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Sherrese Clarke Soares‘ HarbourView Equity Partners and Diddy‘s Revolt are among the bidders finalizing second-round offers to acquire a majority stake in BET Media Group from Paramount Global, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks.
Jesse Collins Entertainment, which produced the Grammys and this year’s SuperBowl halftime performance by Rihanna, is also mulling joining HarbourView and Revolt’s joint offer for the package of networks that includes VH1, said one of the sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the talks.
Paramount Global is reportedly exploring selling a majority stake in BET Media Group, which includes BET, BET+, BET Gospel, BET HER, BET International, BET Jams, BET Soul, BET Studios and VH1, for as much as $3 billion, as it looks to offload assets like book publisher Simon & Shuster and preschool service Noggin to focus on its streaming business.
Sources say other bidders submitting second-round offers for BET Media Group include Tyler Perry and Byron Allen. Paramount is reportedly looking to finalize deals this fall.
A spokesperson for BET declined to comment for this story.
Soares, whose private equity firm owns rights to songs by regional Mexican trio Eslabon Armado, Luis Fonsi and Florida Georgia Line, confirmed during a red-carpet interview with Billboard at the BET Awards that HarbourView has an active bid for the media group.
“We are here because of how much we support the brand and how excited we are about the opportunity around the brand itself,” Soares said, declining to share further details.
A former Morgan Stanley managing director, Soares founded HarbourView in 2021, initially to acquire publishing and music recording rights — an investment strategy she helped develop as CEO and co-founder of Tempo Music. More recently, Soares has guided HarbourView’s investments in media companies, aiming to build out a distribution network for content soundtracked by artists in its catalog.
In March, HarbourView led a $90 million investment in a minority stake in MACRO, a film, television and branding company founded by Charles D. King, whose projects include Judas and the Black Messiah. Directed by Shaka King, Judas made history in 2021 as the first-ever film with an all-Black production team to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
“Our interest is to be fuel to the entertainment and media segment,” Soares told Billboard at the BET Awards, referencing HarbourView’s investments in catalogs and MACRO. Regarding the results of the bids for BET, Soares said, “We’ll let the cards fall where they may.”
Sara Evans signed with Nashville-based label Melody Place, which she joins in partnership with her own imprint, Born to Fly Records. The country singer is slated to return to the recording studio in October to work on new music, with an expected album release in 2024. It will be her first album of original material in seven years. “When the Melody Place team approached me about working together and expanding all the things I’d already been doing with my own label — Born To Fly Records, it became clear that they share the same passion and excitement about trying new and innovative things to connect fans with music,” said Evans in a statement. Evans is represented by manager Craig Dunn at One Spark Entertainment and agents Doug Neff and Becky Gardenhire at WME.
Independent artist Petey (“Don’t Tell the Boys,” “Lean Into Life”) signed with Capitol Records, which will release his new single, “I’ll Wait,” on July 7. He’s represented by managers Ethan Silverman and William Crane and agent Tor Breon at WME. He was previously signed to Terrible Records.
Bronx rapper Scar Lip (“Glizzy Gobbler,” “This Is New York”) signed with Epic Records, which will be releasing new music from the spitter “very soon.”
Singer-songwriter Vera Sola signed to City Slang Records, which released her new single, “Desire Path,” on June 28. It’s her first new release since 2019. Sola is represented by manager Jim Martin at XXVII Arts and agent Will Church at ATC.
Country singer/songwriter and rapper C’ing Jerome (“Barn Don’t Close”) signed a record deal with Average Joes Entertainment. The label released his latest single, “Average Joe,” on June 16.
Page 1 Management added London-based songwriter/producer Tommy Sanders and songwriter/producer David Kerckhoff to its roster. Sanders will work with Rob Turnham out of Page 1’s London office and Kerckhoff will work with Nina Musolino out of Page 1’s Nashville office.
Boston band Final Gasp signed with Relapse Records, which will release the group’s debut album, Mourning Moon, on September 22. The group’s 2021 EP, Haunting Whisper, was released by Triple B Records.
MNRK Music Group signed English “tech metal” band Turin to its heavy metal and hard rock imprint MNRK Heavy.
Twitter owner Elon Musk has limited the number of tweets that users can view each day — restrictions he described as an attempt to prevent unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data from the social media platform.
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The site is now requiring people to log on to view tweets and profiles — a change in its longtime practice to allow everyone to peruse the chatter on what Musk has frequently touted as the world’s digital town square since buying it for $44 billion last year.
