlier this week after scrapping its upcoming shareholder dividend because of an accounting error that resulted in a nearly $12-million downward revision of certain expected streaming royalties.
Shares in the company, which owns the rights to songs performed by Rihanna, Fleetwood Mac, The Pretenders and more, fell by more than 10% on the news, and investor confidence appeared shaky this week, as the the five-year-old music royalty fund prepares for a do-or-die continuation vote on Oct. 26.
“This decision follows extensive engagement over recent weeks with shareholders in light of the forthcoming continuation resolution,” the board said in a statement announcing the strategic review. “These meetings highlighted a continued belief in the company’s portfolio and growth prospects … as well as the need for changes by the company in order to deliver value for shareholders.”
The board said it explored terminating its contract with the fund’s investment advisor, Hipgnosis Song Management, run by HSF founder Merck Mercuriadis, but said it concluded it is not in shareholders’ interest, “as it would be an event of default under the revolving credit facility” if the fund fired its investment advisor before finding a new one who was approved by the HSF’s banks.
The board reiterated its recommendation that shareholders vote in favor of continuing the fund, saying it believes “it is in shareholders’ interest to have a strategic review with the widest array of options for the company to consider and to identify changes that will focus on recovering and delivering improved shareholder value.” The board went on to say it asked its investment advisor to remove a clause in its contract that gives the group overseen by Mercuriadis the right to acquire HSF’s portfolio if its advisory contract is terminated, but that request was declined.
The company’s stock rose about 2.33% to 74.70 British pence ($0.90) as of 10:22 in London.
Continuation votes are required for all publicly traded trusts listed on the London Stock Exchange to provide investors of closed-end funds with an exit strategy.
In addition to a thumbs up or down on continuation next week, HSF investors will also be asked to vote on the sale of 29 catalogs from HSF’s portfolio–including the works of Shakira, Barry Manilow and other artists–to its privately held sister fund Hipgnosis Songs Capital, which is backed by Blackstone.
The board reiterated on Thursday its support for the proposed sale, saying it would use the $440 million in proceeds to reduce the company’s debt and buy back up to $180 million worth of its own stock.
The fund’s board chairman Andrew Sutch announced plans to step down last month, and the board said it has hired an executive search firm to look for his replacement.
The boad also said it also has secured new terms with lenders that put the company back in compliance with its fixed charge cover ratio covenant. The company risked breaching compliance with its lenders over the past week after it was forced to cut expectations for revenue from the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board’s Phonorecords III (CRB III) to $9.9 million, from $21.7 million.
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund’s shareholders voted on Wednesday to sell the fund’s assets to U.S.-based music company Concord in a deal that values the company at $469 million. Of the 69% of Round Hill Music shareholders who were eligible to vote, 99% voted to approve the sale, which fund chairman Robert Naylor called a […]
BMG has acquired the recorded music catalog of French DJ and artist Martin Solveig in what the company calls its biggest such deal in France to date. The sale includes the rights to around 130 tracks, including hits like “Intoxicated” and “+1,” and Solveig’s studio albums from 2002’s Sur la Terre to 2011’s Smash.
Solveig’s work joins a BMG France roster that includes Jean-Michel Jarre (recordings and publishing), Yuksek (recordings and publishing) and Thylacine (publishing). The previous largest recorded music acquisition by BMG in France was more than a decade ago when it purchased Francis Dreyfus Music (Dreyfus), the label which owned Jarre’s first albums.
BMG declined to offer financial details of the Solveig sale, which was brokered by Maximilien Jazani of Catalogue Associates.
Solveig has topped the Dance Club Songs chart twice in his career, first with 2011’s Dragonette-assisted “Hello” and then a year later with “The Night Out.” He’s also placed five tracks on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, including “All Day and Night,” “Hey Now” and “Juliet & Romeo.” His biggest mainstream hit, “Hello,” topped out at No. 46 on the Hot 100.
