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Primary Wave Music has acquired the producer royalty and neighboring rights royalty streams for artist manager, music critic, and record producer Jon Landau.
This deal includes Landau’s points and neighboring rights royalties to songs by Bruce Springsteen, whom he worked with as a co-producer for Born To Run, The River, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The Promise, Born in the U.S.A., Live 1975-1985, Human Touch, Lucky Town and Tracks. The deal also entails his producer and neighboring rights royalties for his production on Jackson Browne’s The Pretender.
A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Landau was a pivotal figure in rock music during his decades-long career. Landau got his start writing about music for publications like Crawdaddy and The Boston Phoenix and by 1967 he was hired by Jann Wenner as the lead writer for the brand new Rolling Stone publication, a position he held for a decade.
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By 1970, Landau was simultaneously writing for Rolling Stone and getting back to his roots as a lifelong musician by producing MC5’s studio album debut Back In The USA.
He got to know Springsteen in 1974 after he reviewed a performance by the singer-songwriter and called him the “future” of rock music. The following year, he co-produced Born To Run, cementing both his relationship with The Boss and his career as a producer. He would go on to co-produce eight more of his records. During this time, he also befriended Browne and produced 1976’s The Pretender, featuring songs like “Here Come Those Tears Again” and the title track.
Two decades later, Landau experienced another career peak as the manager for Shania Twain. He helped build the country-pop artist’s career, leading her to true super stardom with her 1997 album Come On Over, featuring the song “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “You’re Still The One.”
Landau has also worked with artists like Natalie Merchant, Train, Alejandro Escovedo, Livingston Taylor and more.
“I thank all at Primary Wave for recognizing my contributions over the last fifty years and look forward to having an ongoing and productive relationship with them,” says Landau of the deal.
Marty Silverstone, president of global synch at Primary Wave, adds: “We’re honored to be partnering with Jon Landau and all of the legendary music he helped shape. He’s an influential figure in music, and we’re proud to welcome him to the Primary Wave family.”
The transaction between Landau and Primary Wave Music was facilitated by David Simone and Winston Simone.
Sonos is letting go of 6% of its workforce — more than 100 people — after a disastrous redesign of their app and mounting customer complaints forced the company to lower its projected sales and delay product launches. The layoffs, first reported by The Verge, were announced in a company filing on Wednesday (Aug. 14). […]
Mobile learning platform Duolingo has struck a partnership with Sony Music that will bring more than 60 recordings from Sony artists including Whitney Houston, Hozier, Pink and Meghan Trainor to Duolingo’s music education course, it was announced Thursday (Aug. 15). The tracks, which are now available on the Duolingo platform, will help music learners “study […]
UnitedMasters is looking to add to their expansive roster and give independent artists a chance to join the software and service platform’s team. Billboard learned on Tuesday (Aug. 13) that UnitedMasters has launched the DEBUT+ app in the United States, which will equip emerging artists with UM’s resources and forward-thinking tools needed to properly elevate […]
Music industry professionals are not, by definition, first responders, but they do have the ability to rescue people.
That fact alone may be a buoy for many music-affiliated workers who are suffering their own form of burnout, despondency or depression.
Reminding music professionals of their product’s impact is one of the finer points delivered during 24/7: A Mental Health in Entertainment Conference, presented Aug. 7 by Belmont University in Nashville.
“I’ll have individuals in the industry come to me and say, ‘Well, it’s not like we’re doing brain surgery. I know our place in the music industry isn’t that important,’ ” Entertainment Health Services president Elizabeth Porter said during the conference’s “Work/Life Unbalanced” workshop. “I say it’s more important … I say there’s two big influencers in the world: the entertainment industry and politics.”
Politics is all too often divisive. Music, at its best, can rally a group — or, at least, an individual. Porter’s Call founder Al Andrews remembered a “very dark and suicidal time” decades ago when he discovered Jennifer Warnes‘ “Song of Bernadette,” and he played it repeatedly, reveling in its healing message as he bounced back. During his work as a therapist, Andrews has encountered numerous stories about songs that led his patients back from the brink.