The restrictions could result in users being locked out of Twitter for the day after scrolling through several hundred tweets. Thousands of users complained Saturday (July 1) of not being able to access the site.
In a Friday tweet, Musk described the new restrictions as a temporary measure that was taken because “we were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users!”
Musk has pushed back on what he calls misuse of Twitter data to train popular artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT. They scour reams of information online to generate human-like text, photos, video and other content.
Musk elaborated on the limits Saturday, saying unverified accounts will temporarily be restricted to reading 600 posts per day, while verified accounts will be able to scroll through up to 6,000.
After facing backlash, he tweeted that the thresholds would be raised to 800 posts for unverified accounts and 8,000 for verified accounts before later settling on 1,000 and 10,000 tweets, respectively.
The crackdown began to have ripple effects, causing more than 7,500 people at one point Saturday to report problems using the social media service, based on complaints registered on Downdetector, a website that tracks online outages.
Although that’s a relatively small number of Twitter’s more than 200 million worldwide users, the trouble was widespread enough to cause the #TwitterDown hashtag to trend in some parts of the world.
The higher threshold allowed on verified accounts is part of an $8-per-month subscription service that Musk rolled out earlier this year in an effort to boost Twitter revenue. It has fallen sharply since the billionaire Tesla CEO took over the company and laid off roughly three-fourths of the workforce to cut costs and stave off bankruptcy.
Advertisers have since curbed their spending on Twitter, partly because of changes that have allowed more sometimes-hateful and prickly content that offends a wider part of the service’s audience.
Musk recently hired longtime NBC Universal executive Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s CEO to try to win back advertisers.
An Associated Press inquiry about Saturday’s access problems triggered a crude automated reply that Twitter sends to most media queries without addressing the question.
Ryan Beuschel joined The Neal Agency as head of business development, where he’ll assist in artist development across a TNA roster that includes Morgan Wallen, HARDY and Anne Wilson. The Michigan native is fresh off a nine-year tour of Warner Chappell Music, where he rose to vp of A&R and is credited with signing recently crowned Billboard Country Power Players rookie of the year Bailey Zimmerman (a TNA client). Beuschel got his start interning at Universal Music Publishing Group and later held roles at UMG and ASCAP. “Ryan has been a close friend of mine for many years,” said agency founder and co-head Austin Neal. “He carries the same entrepreneurial spirit and artist first mentality that aligns with the core values of our company.” Reach Beuschel at Ryan@TheNealAgency. net.
Sony Music’s distribution and indie artist services company AWAL hired Vijay Basrur to captain its expansion into the opportunity-rich India and South Asia markets. This new chapter for AWAL follows the acquisition of Basrur’s homegrown digital distribution service, OKListen, which works with 4,000-plus artists across India. Based in Mumbai and supported by Sony Music India, the Basrur-led AWAL division will help indie-centric artists with their marketing, creative, synchs, radio promotion and, of course, distribution needs. He’ll report to AWAL CEO Lonny Olinick and Sony Music India managing director Vinit Thakkar. “The independent music community across the region is full of potential,” said Olinick.
Linda Bloss-Baum will depart SoundExchange, where she is senior vp of government relations and public policy, to join the Kogod School of Business at American University as a full-time faculty member. The Washington D.C.-based Bloss-Baum started at SoundExchange in 2021 after holding roles at Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Time Warner Inc. At the Kogod School of Business, where she has been an adjunct professor for a decade, she’ll serve as assistant program director in the business and entertainment program and teach two undergraduate courses. Bloss-Baum officially starts her new job on Aug. 15.
Ticketing and events marketplace Tixr continues a hiring spree with the appointment of Irene Hedges to chief strategy officer. Hedges, most recently Warner Bros.’ svp of corporate business development and strategy, will spend her time at Tixr launching new business verticals and expanding the company internationally, among other duties. Other recent appointments at Tixr include Matt Baca to vp of finance, Acacia Diaz to vp of marketing and Nate Liberman to vp of sports. But wait there’s more: industry veteran Sara Mertz was promoted to vp of music partnerships – venues.
ICYMI: Rihanna stepped down as Savage X Fenty boss … Patrick Moore was appointed CEO at Opry Entertainment Group … Jarred Arfa was named evp/head of global music at the newly launched Independent Artist Group … SoundCloud promoted Tracy Chan to chief content officer … Runner Music hired Amanda Hill as co-chief creative officer … German music rights body GEMA announced Dr. Tobias Holzmüller will take over as CEO starting in October … and UMG Nashville named Charlene Bryant as svp of business development and strategy.
