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Country music is having a major moment in Canada, and the CCMA Awards is getting one of the genre’s biggest stars. Thomas Rhett will host the Canadian Country Music Association’s annual award ceremony on Sept. 14, 2024 at Rogers Place in Edmonton. And the American star will be joined by a homegrown star in the making, Alberta singer and actor MacKenzie Porter.
This year’s awards take place during a big time in Canadian country, with major festivals popping up across the country and new bridges being made with Nashville.
In addition to topping the Billboard Country Airplay chart 20 times, Rhett also has 16 No. 1 hits on Canadian country radio, so he’s a natural choice to cross the border to host Canada’s biggest country music awards.
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“The way Canadian fans have embraced me throughout my career is something I never take for granted,” Rhett tells Billboard Canada. “Every time we come there, we are blown away by the energy they bring and the love they have for country music.”
Travelling between Canada and Nashville, Porter is also making a big splash on both sides of the border. With 900 million streams already, she’s got a new album, Nobody’s Born With a Broken Heart, coming out on April 26 on Big Loud Records.
“I personally think this year is going to be the best show yet,” she continues. “Canadian country music has never been better, and having the show in Alberta, home of country music, feels very fitting!”
CCMA president Amy Jeninga says they carefully selected the hosts “based on their significant contributions to the Canadian country music community,” with Rhett’s major Canadian fanbase playing “a crucial role in our country music ecosystem.” Plus, two of his band members are Canadian musicians, she notes.
Porter, meanwhile, is a great representative of Alberta’s country music scene, she says. She’s also a woman making waves in a genre that is typically overrepresented by male artists.
Nominations and programming have yet to be announced, but the CCMAs will get a lead-in from Country Music Week 2024, which kicks off in Edmonton on Wednesday, September 11.
The CCMAs will air on Saturday, September 14 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca and the CTV app. – Richard Trapunski
Canadian Songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. Earns SOCAN Award for Dua Lipa Hit
Tobias Jesso Jr. made a small splash as a solo recording artist, including a spot on the 2015 Polaris Music Prize shortlist for his album Goon, but he’s spent close to the last decade focused on writing for others. He’s seen major international success, including winning the first ever Grammy for Songwriter of the Year.
Jesso Jr. now has a huge repertoire of hits, contributed to songs by Adele, Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles, XXXTENTACION and more. Last year, he sold his goldmine catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management.
Now, he’s getting some recognition in his home country again, specifically from Canadian performance rights and royalty-collecting organization SOCAN. On April 5 in L.A., Jesso received a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award, for co-writing Dua Lipa’s “Houdini.” This smash hit topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for 14 weeks, starting in Nov. 2023, and it has earned more than 380 million plays on Spotify, and more than 104 million views on YouTube. – David Farrell & Richard Trapunski
More Than 10% of the Most-Streamed Songs in Canada are by Canadian Artists
According to a new report, of the 1,000 most-streamed artists in Canada, 113 are Canadian. Laying a Foundation for Success, published by Music Canada — the association representing major music labels in Canada — takes a look at Canadian streaming data to determine whether Canadian artists are getting heard. Studying the 10,000 most popular artists in Canada in 2022, economist Will Page finds that 889 were Canadian. Of the 10,000 most popular songs, 1,013 were Canadian.
At the upper echelons of popularity, the trend holds: roughly 10% of the thousand most-streamed artists and songs were Canadian. Canadian artists like Tate McRae and Charlotte Cardin outranked popular American stars like Selena Gomez on that list. Other Canadians amongst the 1,000 most-streamed artists include country singer Josh Ross, Punjabi-Canadian artist Karan Aujla, pianist Alexandra Stréliski and singer Lauren Spencer Smith.
“In a world where fans can listen to any artist, from any country in the world, and with nearly every recorded song at their fingertips, listeners are choosing Canadian music,” says Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers.
Of the 889 Canadian artists amongst the top 10,000, roughly 75% perform in English, while 20% perform in French. Page notes that the third most-popular language segment is Punjabi music, which is also the fastest-growing music language in the country, and accounts for 3% of the 889 musicians.