The success of “Hello” led to Solveig’s work on Madonna’s MDNA album — he co-wrote and co-produced three songs, including “Give Me All Your Luvin’” and “Turn Up the Radio.”
“Martin Solveig has created some of the most potent and successful electronic music of the past decade with a career which straddles the end of the download era and the emergence of streaming,” said Maximilian Kolb, BMG’s evp of repertoire & marketing across continental Europe. “We see significant potential to bring his music to a wider streaming audience.”
Solveig added, “In the process of selecting a partner to host and preserve my recordings, it was imperative for me to associate myself with a company that understands the intrinsic value of this music and is just as passionate about its future potential as I was in creating it. BMG has demonstrated exceptional motivation, and a genuine desire to perpetuate the exploitation of the tracks that are dear to me.”
News of the deal arrives amid a busy 2023 for BMG. So far this year, the company has struck catalog and/or rights deals with Jet, Paul Simon, The Pointer Sisters and George Harrison. In 2022, BMG acquired rights and royalties for Tina Turner, John Legend, Mötley Crüe, ZZ Top, Peter Frampton, Harry Nilsson, John Lee Hooker, Simple Minds, Primal Scream, and The Hollies, among others.
Another legend of Laurel Canyon has partnered with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group. Joining his Crosby, Stills & Nash bandmates on Team IAG is Graham Nash in a wide-ranging deal that aims to bolster the influential singer-songwriter’s musical legacy for future generations.
Under the agreement, Iconic has purchased a controlling interest in Nash’s music intellectual property assets, including his interest in his sound recordings and compositions, as well as his name, image and likeness. The prized assets include his work with a few bands you may have heard of: The Hollies, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Also in the mix is Nash’s solo music and his work in the Crosby & Nash duo.
IAG declined to share financial details of the deal, or the size of their controlling interest in Nash’s rights.
Nash, 81, joins an elite roster of acts at IAG, which Azoff co-founded in January 2020: Cher, Dan Fogelberg, Linda Ronstadt, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, Nat “King” Cole, Dean Martin and of course Stills and Crosby, who died earlier this year.
“I am thrilled to welcome Graham Nash to the iconic family, which now represents the works of all three of Crosby, Stills, and Nash,” Azoff said. “Graham is not only an incredible talent and true gentleman but a longtime friend as well. Back when I struck out on my own and started my first management company, Graham visited my office and came up with the name, ‘Front Line Management.’”
Nash co-founded the Hollies in the early 1960s with his school mate Allan Clarke, and along with guitarist Tony Hicks is credited (Lennon-McCartney style) with penning many of the British invaders’ original songs, including “On a Carousel,” “Carrie Anne,” “Stop Stop Stop” and “King Midas in Reverse,” among others.
By 1968, Nash was feeling creatively stifled with the Hollies and moved to California where he formed a supergroup of sorts with Crosby (The Byrds) and Stills (Buffalo Springfield). The trio’s 1969 self-titled debut, with its sterling three-part harmonies, miraculously gelled despite having three distinctly different songwriters. Nash’s keystone contribution to the set was the rolling “Marrakesh Express,” written for the Hollies but rejected, which peaked at No. 28 on the Hot 100. For the band’s next album, 1970’s Déjà Vu with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Nash brought a pair of all-timers with “Teach Your Children” and “Our House,” the latter written about the home he shared with Joni Mitchell.
Through their various configurations, the band produced eight studio albums and five live albums.
Nash launched a solo career in 1971, starting with the critically acclaimed Songs for Beginners, which includes “Chicago” and “Military Madness,” and then a few years later with Weird Tales. His latest studio album, Now, his seventh overall, was released in May. Throughout the 1970s, he and Crosby paired their voices for a series of similarly acclaimed albums: Graham Nash David Crosby (1972), Wind on the Water (1975) and Whistling Down the Wire (1976). Nash wrote their lone Top 40 hit, the politically-charged “Immigration Man” off their debut. The pair teamed again in 2004 for their Crosby & Nash double album. Nash also reunited with the Hollies in the mid-1980s for an album, What Goes Around…
The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (CSN in 1997 and The Hollies in 2010) said he looks forward to working with Azoff and his team on “various projects to further the legacy of CSN’s music and my own.”