“We all have moments when we are rescued, moments where we were sinking and someone threw a rope to us and pulled us in,” he said during the day’s closing session. “Often music is involved. Hope is accompanied by a soundtrack. It almost always is.”
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The power of music is what pulls many into the industry’s labor force. But the experience of working daily with emotions — particularly when companies are understaffed and the job never seems to stop — makes music’s employees particularly vulnerable to burnout and depression. The allure of a vocation connected to fame and entertainment compounds the issue.
“We have a really unique industry because I think it’s one of the only ones that ties so closely to our personal identities,” C3 Presents festival director Brad Parker said. “The pandemic showed that to a lot of us. I kind of felt like part of me was stripped away whenever live music went away during the pandemic, and I did a lot of soul searching to really reinforce that people enjoy Brad Parker outside of the identity of ‘He’s the Bonnaroo guy.’ “
Parker recalled how he was more than willing, during the first five to seven years of his career, to take work-related after-hours calls, fearing that if he didn’t, others were standing in line to replace him. It’s that kind of fear that keeps many of the industry’s worker bees buzzing on the job into the evening.
“The industry is 24/7,” Shading the Limelight founder Cristi Williams said, “hence the title of this conference.”
Williams, in the event’s first presentation, explored the mindset of celebrities, whose emotions and behaviors influence their staffs and ripple outward across the rest of the industry. Fame, she said, is accompanied by two driving forces: a sense of unworthiness that creates self-imposed shame and a competing sense of entitlement that leads to unrealistic expectations. The celebrity’s outlook rides a pendulum, Williams said, that swings back and forth between those points. If that phenomenon goes uncontrolled, the pendulum can become a wrecking ball.
“Success is a lot harder to manage than failure,” she said, “and when the pendulum is oscillating further and faster, it tends to derail us.”
That pendulum — and others — are unavoidable. Mental health, Williams maintained, comes from controlling the swing and the emotional reaction to it.
In recognition of the industry’s fragility, Belmont’s Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business dean Brittany Schaffer announced plans to create a Center for Mental Health in Entertainment. She cited four leaders for a steering committee — Andrews, Onsite Workshops vp of entertainment and specialized services Debbie Carroll, Prescription Songs A&R manager Rachel Wein and Music Health Alliance founder/CEO Tatum Hauck Allsep — charged with shaping the program, which will eventually be housed in Belmont’s Music Row building, projected to open in 2028.
“Until then,” Schaffer said, “we are going to work on building out the team to support the center so that it can exist long before the building does.”
Warner Music Nashville co-head/co-CEO Cris Lacy laid out four issues that trip up the emotional well-being of artists and the industry around them: the tendency to compare their careers to their peers, negative criticism from social media, executives who prioritize self-promotion over their support role and a “texture of scarcity” that, presumably, leads to fear and depression.
One obvious solution for artists and the business as a whole lies in the industry’s own product. There is, Andrews suggested, a “noble purpose” in music, and every person in the business contributes to its influence.
“If you’re in the industry, every one of you is a part of getting the songs out there,” he said. “Everybody in this room has a song that saved their life, and you’re a part of the songs that get out there into people’s hearts. Some of those people, like you and me, are lingering on the edge or not in a good place, or maybe they’re just fighting a great battle, and you’ve brewed [hope]. I want you to believe that. I want you to embrace that. Be encouraged today for what you do.”
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Susan Wojcicki, a pioneering tech executive who helped shape Google and YouTube, has died, her husband said. She was 56.
Wojcicki played a key role in Google’s creation and served nine years as YouTube’s CEO, stepping down last year to focus on her “family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she said at the time.
She was one of the most respected female executives in the male-dominated tech industry.