Lauren Lieu was promoted to senior director of creative at Play It Again Music Group, the full-service music company founded by singer-songwriter Dallas Davidson. In her new role, Lieu will serve as head of PIA’s publishing arm, which has a roster including Davidson, Lee Brice, Lewis Brice, Tyler Farr and Dylan Marlowe, among others. “Lauren Lieu is a warrior,” remarked Davidson. Prior to joining PIA in 2021 as director of creative, she served as creative manager at ole Music Publishing. Reach Lieu at Lauren@piamusic.com.
PR firm Shore Fire Media promoted Alena Joyiens to senior account executive. The Brooklyn-based publicist joined Shore Fire in 2019 as a junior account executive and since then was upped to account executive, leading campaigns for Kesha, Bonnie Raitt, ODESZA, Debbie Gibson and other clients. Her remit has also included several book campaigns, including for Decoding ‘Despacito’: An Oral History of Latin Music by Leila Cobo, the chief content officer for Latin music at Billboard. Joyiens can be reached at ajoyiens@shorefire.com.
Speaking of, Erica Goldish has left Shore Fire for a new opportunity at brand strategy & communications firm FYI Brand Group, where her client roster includes 21 Savage, Cardi B, DJ Khaled, Doja Cat, Metro Boomin’, Travis Scott, Wizkid and many more. Goldish joined Shore Fire in 2021 as a junior account executive and dropped the junior a year later.
Nashville Bites: Charly Salvatore’s marketing/management firm underscore works added two new employees: artist manager/director of marketing Jamie Ernst and associate manager Jordin Wentworth. Ernst is a former Average Joes day-to-day manager who brings Sister Hazel to the underscore client list. Wentworth was recently a ClearBox Rights project manager … Shore Fire Media promoted Nashville-based Olivia Del Valle to senior account executive from account executive … Mason Stanfield joined KATC Colorado Springs, Colo., as PD/morning host. He arrives after working the morning shift at KRMD Shreveport, La. … KUZZ Bakersfield, Calif., morning team Cliff Dumas and Tanya Brakebill announced their retirement from radio following their June 23 shift. –Tom Roland
South by Southwest has increased the rates paid to domestic artists performing at the annual festival in Austin by 40-50%, following a petition and rally demanding higher pay.
The 2024 event artist application, which opened Tuesday, outlines that solo artists performing at SXSW will receive $150 — a $50 rate increase from previous years. Bands will now be paid $350 rather than the previous rate of $250. As in years prior, international artists will not receive financial compensation.
Also consistent with previous years, domestic artists playing SXSW must choose to take a monetary payment, or receive an artist credential that includes primary access to all music-related events, artist-only amenities including special rates on hotels, meals and drinks and artist networking space, and secondary access to film and television related programming.
SXSW charges an all acts an application fee, which is $35 until Aug. 25 and then $55 until applications close on Oct. 27.
“Our purpose at SXSW is to help creative people achieve their goals,” said SXSW’s vp of music festival James Minor in a statement. “As an industry event, showcasing at SXSW provides indispensable networking, mentoring, and career development opportunities that are not a part of standard consumer-focused festivals.
“Artists continue to make connections at SXSW that further their careers, and it is essential for us to provide opportunities that make the most impact in supporting the thousands of artists who come to Austin every March.”
In April 2021, Penske Media Corporation, which owns Billboard, became an investor in SXSW by taking a 50% stake in the conference and festival.
The rate increase comes follows an artist-led petition from earlier this year that urged SXSW to increase compensation for musicians playing the festival. Published by the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), the petition was signed by more than 400 artists including Amber Coffman of Dirty Projectors, DIIV, Eve 6, Mountain Goats, Jeremy Messersmith, Speedy Ortiz, Zola Jesus, Pedro the Lion, YACHT and Emperor X, along with the Songwriters of North America (SoNA). On May 31, the organization led a rally outside Penske Media Corporation’s New York offices.
As reported by Texas Public Radio, during a Parks and Recreation Board meeting in Austin on Monday, Pat Buchta, the head of nonprofit Austin Texas Musicians, remarked on the rate increase, saying “Respectfully, is that enough? Our musicians do not think so, and musician input is the one thing that everybody seems to be missing in this conversation.”