Epic Games and Songtradr confirmed plans to let go of roughly half of Bandcamp’s workforce on Monday (Oct. 16), as the two companies finalized the sale of the popular independent music sales and streaming platform.
Epic Games first announced plans to sell Bandcamp to Songtradr — an online music licensing marketplace — on Sept. 28 amid a broad restructuring that involved laying off 830 employees, or about 16% of its workforce. In addition to divesting Bandcamp, the Fortnite developer also said it would spin off kidtech company SuperAwesome, a move that would impact 250 people in total.
An Epic Games spokesperson declined to comment on how many Bandcamp employees were terminated, but said impacted workers received notification of severance packages on Monday.
In a statement, Songtradr said Bandcamp’s operating costs have “significantly increased” in recent years and the job cuts, which were impacted all divisions, were necessary to “ensure a sustainable and healthy company that can serve its community of artists and fans.”
“After a comprehensive evaluation, including the importance of roles for smooth business operations and pre existing functions at Songtradr, 50% of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr,” according to the statement. “We are looking forward to welcoming Bandcamp into our musically aligned community.”
Songtradr said it will keep popular Bandcamp services, including “artist-first revenue share, Bandcamp Fridays and Bandcamp Daily.”
Employees of the independent music storefront had been attempting to unionize since March, a move prompted by Bandcamp’s 2022 sale to Epic Games. On Oct. 3, Bandcamp workers affiliated with the effort wrote Songtradr’s CEO asking that he recognize their union and extend offers to all current employees. The company ultimately stated that not all employees would receive offers to join Songtradr.
Bandcamp employees affected by Monday’s layoffs described disjointed communication from their new and outgoing employers about the job cuts.
“Officially laid off from bandcamp, after two weeks of waiting in limbo with many of my fellow colleagues,” according to a post by Atoosa Moinzadeh on X (formerly Twitter) shared on Monday. Moinzadeh wrote on her LinkedIn page that she was let go after working for 2.5 years as a social media manager and editor at Bandcamp.
Rochelle Shipman, whose LinkedIn page describes her as a vinyl representative at Bandcamp, wrote on X on Monday, “3 years at Bandcamp, nearly 100 records & an entire union later, and laid off without so much as a peep from (ex) leadership. Please continue to support artists. Buy music at every turn … Artists first forever.”
Additional reporting by Kristin Robinson.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund said on Monday it would not pay its investors a dividend in October because of new, lower projections for the amount of revenue it can expect from the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board for certain streaming royalties, causing its stock to dip more than 10%.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s board said it had to withdraw the proposed interim dividend of 1.1325 pence per share, which it had announced to shareholders on Sept. 21, after its independent portfolio valuer, Citrin Cooperman, “materially reduced” Hipgnosis’ projected payments from CRB III, causing the board to cut its expectations for CRB III retroactive accrual to $9.9 million, from $21.7 million. Hipgnosis’s board said it “expects to declare and pay future dividends as targeted,” subject to discussions with its lenders.
The announcement comes 10 days ahead of the London-listed music royalty trust’s first shareholder continuation vote, where investors are asked to vote on whether they want to keep the investment trust going or liquidate the fund.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund made history in the music industry when it went public in July 2018 as the first publicly listed company offering investors the chance to earn returns from the royalties on famous songs like “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Neil Young’s catalog and more.
But the company is facing some of its first, serious growing pains as the high interest-rate environment has made acquiring more catalogs more expensive and drawn investors’ interest away from alternative investments like music rights to high-yielding bonds. Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s share price is down more than 25% over the past year and was trading at 66.26 British pence ($0.90 USD) as of 8:50 a.m. New York time.