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Her collaboration with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin began shortly after they incorporated their search engine into a business in 1998. Wojcicki rented the garage of her Menlo Park, California, home to them for $1,700 a month, cementing a formative partnership. Page and Brin — both 25 at the time — continued to refine their search engine in Wojcicki’s garage for five months before moving Google into a more formal office and later persuaded their former landlord to come work for their company.
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Wojcicki joined Google, now known as Alphabet, as its marketing manager in 1999 and served in various positions as Google grew its online advertising presence by acquiring YouTube in 2006 and DoubleClick in 2008. She served as Google’s senior vice president of advertising and commerce from 2011 to early 2014 and CEO of YouTube from 2014 to 2023.
“Her loss is devastating for all of us who know and love her, for the thousands of Googlers she led over the years, and for millions of people all over the world who looked up to her, benefited from her advocacy and leadership, and felt the impact of the incredible things she created at Google, YouTube, and beyond,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a note to employees.
Former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who was vice president of Google’s sales and operations from 2001 to 2008 before decamping to Facebook, said in a Facebook post that Wojcicki was formative in her tech career.
“She taught me the business and helped me navigate a growing, fairly chaotic organization at the beginning of my career in tech,” Sandberg wrote. “She was the person I turned to for advice over and over again. And she was this person for so many others too.”
Her husband, Dennis Troper, announced her death in a social media post late Friday.
“My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non small cell lung cancer,” he wrote.
“Susan was not just my best friend and partner in life, but a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many,” Troper said.
No other details of her death were immediately provided.
Wojcicki and Troper’s 19-year-old son, Marco Troper, died in February at the UC Berkeley campus where he resided as a freshman student.
During a chaotic week for stock markets around the world, Universal Music Group (UMG) shares rose 3.3% to 22.15 euros ($24.20), enough to make the Amsterdam-listed company the top-performing music stock of the week.
Stocks were hammered on Monday (Aug. 5) as markets reacted to a disappointing U.S. jobs report the prior Friday (Aug. 2), leading to mounting concerns the economy could fall into a recession. The Billboard Global Music Index fell 2.0% on Monday, though it experienced a lighter decline than both the Nasdaq (down 3.4%) and the S&P 500 (down 3.0%). Investors didn’t panic, however, and markets made gains over the remainder of the week. On Friday (Aug. 9), the Nasdaq closed down 0.2% for the week while the S&P 500 broke even.
UMG received a boost on Wednesday (Aug. 7) from Warner Music Group’s quarterly earnings report — a welcome change after a second-quarter slowdown in UMG’s streaming growth so worried investors that the company’s shares fell 24% the following day. WMG’s latest earnings results, which showed that recorded music streaming revenue grew 8.7% after a few adjustments, may have convinced some UMG investors that they overreacted. In light of this new information, UMG shares jumped 6.6% to 22.74 euros ($24.85) on Wednesday. Notably, this Friday’s closing price is 14% above the lowest closing price — 21.12 euros ($23.08) — since the 24% decline occurred on July 25.
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WMG shares rose 0.3% to $28.34 this week after the company announced that quarterly revenue dropped 1% and net profit improved 14%. The third-largest major’s streaming gains satisfied some, but not all, analysts. Morgan Stanley analysts cited “lowered streaming growth outlook” in lowering their price target to $35 from $41. Guggenheim, encouraged by WMG’s subscription revenue growth acceleration and performance relative to UMG, maintained its $44 price target. JP Morgan, which sees WMG as “well positioned” to capture paid streaming adoption, left its $41 price target unchanged.
The Billboard Global Music Index, a float-adjusted measure of 20 companies’ market capitalizations, rose 3.1%, breaking a streak of four consecutive weeks with a loss. Spotify, the index’s largest component, gained 2.6% to $339.69. Tencent Music Entertainment, which will report earnings on Tuesday (Aug. 13), rose 2.8% to $12.97.