Recorded music revenues in Canada have doubled since 2014, when Spotify launched, and are now as high as they were before the launch of iTunes in 2004. Page notes that according to consultancy MIDIA, Canadian recorded music revenues could soon hit a billion dollars for the first time.
The government is preparing to implement Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, which became law last year, and Page’s report recommends some policy changes. One is the “Mandate, Don’t Dictate” approach, which would entail moderate government interventions such as requirements that Canadian artists be indexed highly on playlists, or that streaming services pay into the Canadian music industry in the same way as radio broadcasters.
Ultimately, for every one stream within Canada, Page writes, Canadian artists are getting roughly 10 abroad. Any government music strategy should focus on helping Canadian music thrive on the international stage, he says. – Rosie Long Decter
Last Week In Canada: Tegan and Sara Lead Campaign Against Anti-Trans Policies
It’s time for another spindle around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music.
Warner Music Group has big plans for the sonically rich markets of Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — and is putting longtime Warner Music India managing director Jay Mehta in charge of those efforts. The launch of Warner Music South Asia is the label’s endorsement of the vibrant traditions and significant potential of the music markets across the region, home to more than 400 million people, plus the dynamic diasporas around the globe supporting local artists. The new affiliate will operate out of Dubai and be headed by Mehta, who adds managing director of Warner Music South Asia to his business card, but will continue as MD in India and work closely with Alfonso Perez Soto, WMG’s president of emerging markets. Warner isn’t exactly starting from scratch in the region, having announced a partnership with Pakistani music production company Giraffe earlier this year, and acquiring a majority chunk of Sri Lankan digital music firm Divo in 2023. WMG and Giraffe’s first project is season 15 of the popular music performance series Coke Studio in Pakistan. “I’m so delighted to launch Warner Music in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other SAARC territories,” said Mehta. “These are exciting markets with brilliant artists who historically haven’t had the opportunity of plugging into the global music industry. That’s all set to change.”
Currently based in Mumbai, Mehta has racked up the wins since launching Warner Music India in March 2020, juuust before the pandemic ground the globe to a halt. Within the first six months of WMI’s existence, the company executed a licensing deal with Mumbai-based label Tips Music and quickly closed a series of partnership deals to distribute increasingly popular Indian regional-language music and founded Maati, a label devoted to Indian folk music. In 2022, WMI signed an exclusive partnership with local label Jjust Music in an effort to boost its share of the Bollywood music market. Last year, WMI teamed with Warner Music Canada to launch 91 NORTH RECORDS to boost artists of South Asian heritage. And earlier this year, WMI expanded its partnership with Global Music Junction (GMJ), the music and entertainment subsidiary of JetSynthesys.
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“This is a major moment for Warner Music,” said Simon Robson, president of international, recorded music. “We’re now open for business in a series of countries that have rich musical traditions and strong global connections through their extensive diasporas. We’re already working on exciting projects in Pakistan and other territories and there’s much more to come.”
Meanwhile…
SESAC‘s music services division is getting built out with a new hire and two promotions. This week, the growing team welcomed Andy Bodkin as president of international, where he’ll center his focus on growing the services division — with a portfolio that includes HFA, AudioSalad and Audiam — on a global scale. Bodkin was previously group CEO at music publisher Out of the Ark, but for the bulk of his career (to the tune of 18 years) he served as an executive at Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI). Additionally, SESAC promoted Rose Cook to chief operating officer of music services, where she’ll work with the company’s entire portfolio, which also includes Mint and Rumblefish, to drive efficiencies in licensing, royalty collection and admin services. Previously, Cook served as the co-head of licensing at SESAC Performing Rights before her promotion to svp of operations of SESAC Music Group in 2022. She reports to SMG COO Malcolm Hawker. Finally, Monica Hertz is promoted to senior director of operations, where she’ll report to Cook and focus her efforts on the rollout of the company’s shared services platform. She joined SESAC in 2017.