The board has announced a number of initiatives since September that appear to be aimed at addressing investors’ concerns ahead of the Oct. 26 continuation vote, including the proposed sale of $440 million worth of catalogs from its portfolio to the private side of Hipgnosis — Hipgnosis Songs Capital, which is backed by private equity goliath Blackstone. The board said it would use the proceeds to buy back up to $180 million of its own stock, pay down $250 million of its revolving debt and to introduce new, lower advisory fees to be paid to Hipgnosis Song Management Limited.
The board has said it hopes the proposal, which must be approved by shareholders, would help to “re-rate” the company’s share price in the eyes of investors and the broader market.
The board said it learned of the reduction in expected payments around Sept. 30, after Citirn Cooperman “reduced its expectations of industry-wide retroactive payments in relation to the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board’s decision in relation to royalties payable to songwriters for the period covering 2018-2022 (“CRB III“) for its valuation of the Company’s portfolio.”
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign are shopping for a partner to distribute their forthcoming collaborative album — and sources tell Billboard they are considering five different offers. West “will make a decision soon,” says one source. And while sources say the album release was originally planned for Friday (Oct. 13), it was pushed back and is expected to land in the coming weeks.
The project has record industry executives weighing the risks and rewards of releasing what some who’ve heard the music say is West’s best music in at least five years, since 2018’s Ye, but at an especially fraught time as the conflict between Israel and Hamas intensifies following the surprise attack on the Supernova Sukkot Gathering music festival on Oct. 7.
Some label leaders have passed on the opportunity to distribute the project given the antisemitic comments West began making almost exactly a year prior, beginning Oct. 8, 2022 — even though the music itself isn’t controversial lyrically, sources say. But there are a multitude of smaller distributors in fierce competition for whom such a release could be game-changing, given the two artists’ streaming histories. One such possible company is Too Lost, the music distribution and publishing company that launched in 2021 and currently represents West’s rights on YouTube. (When reached for comment, Too Lost CEO Gregory Hirschhorn declined to comment.)
The last time West and Ty Dolla $ign released a collaboration was “Junya Pt 2” on Ye’s 2021 album, Donda. Before that, they worked together on Ty Dolla $ign’s “Ego Death” (2020) and on West’s “Everything We Need” (2019), “Real Friends” (2016) and “Only One” (2014).
After releasing 10 albums on Def Jam, Donda was West’s last release with the label. His 2022 album, Donda 2, was exclusively released on the Stem Player, and later that year, following West’s antisemitic comments, a spokesperson for Def Jam parent company Universal Music Group denounced his rhetoric and distanced the company from the artist. “Def Jam’s relationship with Ye as a recording artist, Def Jam’s partnership with the GOOD Music label venture and Ye’s merchandise agreement with Bravado all ended in 2021,” the rep said.
West has not officially released any new music since then, and industry watchers have wondered what kind of route he might take when he decided to make his return. Owning all his copyrights, West also has the option to self-release his music through a do-it-yourself service such as Distrokid or Tunecore for a modest one-time fee, but may favor a boutique distribution service that would pay an advance for the deal, provide a more personalized approach and work directly with streaming services for promotion and editorial placements.
Abu Dhabi-based music streamer Anghami led all music stocks this week after gaining 17.6% to $0.82. On Thursday, the company announced through an SEC filing it had received a written notification from the Nasdaq Stock Market regarding its closing share price being below $1.00 for the previous 30 days. The Nasdaq gives companies 180 days to regain compliance or face de-listing from the exchange.
The warning appeared to spur a 16.5% gain on Thursday as investors saw signs the share price won’t remain under $1. In its SEC filing, Anghami stated if the share price remains under the $1 threshold it will “consider available options to cure the deficiency,” including a reverse share split (which would increase the share price by reducing the number of shares outstanding while the market capitalization remains unchanged).
SiriusXM gained 5.7% on Friday (Oct. 13) and finished the week up 11.8%. Its $4.85 closing price was the highest for the satellite radio company since Aug. 9. The typically steady stock has fallen 17% this year as self-pay satellite radio subscribers stagnated at or around 32 million for eight straight quarters. SiriusXM will host a Nov. 8 presentation to unveil a new streaming app and preview upcoming in-car innovations and new programming.