The pace that global music industry revenues have been growing is expected to slow this year, as the industry is “on the cusp of another major structural change” stemming from the changing price of streaming subscriptions, artificial intelligence and new payment models, according to a closely watched report from Goldman Sachs.
In its latest Music in the Air report, published Wednesday, Goldman’s research analysts say they expect global music industry revenues in 2023 to grow by 7.1%, down from an 8% growth projection last year, as live music and publishing growth rates return to more normal ranges of 6% and 8% growth this year respectively. The compound annual growth rate for revenues from 2023 to 2030 ticked up slightly to 7.3%, from 7.1% last year, and streaming revenue is expected to hold steady at an 11%-growth rate, according to the report.
That indicates steady and even more broadbased growth, researchers say, but the industry is about to face a fresh wave of massive changes.
“We believe the music industry is on the cusp of another major structural change given the persistent under-monetisation of music content, outdated streaming royalty payout structures and the deployment of Generative AI,” Goldman researchers wrote in the new report. “In the wake of these developments, we believe a more coordinated and collaborative response from the main stakeholders will be key to ensure that the industry not only continues on its path of sustainable growth but also captures new business opportunities.”
Echoing a frequent refrain of music industry executives, Goldman’s researchers say monetization of music content is way behind the rate of consumption. They estimate that the revenue earned per audio stream has fallen 20% over the past five years, and that the revenue companies earn per hour of music streamed on Spotify is four times lower than for Netflix.
They estimate that up to $4.2 billion in potential revenue could be gained over time by charging different audience segments, such as super fans, more for subscriptions.
Goldman analysts also wrote that the current method of treating all streams lasting less than 30 seconds the same and paying content owners a pro-rata share of streams “needs to evolve…to cope with dilution of market share.” This weakening, they say, is coming from the fast-growing number of songs uploaded to digital service provider (DSP) platforms, fraudulent and artificial streams and “the propensity of algorithms to push lower royalty content.”
Researchers also sounded a positive note on the potential for generative AI to lower barriers for artists, boost music creation capabilities and improve industry productivity overall, with the major music companies best positioned to benefit.
“We believe the quality of the input to large language models is critical and the largest owners of proprietary (intellectual property) are best positioned to leverage the technology,” researchers wrote, noting the industry will need to be aligned in controlling the deployment of that tech.
The report also notes that, despite fears of market dillution from the rush of new content, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment both maintained their recorded music market share in 2022, with only Warner Music Group losing market share — about half a percentage point — to independents.
“We continue to expect modest dilution of market share over time, mostly driven by the revenue mix shift towards EM, although we believe that the major record labels will continue to expand their presence in EMs through partnerships, investments and bolt-on M&A,” researchers wrote.
Spotify maintains its clear lead among the DSPs with 34.8% of total global market share in 2022, although it edged 60 basis points lower. YouTube Music was the “major gainer,” gaining about 3 percentage points of market share over the past three years to hold market share in 2022.
A third music-focused electronic-traded fund — or ETF — is set to debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday (June 30). The aptly named MUSQ Global Music Industry ETF, trading under the ticker MUSQIX, has 48 stocks representative of the modern music business, including Universal Music Group, Spotify and Live Nation.
To MUSQ’s founder, David Schulhof, the fast-growing ETF market is primed for an index that allows investors to easily buy into the global music business’s growth story. “It’s been hard to invest in music for the last 25 years,” he says. “You had to be a [limited partner] at KKR or Blackstone or Apollo. And it was really hard to get liquidity.”
Schulhof, most recently the president of music publishing at LiveOne, invested in music assets as the co-founder and CEO of Evergreen Copyrights, which was acquired by BMG Rights Management in 2010, but everyday investors weren’t able to participate in music’s growing popularity as an asset class. “There were a lot of other private equity-backed companies, but it was hard for investors to get exposure” to music, he says.
With MUSQ, Schulhof says he’s giving “the Robinhood investor” a liquid investment to participate in the music business. MUSQ has 48 companies spanning the music content and distribution (including Warner Music Group, Believe), digital music (Spotify, Tencent Music Entertainment), live music and ticketing (Live Nation, Madison Square Garden, Vivid Seats), satellite and broadcast radio (iHeartMedia, SiriusXM, Townsquare Media) and music equipment and technology (Dolby, Sonos). U.S.-based stocks account for 45% of the index’s value; the remaining 55% coming primarily from South Korea, Japan and China.