In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 declined 3.6% to 8,168.10. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index fell 3.3% to 2,588.43. China’s Shanghai composite index dropped 1.5% to 2,862.19.
iHeartMedia shares fell 10.7% to $1.33 following the company’s second-quarter earnings on Thursday (Aug. 8). The company reported a 1% increase in second-quarter revenue and sounded optimistic that political advertising will provide a boost to the full-year results. Both third-quarter and full-year revenue are expected to be up by mid-single digits.
Shares of radio broadcaster Townsquare Media dropped 5.8% following the company’s second-quarter results on Tuesday. Revenue fell 2.5% and net loss increased to $48.9 million from $2.7 million in the prior-year period. Its $0.14 earnings per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.42.
Dozens of top artists and songwriters have objected to Donald Trump‘s use of their songs at political rallies since he first ran for president in 2015 — among them The Rolling Stones, Adele, Rihanna, Sinead O’Connor‘s estate and Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler.
“Consider this s— shut down right now,” Johnny Marr said in January when Trump played The Smiths‘ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” at several rallies. After Trump used Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’” at a 2022 NRA rally, its co-writer, David Porter, was even more succinct, tweeting: “Hell to the NO!”
But artists’ record for successful song takedowns has been spotty. After Tyler’s reps sent multiple cease-and-desist orders objecting to the use of Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” they received the following response from law firm Jones Day: “Without admitting liability, and to avoid any future dispute … the Trump Campaign will not use your client’s music,” the letter read in part.
Yet as recently as July 31, in Harrisburg, Pa., Trump has been using “Hold On, I’m Comin’” to close his rallies — prompting the estate of co-writer Isaac Hayes to announce it would take legal action. According to James L. Walker Jr., an attorney for Hayes Enterprises, the estate is “investigating” the Trump campaign’s use of the song and is considering a lawsuit. “Everything’s on the table,” he says. “It is most unfortunate that these artists have publicly posted on their social media and asked Team Trump and other candidates not to use their music — and yet their candidates keep using their music.”
(The Trump campaign did not respond to interview requests.)
For artists and songwriters, the objection process is simple and the rules straightforward. Performing rights organizations BMI and ASCAP require political campaigns to obtain licenses to use songs in their catalogs (which is to say, almost any recognizable song). “That license gives the campaign the right to use any one of our musical works in our entire catalog wherever their campaign or function works,” says a BMI rep. (According to rules from both ASCAP and BMI, a venue’s public performance license is not enough to cover a campaign’s use of the song — it needs to obtain a separate political license.)
A “caveat” in the license allows songwriters to object to usage in a political campaign, the BMI rep adds: “When we receive an objection, we can pull a song from the campaign’s license.”
Does that stop a political campaign from playing the song at a rally? Not necessarily. “They don’t care as much about artists’ rights as perhaps you’d want,” says Larry Iser, who was an attorney for Jackson Browne when the singer-songwriter sued Republican candidate John McCain for using “Running On Empty” in a 2008 commercial. (They settled, and McCain apologized.)
“It’s not just the Trump campaign,” Iser adds. “Most political campaigns aren’t keen about just taking the song down.”
So what do artists and songwriters typically do in this scenario? For starters, their lawyers send cease-and-desist letters to the campaign. They also complain to reporters, creating negative media coverage. In 2020, The Rolling Stones threatened the Trump campaign with a lawsuit for playing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at rallies, while Neil Young sued over the campaign’s use of “Devil’s Sidewalk” and “Rockin’ in the Free World” at events. (After the 2020 election, Young voluntarily dropped his suit “with prejudice,” meaning he cannot refile the same claim again. Trump appears to have stopped using the Stones song at his rallies, and the band was never reported to have followed through on its legal threat; representatives for the Stones did not respond to questions.)
While “no artist wants to spend money on litigation if it can be avoided,” says Iser, they also want “to be sure fans understand the artist is not supporting that particular candidate.”