The 21-stock Billboard Global Music Index fell 1.3% to 1,355.65 this week as 13 stocks were in negative territory and only eight stocks gained ground. Year to date, the index has gained 16.1%. Led by SiriusXM’s gain and a 7.6% increase from Cumulus Media, the index’s three radio stocks had an average improvement of 5.5%. Eight record labels and publishers had an average weekly gain of 0.3%. HYBE improved 6.8% while Believe climbed 3.6% and Universal Music Group added 0.6%. Streaming companies were, on average, flat this week.
Live music stocks dropped an average of 4.8%. Shares of Sphere Entertainment Co. dropped 11.1%, effectively offsetting the 11% gain on Oct. 2 following U2’s debut performances at Sphere in Las Vegas. Live Nation dropped 3.9%, MSG Entertainment fell 3.5% and CTS Eventim shares fell 0.7%. If investors are curious what’s next for Sphere Entertainment, clues comes from an interview published Thursday. Executive chairman and CEO James Dolan said the company is “actively pursuing other markets” and “has six different kinds of spheres down to a 3,000-seater.” A Las Vegas-style Sphere may not work in London, where according to reports residents are concerned about the location and light pollution that could arise from a massive external display similar to the Las Vegas venue.
Music stocks underperformed numerous indexes. In the United States, the S&P 500 gained 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 gained 1.4%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 2%.
Stocks faded after the release of consumer sentiment data for October by the University of Michigan showed a decline from September based on “a substantial increase” in concerns about inflation. Expectations for inflation in one year rose from 3.2% in September to 3.8% this month. That’s the highest mark since May 2023 and substantially above the 2.3% to 3% range seen in the two years before the pandemic.
Also a factor in stock prices, the U.S. Federal Reserve expects to raise interest rates one more time, according to minutes released from its September policy meeting. Interest rates have an inverse relationship with equity prices. Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive and cut down on corporate profits.
If it’s Friday that means another spin around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across the music industry.
Hard 8 Working Group is now live in La La Land. The Nashville-based music management company promoted Aimee Beren to lead its brand-new Los Angeles office, alongside artist manager Michael Duda. With an office in New York as well, H8WG can now boast of bi-coastal bonafides as it continues to build a client roster that includes hardcore elder statesmen Jawbreaker, hard edged Daughtry and alt-rockers All Time Low, All-American Rejects and Boys Like Girls, among others. The company also recently launched a record label with Big Machine. Both Beren and Duda came most recently from Prodigy Artists Management, where Beren was vp of operations and Duda managed artists. Beren got her start at Three Six Zero, where she worked with deadmau5, R3HAB and others. “Aimee has been an absolute stellar part of the H8WG team which alone more than qualified her for this job, but being from LA and having the desire to move back there just made this work out perfectly for all of us,” said Dirk Hemsath, H8WG co-CEO and co-founder.
Atlantic Records promoted Bianca Ortega to vice president of marketing and digital, effective immediately. Based in LA, Bianca recently celebrated 10 years at Atlantic, where she has worked on key projects including Charlie Puth, BRELAND, Oliver Tree, Barbie The Album and more. Following an internship there, Ortega officially joined the label in September 2013 working supporting roles in marketing and video production before rising the ranks — most recently as senior director of marketing and digital. Ortega reports directly to Brian Dackowski, executive vp of viral marketing & analytics.
Warner Music Nashville executive vp of artist development Shane Tarleton announced his departure from the label, concluding a 13-year run. He plans to unveil his next move in early 2024. Tarleton got his start in music in 1998 in the creative department of RCA Records, where he worked under the wing of vp of creative services Mary Hamilton. After leaving RCA in 2004, he dabbled in writing, artist management and event production before joining WMN in 2010, eventually rising to overseeing marketing, brand sponsorships, digital interactive and creative services for the label.