MUSQ avoids video streaming and other digital entertainment stocks that may rise and fall with music but aren’t dedicated to music. Still, not all of the fund’s companies generate most or all of their value from music. MUSQ’s three largest companies are Apple, Amazon and Alphabet. The next-largest company by weight, Sony Group Corp., owns film, gaming and electronics divisions in addition to Sony Music Entertainment. According to the index’s criteria, a company can be considered for inclusion if it derives at least 50% of its annual revenues from the global music business, is a top five company, or have at least 10% of the global market share in one of the five segments of the music business the index covers.
“I had to include them,” says Schulman, “and I couldn’t ignore them. But I created, I think, a fair, balanced approach, which was to cap their market share on the index at 7%.”
To be eligible for the index, a company must have a minimum market capitalization or assets under management $100 million and a minimum average daily trading volume of $200,000 over the previous six months. Some small companies, such as music streamers Deezer and Anghami, and the newly public Alliance Entertainment, didn’t make the cut. But many other small, unheralded companies are among the index’s 48 stocks, including Stingray, a Canadian streaming company that services cable television networks, and Cliq Digital, a German provider of streaming services that bundle music, movies, audiobooks and other content.
MUSQ is part of a trend of music-focused funds attempting to tap into the booming ETF business. KPOP, which focuses on South Korean companies that create music and video content, launched in 2022. TUNE, another music-focused ETF, launched on June 22. Investors increasingly favor the simplicity of ETFs built around themes such as music, battery technology and sustainability. ETF’s asset under management ballooned from $3.4 trillion in 2016 to $10 trillion in 2021, according to EPFR. PwC believes ETFs will grow to $20 trillion by 2026.
“I have to believe that some amount of that money is going to be interested in music,” says Schulhof.
Super producer Benny Blanco sold a package of publishing and performance copyrights to Litmus Music, the private equity-backed music rights company run by industry veterans Hank Forsyth and Dan McCarroll, both groups said on Wednesday (June 28).
Litmus said the acquisition includes Billboard Hot 100 No. 1’s like “Diamonds,” recorded by Rihanna, “Moves Like Jagger” recorded by Maroon 5, “Love Yourself” recorded by Justin Bieber, and “Señorita,” recorded by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello, plus “Eastside,” recorded by Blanco, Halsey & Khalid, “Roses,” recorded by Blanco and the late Juice WRLD featuring Brendon Urie, and others.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Investor interest in music copyrights remains at an all-time high, and while career-spanning catalogs from artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have fetched among the highest reported sums, Blanco, 35, is among a growing cadre of younger producers, artists and songwriters who are electing to sell some of their copyrights while they are still actively making music.
This is the second rights sale Blanco, whose full name is Benjamin Joseph Levin, has done in recent years. In 2019, he sold Hipgnosis partial rights to some 90 songs, including his writer’s share in “Castle on the Hill,” which Blanco co-wrote and co-produced with Ed Sheeran.
A 2013 winner of the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame and multi-time recipient of BMI‘s songwriter of the year award, Blanco said his longstanding relationship with Litmus’s Dan McCarroll was the reason he chose them to handle these rights.
McCarroll, Litmus co-founder and chief creative officer, and Blanco met when the creative was 17 and McCarroll was running East Coast creative for EMI Publishing. The pair have since worked together on projects involving Keith Urban, Gym Class Heroes and Katy Perry, among others.
“I first crossed paths with Dan as a young teenager,” Blanco said in a statement. “I feel like we’ve had so many dinners and conversations that have gone beyond music and they really helped guide and shape me into the person I am today. There’s no better home I could imagine for such a meaningful part of my catalog.”
McCarroll speaks of the pride of watching him become the “incredible writer and producer he is today. We at Litmus are honored to work with him now to support part of his incredible catalog.”
Launched in August 2022, Litmus has $500 million in backing from Carlyle Global Credit, and aims to buy the publishing and recording rights of artists from a range of genres. In December, Litmus announced it bought Keith Urban‘s master recordings for an undisclosed sum. Forsyth previously held positions as executive vp at Warner Chappell and GM of Blue Note, while McCarroll served as president of both Warner Brothers Records and Capitol Records.
Jarred Arfa has been named executive vp/head of global music for the newly-rebranded agency Independent Artist Group (IAG), the company’s newly installed CEO Jim Osborne announced on Tuesday (June 27).