The issue gets more complicated when campaigns stream their rallies online via YouTube or another website. In those cases, the song use would almost certainly require an additional synch license, plus permission to use a recording, and probably a mechanical license, too. “Your ASCAP license does not cover you making a copy and redistributing it over the internet,” says Eleanor M. Lackman, a partner and copyright attorney at law firm Mitchell Silberberg and Knupp. As for social media sites, which generally have licenses with major labels and publishers for users to broadcast songs in their feeds, a TikTok spokesperson said the company would respond to a rightsholder’s request for a takedown depending on the type of use and the song’s contractual situation: “If a licensed rightsholder submits a takedown request, it will be subject to review and — if appropriate — we may take action to mute the track.” (A rep for Meta declined to comment.)
Trump has been uniquely unfazed by artists’ legal threats and criticism, but these conflicts had been coming up for years prior to his first presidential run. In 1988, George H.W. Bush‘s campaign used Bobby McFerrin‘s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” as a presidential campaign theme, but McFerrin, a supporter of Bush’s opponent Michael Dukakis, complained — and the campaign eventually stopped using the song. In 2008, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave asked Democratic candidate Barack Obama to stop using “Hold On, I’m Comin’” at rallies because Moore didn’t want it to appear like he was endorsing a candidate for president — and Obama’s campaign complied.
In other words, these types of conflicts are hardly new. “Every four years,” Lackman says, “this is the big topic.”
One of pop music’s biggest breakouts stole the show at Montreal’s Osheaga Music & Arts Festival last Saturday (Aug. 3). It’s rare to see the festival grounds packed at 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon – especially on a day with a heat warning – but for the celebratory queer pop of Chappell Roan, fans were willing to take the heat.
She was booked for the festival last fall, but since then, the Midwest Princess has exploded in popularity, opening for Olivia Rodrigo and charting six songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Her afternoon slot felt mismatched to her current stature, but Chappell made the most of it, turning in a performance that hit harder than Green Day’s headline set later that night.
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The set followed a similarly frenzied performance at Lollapalooza two days earlier that reportedly broke attendance records. At one point, Chappell made an honest mistake that also reminded the crowd where she should have been on the lineup. “Tonight, we’re going to,” she began – before remembering it was the afternoon.
“She’s the only reason that we’re here today,” said one Montreal fan named Maria. She discovered Roan a year-and-a-half ago on TikTok, and said she got emotional during “Pink Pony Club.” “It’s so nice to have everybody here,” Maria added, “we’re here for the same reason: to support an amazing queer artist and to live in each other’s queer joy.”
More than 147,000 music fans packing into Parc Jean-Drapeau for Osheaga’s three days – the festival’s second-highest attendance in its 17 years. Fans packed in to see sets by acts like SZA, Green Day and Noah Kahan, creating a big-ticket atmosphere. It was also hampered by the later revelation of a tragedy, with one festival-goer found drowned in the Olympic Basin at Parc Jean-Drapeau after leaving the Osheaga grounds. An investigation into the death is underway.
Other highlights included breakout Canadian musician TALK (who’s especially big in Quebec), a rain-delayed set by British singer RAYE, a charismatic performance by Tyla and a Hozier set for a rapt audience in which he called for a ceasefire and “a Palestine free from occupation.” -Rosie Long Decter
Shaboozey Hits 10 Weeks At No. 1 on Billboard Canadian Hot 100
Someone pour him up a double shot of whiskey: Shaboozey just hit a chart milestone in Canada.
The Virginia singer has notched his tenth week atop the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” The song is also still on top in the U.S., though only for its fourth week.
Shaboozey
Daniel Prakopcyk
In Canada, it’s the clear song of the summer. Briefly knocked from its top spot by Morgan Wallen and Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help” and then Eminem’s “Houdini,” “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has held the spot consecutively since the week of June 22.
It’s maybe an unusual candidate for song of the summer, less peppy and optimistic than “I Had Some Help” or Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.” But “A Bar Song” has a folk-country sound that’s always done well in Canada and a thematic depth that helps it resonate.