Warner Chappell Music promoted Jenni Pfaff to executive vp of strategy, integration and operations. In her elevated role, Pfaff will continue to lead people strategy at the publisher, plus annual goal-setting initiatives and WCM’s new data-driven, songwriter-focused Business Intelligence division. A WCMer since 2019, Pfaff joined as people strategy leader before a promotion to senior vp. In 2021, she added head of global strategic integration and operations to her title. Prior to WCM, Pfaff operated her own HR firm (pfaff HR) and logged 17 years at PwC, Activision Blizzard, Northrop Grumman and other companies. The 2022 Billboard Women in Music honoree continues to report to CEO Guy Moot and COO Carianne Marshall. “Jenni has been on this journey with us from the beginning, helping transform how we operate as a global team so we can continue to do great work for our songwriters and their incredible songs,” said Moot and Marshall. “She is deeply committed to Warner Chappell and has spearheaded initiatives that allow us to be more collaborative. Technology, business, and data go hand-in-hand, and the work that we’re doing with Robert [Kyncl] and team will help shape the future of music publishing.”
BMI veteran Erin Crawford was promoted to assistant vp of affiliate customer service experience, putting her at the fore of the performance rights organization’s new customer service initiative that includes a call center and hotline (844-BMI-4255). The call center team should be full staffed by June and will include bilingual agents and expanded hours, the PRO said. Crawford joined BMI in 2020 as executive director of distribution & administration services, where she led teams responsible for writer and publisher affiliations and online services support. Prior to BMI, she clocked 18 years at The Nielsen Company, rising to svp and general manager of Nielsen Music — an important position managing relationships with Billboard, labels, publishers, promoters and other music companies.
French music conference and festival MaMA said co-founder Daniel Colling has decided to retire and will transfer ownership of the 15-year-old event to co-founder Fernando Ladeiro-Marques. Joining him for the 2024 edition, being held in Paris Oct. 16-18, will be Emmanuel Legrand as the coordinator of MaMA conference, Emily Gonneau as curator, and Flavien Appavou and Elise Yacoub as coordinators. “We will continue to honour the legacy of MaMA as a key industry gathering,” said Ladeiro-Marques. “We also want it to be the leading forum to explore the future of our industry and the place where we will invent tomorrow’s music business. In addition, MaMA festival will continue to feature up-and-coming artists at a time when they need, more than ever before, windows of exposure.”
BOARD SHORTS: Round Hill Music added former American Idol judge Randy Jackson and management executive John Greenberg as advisors. In the roles, Jackson and Greenberg will support Round Hill’s executive team in deal sourcing and artist relations … AI Fund managing director Andrew Ng replaced former MTV CEO Judy McGrath on Amazon‘s board of directors … The National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville elected Brian Sexton and Keri Floyd Kelly to its board of directors. They’ll both serve three-year terms.
RoEx, the tech startup behind AI-powered mixing platform Automix, hired Jason Reed as head of growth and operations. Reed’ll focus on growing RoEx’s audio production tools, plus building B2B partnerships around the company’s audio engine API, Tonn. Reed arrives from Roundhouse Trust, where he was senior product owner. His past positions include head of technology at Domino, global head of marketing at FUGA and head of digital at Ministry of Sound Recordings. Reed is based in London and reports to RoEx chief David Ronan.
ICYMI:
Silvia Montello
CAA appointed nine managing directors and changed up its agency board membership … Shakeup at UK indie music trade body AIM as CEO Silvia Montello abruptly resigned. COO Gee Davy has stepped in as interim chief and also the new role of chief policy officer … and the Recording Academy promoted Adam Roth to evp of global partnerships & business development.
Last Week’s Turntable: Warner Chappell In Sync With Zync Veteran
Creative Artists Agency has appointed nine managing directors and changed up its agency board membership.
The new managing directors include Rob Light, Howard Nuchow, Joe Cohen, Michael Levine, Joel Lubin, Maha Dakhil, Chris Silbermann, Tiffany Ward and Paul Danforth. CFO Carol Sawdye and chief legal officer Hilary Krane will continue in their roles.
The managing directors will work alongside CAA co-chairman and CEO Bryan Lourd, co-chairmen Kevin Huvane and Richard Lovett and president Jim Burtson on varying strategic business and operational matters.
The agency board will work with the CAA co-chairmen and president “on ensuring the continued strength of the company’s highly regarded culture of service, collaboration, and opportunity, built for personal client service,” including dealmaking, training and development and innovation. The move marks the latest rework for the agency since its sale to Artémis, the investment firm controlled by François-Henri Pinault, last September.