The launch of IAG was formally announced last week with Osborne at the helm. The company was formed via a merger of two agencies: Agency For the Performing Arts (APA) and Artist Group International (AGI), where Arfa served as COO.
At IAG, Arfa will oversee the day-to-day operations of the combined AGI and APA music departments, reporting to Osborne. As announced last week, Arfa’s father, AGI founder/CEO Dennis Arfa, will serve as chairman of IAG’s music division while Marsha Vlasic will serve as vice-chair.
The deal was made possible thanks to a 2020 investment in APA by billionaire Ron Burkle, whose Yaicapa Companies has long been an investor in AGI.
“Jarred has been instrumental in getting this partnership to the finish line,” says Osborne. “We have tremendous confidence in him to not only lead the day-to-day operations of our music department but to help us grow it from here,”
At AGI, Jarred’s responsibilities included business development, legal, financial and corporate reporting; overseeing artists’ tour contracts; VIP ticketing; and sponsorship and brand partnerships. He will continue to do the same at IAG, with the added help of the infrastructure inherited from the full-service APA, which in addition to music and comedy touring also includes legal, tour marketing, branding and sponsorships departments.
“We have relied on Jarred on so many levels over the years to not only oversee the operations of AGI but to also assist us in furthering our investments in the music business,” said Burkle in a statement.
Jarred will continue to work closely with Billy Joel’s team, assisting on the singer-songwriter’s record-breaking residency at Madison Square Garden along with his other tour dates.
“Jarred has been an invaluable asset to us on so many levels,” added Vlasic. “We have tremendous confidence in him to lead our efforts to integrate and grow our combined music assets enabling our artists and agents to thrive.”
While at AGI, Jarred was an instrumental advisor in the company’s sale to The Yucaipa Companies in 2012 and later served as a conduit for Yucaipa’s investments in K2 and Danny Wimmer Presents.
“I am excited to work with the outstanding young team of APA agents who have been thriving, particularly in urban, as we combine into one cohesive unit,” Jarred said. “I look forward to further offering crossover opportunities for our artists that Jim Osborne and his team have done such an amazing job at. Our plan is to grow the department with a quality over quantity ethos.”
Jarred began his career at Robert Silverman’s CKX Inc., where he acted as director of Muhammad Ali Enterprises and director of operations for Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Neon 16’s co-founder/CEO Lex Borrero and Ntertain chairman Tommy Mottola teamed up to acquire Arro Media, a music marketing and social media agency that boasts a roster of clients like Adidas, Red Bull, NFL, XBOX, Bacardi, The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation and more.
Founded by Cristina Arcay, the company will be rebranded as AM16.
“We have built a growing agency that will redefine how brands connect their marketing and advertising to the Latin culture because we live it day in and day out,” said Borrero and Mottola in a press release. “Our team has a finger on the pulse of trends, uniquely positioned to spot them before they happen, across music, television and film. Today’s announcement further differentiates our capabilities from competitors and will bring an even more comprehensive offering to our clients and partners.”
AM16 will find the intersection between music, entertainment and culture. Together, they will bring Arro’s capabilities with Neon16’s “innovative approach to cultural storytelling and experiential activations,” they said. The merger will include brand strategy and partnerships, product development, content production, music marketing, social media management, digital marketing, public relations, creative design services and experiential events.
“Launching AM16 agency represents an exhilarating new chapter in my career and the future of Arro,” said Arcay, who is appointed as co-president. “As a Latina entrepreneur, being able to lead and learn alongside our new partners represents a huge opportunity to reshape the industry by championing diversity, elevating ideas and fostering cultural movements that resonate with audiences worldwide.”
Chief marketing officer and co-president Gerry Rojas added, “I feel empowered and excited to be working in a Latino-owned agency where we’re reimagining how brands and artists tell their stories authentically, while raising the Latin cultural currency and creating a true, positive impact rooted in music and culture.”
Neon16 works with A-listers such as Tainy, Thalia, Juan Luis Guerra and Danna Paola. Earlier this year, the company also played a key role in the Netflix Original series La Firma — a Latin music competition that sought to sign the next big Latin music star, featuring Tainy, Rauw Alejandro, Nicki Nicole, and Lex Borrero.
Borrero and Mottola also executive produced Thalia’s music docuseries, Thalia’s Mixtape, via Ntertain on Paramount+.