The song interpolates J-Kwon’s 2004 hip hop track “Tipsy,” replacing its synth line with an acoustic guitar strum. Shaboozey transforms a hype track for the club into a melancholy country anthem about working too hard and not making ends meet. It’s no surprise that “A Bar Song” is connecting widely amidst a cost-of-living crisis.
(It also helps that one of Shaboozey’s primary challengers for song of the summer in the U.S., Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” isn’t as popular in Canada, for obvious reasons).
The 10-week achievement adds to Shaboozey’s list of accomplishments in a year when he has featured on Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter and is set to headline a North American tour for the first time. He’ll play Toronto on Sept. 13 and Quebec City on Sept. 14. –RLD
MRG Group and Paquin Entertainment Group Hire New Executives
Canadian venue management, concert promotion and hospitality company, MRG Group has announced the hire of Robyn Kaszor as director and senior talent buyer.
Based in Montreal, she joins the company from Just For Laughs where she spent the last 18 years, most recently holding the post of vp of festivals with oversight of the company’s festivals in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The company produces 1100+ shows per year in North America, selling approximately 500K tickets. The company also owns and operates six venues, including The Vogue and Queen Elizabeth theatres in Vancouver and Adelaide Hall in Toronto.
Paquin Entertainment Group, meanwhile, has announced the appointment of media and television executive Andrew Akman as its chief operating officer.
Based in Toronto, Akman is expected to leverage the company’s status as a global, multi-platform entertainment business to produce large-scale events, exhibitions, and theatre, film, and television productions. Paquin is currently in development on several talent-driven projects for broadcasters, streaming platforms, and live audiences, according to the Aug. 6 announcement. Akman has held senior roles at Cineflix Media, Shaw Media, Canwest Media, Alliance Atlantis Communications, and co-founded the television production company Husk Media.
Paquin Entertainment Group, led by Gilles Paquin, has 45 years of experience managing and representing talent and producing film, television, theatre and immersive exhibitions. Akman’s appointment follows Paquin’s acquisition of the Canadian arm of APA as it continues to build on its momentum, now representing more than 350 artists.
Paquin, chairman & CEO, of Paquin Entertainment Group, said: “Andrew’s expertise in media and entertainment and his entrepreneurial spirit make him an ideal fit for Paquin as we continue to expand the range and scale of our global businesses in artist representation, immersive exhibits, live events, brand partnerships, and theatre, film and television.”
[Billboard Canada has a strategic partnership with Paquin.] -David Farrell
Welcome to another edition of Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. While you’re here, we also have a weekly interview series spotlighting a single executive and a regularly updated gallery honoring many of the industry figures we’ve lost throughout the year.
Adam Muhlbaum is the newly minted general manager of Big Noise Music Group, the pop/punk label home of The Used, The Veronicas, girlfriends, Goldfinger and more, Billboard can announce. In Muhlbaum’s Los Angeles-based role, an upgrade from his gig as senior vp of marketing and project management, he’ll zero in on A&R, licensing and brand partnerships while also overseeing royalties and administration for the label’s roster, which also includes iann dior, Escape the Fate and MOD SUN. Prior to joining BNMG in mid-2018, Muhlbaum spent more than five years at BMG, where he led production runs for major releases from Blink-182, Janet Jackson, Iron Maiden and more. He also had a stint as head of digital sales and operations at Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak. As part of the transition, Muhlbaum will pass day-to-day operations to Heather Castillo, the label’s vp of marketing, and Josh Cohen, manager of label operations.
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Big Noise Music Group was launched in 2018 by former Vagrant Records head Jon Cohen and Goldfinger members John Feldmann and Nick Gross. “Adam has been with us since day one and has consistently proven his value and expertise while still making Big Noise a positive, productive home for our artists and writers,” said Gross, who is also CEO. “The sky’s the limit for our whole amazing team.”
Muhlbaum added: “Helping to build Big Noise for the past six years alongside Nick, Jon, Feldy, and our incredible label team has been a true highlight of my career and more fun than I ever could have imagined. Our next chapter will be focused on bringing broader creative opportunity to our entire roster — current and future.”