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Members of the agency board include Katie Anderson, Emma Banks, Lorrie Bartlett, Matt Blake, Alan Braun, Austin Brown, William Brown, Libby Bush, Ben Dey, Jaime Feld, John Garvey, Liz Gray, Sloan Harris, Jeff Krones, Franklin Latt, Brandon Lawrence, Michelle Kydd Lee, Joe Machota, Lisa Joseph Metelus, Matthew O’Donohoe, Praveen Pandian, Dan Rabinow, Rachel Rusch, Roeg Sutherland, Nick Thimm, Natalie Tran and Ida Ziniti.
“Today’s announcement highlights not only the strength, momentum, breadth and depth of today’s CAA, but the incredibly exciting promise of our future, with two new teams of exceptionally talented, proven leaders, committed to serving our clients and colleagues,” said Lourd. “We have always been clear in our mission – to deliver world-class personal service to world-class clients. With our expanded corporate leadership structure and an entire company of the world’s best dealmakers, creative thinkers and career representatives, CAA has never been better positioned to help clients capture the best opportunities and navigate the challenges of today’s media and sports industries.”
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
For the past decade, on-demand streaming drove incredible gains in recorded music revenue, which climbed from $6.7 billion in 2014 to $17.1 billion last year in the U.S. alone. Now there’s only so much room for growth in the U.S. and Europe, and developing markets aren’t as predictable. But look, up in the sky, it’s a nerd, who could help an artist buy a plane, it’s SUPERFANS!
Basically, now that the music business takes in a modest amount of money from an enormous number of people, it needs to find ways to also capture much larger amounts of money from smaller numbers of more dedicated fans. A July 2023 Goldman Sachs report said there was a $4.2 billion “addressable market opportunity for superfan monetization,” and Billboard just reported on how this same excitement is sweeping labels — as well as some of the challenges they will face. Of course, this is just an MBA’s way of saying what most fans already know: They want to buy more from their favorite acts than access to their music on a streaming service. The question — besides who actually qualifies as a superfan! — is how to find them and what they want.
To get sense of what this business might look like, let’s look at the iconic group that pioneered one kind of superfan model, as well as newer stars that have turned a very different model into something of a science: the Grateful Dead and K-pop groups. Both are very popular — phenomenally so by some measures — but neither is exactly mainstream in the way that Taylor Swift or Beyoncé is. Their popularity is deeper than it is wide. Neither the Dead nor K-pop is for everyone — both tend to inspire either devotion or disdain — but the fans who like them tend to go all-in.
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Those fans help these acts overperform by different measures. The Dead only ever had one hit single, but the band had the highest-grossing tours in 1991 and 1993, partly thanks to hardcore Deadheads who saw multiple shows, and the 2023 Dead & Company tour grossed as much ($114.7 million) as the last BTS tour ($113.6 million), according to Billboard Boxscore. K-pop acts dominate the sales market. In 2023, K-pop acts had seven of the top-selling CDs in the U.S., three of the top-selling albums, and none of the top albums by total consumption, once streaming was included. On a relative basis compared to other acts, their fans buy more than they listen — a great business considering that many of those buyers probably listen to those albums on streaming services as well. (K-pop is far more popular internationally.)
Both the Dead and the K-pop groups essentially doubled-down on what they do well in order to super-serve their fans. The Dead built its reputation as an improvisational live act, the best in popular music, and it never completely captured that same magic in the studio. So after the group broke up in 1995, it started to release more live recordings, and a 2006 deal with Rhino led to increasingly-ambitious reissue projects — a 73-CD set of the 1972 European tour, a series of reissues available every quarter on a subscription-first basis, and an 80-CD set of one show from each year of the band’s 30-year career. Recently the group broke a record for having the most albums on the top 40 spots in the Billboard 200. This undercounts their business success, though, since some of the box sets Rhino releases sell for more than $100.