Dinesh Ratnam has been appointed managing director of Warner Music Malaysia, where he will oversee the company’s operations out of Kuala Lumpur, and will report to Warner Music Asia co-presidents Chris Gobalakrishna and Jonathan Serbin. He joins WMG from VOD streaming service iQiyi, where he served as senior director in the international business department and was country manager for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Before that, he held key roles at iflix, another prominent VOD service in the region, and tech company the Catcha Group. The WMM roster of local talent includes Adam Lee, Masdo, Janna Nick and Bunga, among others. “With its vibrant diversity and immense talent, the Malaysian music scene serves as a vital hub for cultural exchange and artistic expression,” said Gobalakrishna. “Dinesh’s appointment signifies our dedication to nurturing this thriving ecosystem.”
BrickHouse Entertainment CEO and founder Scott Brickell and SMP Consulting leader Ron Smith have entered a joint partnership, with SMP Consulting operating cohesively under the BrickHouse Entertainment name. Brickell and Smith, along with Chase Swayze, are managing partners in the company, while Kim Davis has been promoted to chief operating officer. Also rounding out the organization are Caleb Gauntt and Jared Johnson. The combined artist roster includes hit CCM group MercyMe (whose “To Not Worship You” is currently in its fifth week atop the Billboard Christian Airplay chart) as well as CAIN, Micah Tyler, Caleb & John, Iveth Luna, Micah Christopher, Christian Paul and Bay Turner. –Jessica Nicholson
Neil Jacobson’s writer-producer management company Hallwood Media promoted Quinn McGinley to general manager of its recording division. In the new role, Chavez will focus on day-to-day operations of Hallwood Recordings, including publishing, distribution and (of course) recordings. McGinley joined Hallwood in October 2020 and was most recently a project coordinator. Jacobson, formerly president of Geffen, described McGinley’s musical instincts “unparalleled” and said his “incredible charm and kindness have won the hearts of everyone he encounters.”
Indie booking agency Sound Talent Group added Steve Kaul as an agent out of its newly established Nashville office. Kaul is a veteran of APA and CAA and brings along a roster of clients including Built to Spill, Vanessa Carlton and Citizen Cope, among others. LA-based STG opened its new Music City outpost in the Berry Hill nabe, with agents Beth Keith, Jonathan Wilson, Kaul and four others. STG co-founder Tim Borror calls Kaul ” one of my favorite people in the business” with “incredible success over the years. We’ve wanted him to be part of what we are doing from the beginning.”
ICYMI: Warner Music Group announced former Google executive Carletta Higginson as its new chief digital officer, replacing outgoing CDO Oana Ruxandra … and Francisco Granados was named svp of A&R at Warner Music Latina.
Venue management company ASM Global elevated Will Beekman to vice president of theater operations and content development. In addition to his current duties as booking director for ASM’s arenas in the Northeast, Beekman will now also be tasked with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the firm’s theater division, with focuses on branding, bookings and wider event planning. Beekman’s previous experience includes a 10-year tour as executive director at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts.
Jess Partridge is the new executive director of the European Music Manager Alliance, or EMMA. She’ll spearhead policy, advocacy, partnerships and day-to-day management of the advocacy organization, which represents over 2,000 music managers across Europe and another 600 worldwide. “Managers and artists are at the heart of this industry and advocating for them, means advocating for a better music ecosystem for all,” said Partridge, who previously had a major part in launching PRS Foundation’s Keychange initiative for gender equality and is founder of the In Stereo music platform. You can reach Partridge at jess@emma.community.
Warner Chappell-backed publishing company Jody Williams Songs promoted Tenasie Courtright to creative manager. The Belmont grad joined the company in December and worked under senior director of creative Nina Jenkins on a roster that includes Vince Gill, Ashley McBride, Driver Williams and Jason Nix, among others. Reach Courtright at tenasie@jodywilliamssongs.co.
Last Week’s Turntable: WMG Flips the Script in Finland