Universal Music Publishing Group picked veteran branding executive Alix Kram as the company’s first head of marketing. In the newly created global role, which she’s held since November, Kram oversees marketing efforts at the publisher with a focus on creative storytelling in order to, as UMPG COO Marc Cimino states, “enhance the incredible stories our songs tell and bring them to life.” Additionally, Kram works closely with Bravado, Universal’s merch specialists, to create strategic opportunities for the UMPG catalog. Prior to joining the Universal fam, Kram spent a year-and-a-half leading a retail business development and marketing team at Netflix. Before that, the NYC-based exec spent seven-plus years at Warner Music Group, where as head of global brand licensing and retail she and her team developed creative opportunities for roster artists including Grateful Dead and Wiz Khalifa. She is also the founder of theKRAMcollective, a boutique marketing and branding agency specializing in experiential storytelling, whose clients have included Hasbro, HBO, Atari and others. She reports to Cimino and chairman/CEO Jody Gerson, and also Bravado president Matt Young. “Upon first meeting [Gerson and Cimino], it was clear that they have created a truly global and unique culture – a force in the industry which leads with a passion for songwriters and champions the expertise of the people that make up the company,” said Kram.
ASM Global did some local hiring and promoting in Arizona, naming Ralph Marchetta to regional vp of live entertainment and elevating Melissa Wasson to general manager of State Farm Stadium. Marchetta, previously GM and svp of Footprint Center in Phoenix, has the mighty task of booking both the Desert Diamond Arena and State Farm across Maryland Ave. in Glendale. “He is well-respected by all, and now we have him playing for our team,” said Jason Rio, ASM Global svp of live entertainment and content development. Wasson joined the stadium staff in 2006 back when it was University of Phoenix Stadium and for the last 13 years has served as assistant GM. She has a lifelong connection with the stadium’s biggest tenant — the Arizona Cardinals — given she’s a native of St. Louis, the team’s former home. “Her decades of in-depth experience will prove invaluable as she continues creating unparalleled memorable experiences that thrill locals and visitors,” said Doug Thornton, executive vp.
Across the pond, ASM Global shifted industry veteran Ed Sanderson from a Singapore-based role, where he’s been working on the massive Kai Tak Sports Park project, to executive vp of business for Europe and the UK. Poor guy has to move to Milan, where he’ll be based as he bounces around Europe in support of ASM’s plans to expand its footprint there. “Living by my personal philosophy of ‘biting off more than you can chew and chew like crazy,’ I’m eager to get started, learn, and make a meaningful impact for our customers, clients, partners, and colleagues,” he said.
Former ASM Global executive Roger LeBlanc joined Romeo Entertainment Group as vp of sales development. With decades of experience, LeBlanc most notably founded and led booking and talent buying agency Madison Entertainment before its sale to ASM in early 2023. “Roger’s vast knowledge and his commitment to mentorship will not only enhance the capabilities of our sales team but also propel our growth and set new standards for excellence in our company and the broader industry,” said R.J. Romeo, president and CEO. LeBlanc can be reached at rleblanc@romeoent.com.
courtesy of FivePointFive
Jelena Grozdanich is the new vp of music at FivePointFive, a music-centric welltech app launching soon that will offer live and on-demand classes of functional breathwork. Grozdanich (GROWS-duh-nitch) is coming off a 10-year run at Sony Music Entertainment and Columbia Records, where she rose to director in the latter’s film and TV licensing division. While at Sony/Columbia, she represented a who’s-who of influential artists including Beyoncé, Adele, Miles Davis, A Tribe Called Quest and Elvis Presley, among others. During this decade, she also founded her own talent management firm (Guardian MGMT) and wellness community (TheSecret.LA). Grozdanich is based in Los Angeles. “We are excited to welcome Jelena as our vice president of music at FivePointFive to head up our music division,” said Adam Ludwin, CEO. “Jelena’s love of music, combined with her passion for wellness has led to her being seen as a key figurehead for wellness within the music industry over the last 10 years, so we are thrilled to have her as part of the team.”
CAA promoted Blair Adour, Jibran Ahmed and Sam Reisman to agent roles in the company’s global touring department. All three come from CAA Elevate, the agency’s agent trainee program, and they’ve all put in the work: Ahmed joined CAA in 2018 in the music crossover division before being upped to professional last year; Reisman started in 2019 as an assistant in the music touring division and most recently worked as a coordinator; and Adour joined as a professional in 2021 following a stint at Paradigm. Adour and Reisman are based in New York while Ahmed is in Los Angeles.
Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG) promoted three executive staffers. Emily Dashiell has been promoted to senior vp of commercial partnerships, Jeff Gunkel has been upped to svp of market development, and Carlos Monnaco has been elevated to svp of finance. Dashiell will oversee the company’s revenue strategies across its portfolio and continue to focus on partner activations with DSPs while guiding the label business across global distribution, e-commerce/D2C, catalog marketing, and more. Gunkel will oversee areas of market development and digital rights, as well as Re:Think Records. Monnaco’s responsibilities expand to include oversight of financial planning and analysis, royalty accounting, and IT. Among the artists on CCMG’s roster are Chris Tomlin, Amy Grant, TobyMac, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, and Crowder. –Jessica Nicholson
Canada native Jenn Dobbins joined BMG as senior vp of rights and royalties in the music company’s U.S.-based copyright and royalties hub in Nashville. Dobbins previously handled asset operations for JKBX, a music investment platform, and earlier she spent six years at Big Machine Label Group, where she rose to director of royalty accounting and income analytics. Throughout her 18-year career in the field, she also made stops at payroll platform Exactuals and Sony Music. At BMG she reports to Eric Scott, evp of rights administration and royalty services, who pointed out her “extensive expertise, deep knowledge, and proven experience in managing complex rights and royalties.”
RADIO, RADIO: Susie Hedrick was named CEO of WideOrbit, a San Francisco-based tech platform that helps broadcasters buy and sell advertising. She replaces founder Eric Mathewson in the role … Nashville Harbor promoted Ryan Dokke to senior vp of streaming and digital partners/radio promotion from vp of promotion and marketing. The label also bumped Andrew Thoen to director of streaming and digital partners/radio promotion from director of Northeast promotion and marketing.
Jessica Roffe joined SoundExchange as associate director of the industry relations team. Roffe has years of artist relations, brand marketing, TV/film production and royalty distribution experience, and joins the collective rights organization following roles at MTV, BMI, NBCUniversal and her own AsUWISH Productions. She is based in Miami and will report to Doug Cohn, vp of artist & label relations. “Excited to be part of the band!!” she said.
Musicians On Call, which brings live and recorded music to hospitals and other health care facilities, announced five new members: Aniket Adhikari as technology manager, Michael Blazer as operations manager, Gabi Coccio as strategic partnerships coordinator, Taylor Leibold as fundraising coordinator and Jennie O’Rourke as digital marketing coordinator. “The talent and experiences Aniket, Michael, Gabi, Taylor and Jennie bring to their roles will take MOC to a whole new level,” said MOC president & CEO Pete Griffin. “I’m confident that the innovative ideas they’ll bring to the table will have a great impact on our mission.”
ICYMI:
Julie Greenwald
Julie Greenwald, one of the most celebrated and influential executives in the music business, will step down from her role as co-chair and COO of Atlantic Records and chairman and CEO of Atlantic Music Group. 10K Projects founder Elliot Grainge will take over the music group-wide role on Oct. 1, while Greenwald will officially exit the company early next year. The announcement arrived days after Warner Music announced it would be undergoing a major restructuring, with CEO of recorded music Max Lousada stepping down soon and Greenwald transitioning to chairman.
Last Week’s Turntable: Mammoth Launches Touring Division