K-pop acts tend to focus on selling merchandise, and given the declining number of CD players, many young fans probably see CDs as more of a souvenir than a way to listen to music. K-pop is all about fandom — having it, displaying it, and in some cases arguing about it — so those acts tend to sell merchandise that appeals to a collector’s mentality. (I find it odd that some fans buy CDs in different colors, but I probably have a dozen live versions of the Grateful Dead’s “Dark Star,” and some people find that a bit much, too.) K-pop fans spend a considerable amount of money on merchandise — $24 a month, according to research from Luminate, which is 140% more than the average U.S. listener. From a financial perspective, K-pop acts are basically in the tchotchke business; BTS sells clothes, jewelry and even Uno cards. And while the Dead sells more than its share of merchandise, including “drinkware” and “home goods,” it has always really been a live band, in both art and business terms.
The music industry tends to see these business models as exceptions, since it’s dominated by labels that are very much in the recorded music business. But they might also offer inspiration on how to turn a star-level audience into a superstar-level career. (The Dead’s business, which is still overseen by Warner Music’s Rhino, also shows that many superfans don’t fade away — I saw a few concerts in 1991, and I plan to buy the next vinyl box set, too.) Charts change much faster than loyalties.
What can the rest of the business learn from these successes? Most important, that it’s both possible and potentially difficult to monetize superfans — they’re willing to spend money, but only on the right items; BTS live recordings might not do as well as an expanded clothing line. And that requires expertise. Rhino president Mark Pinkus works closely with the Dead, as does archivist Dave Lemieux. They choose the shows fans want to hear and know which to sell as part of the Dave’s Picks reissue series and which belong in box sets. K-pop fans are enthusiastic, but also demanding — they want to buy branded hoodies, but only if they’re designed the right way.
Selling streaming subscriptions to a mass audience requires executives who could focus on the mainstream. Getting part of that audience to spend twice that much money on a single act is certainly possible — but it takes a different skill entirely.
South Korean investment and management firm Beyond Music has acquired the music catalog of Puerto Rican reggaetón star Yandel, including his publishing interests and royalties, his share of performance royalties and neighboring rights royalties. The acquisition is a “first of its kind” for an Asian music company that’s acquiring a Latin artist’s catalog directly, according to […]
The Association of Independent Music has announced the departure of chief executive Silvia Montello, citing personal reasons. Montello began leading the London-based indie sector trade body in early 2023 following the exit of Paul Pacifico, who left for the Saudi Music Commission. Taking over on an interim basis is Gee Davy, who now occupies three C-suite spots as AIM’s chief executive, operating and policy officer.
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Davy, who joined AIM in 2017, previously handled day-to-day leadership of AIM in between Pacifico’s departure and Montello’s arrival. “With the trust of the inspirational team and board, and our excellent senior management at my side, I am looking forward to delivering on AIM’s commitment to support the UK’s innovative independent music community and level the music playing field,” Davy said.
Montello joined AIM less than a year after becoming the first-ever female CEO of the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM), the global non-profit representing electronic music companies. Prior to AFEM, she held senior roles at the U.K. arm of Universal Music, where she worked as director of catalog marketing between 2006 and 2010, and BMG, where she served as group senior vp of recordings operations and integrations from 2014 to 2016. She was subsequently appointed senior vp of operations at the then-Kobalt-owned artist services company AWAL, a post she held from 2017 to 2020.
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“It’s unfortunate that we are losing Silvia so soon into her tenure, but on behalf of the board I wish her well in her next endeavours,” said AIM chair Ruth Barlow. “The board and I are working closely with Gee and the AIM team as we continue to support and promote the independent music sector, delivering and creating value for our community via our membership events and activities schedule, industry affairs work and beyond.”
AIM represents more than 1,000 U.K. indie labels, artists and music companies, including Beggars Group, Domino, Warp and Ninja Tune. The U.K. is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the U.S. and Japan with sales of just under $1.7 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2023 Global Music Report.
On Tuesday evening (April 9), as Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business celebrated a special “Belmont at the Opry” program, the program also revealed a $58 million lead gift from music industry executive and philanthropist Mike Curb and the Mike Curb Foundation, which will fuel a further expansion of the program’s presence on Nashville’s Music Row, with the renovation of existing buildings and the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility.
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The expansion comes as Belmont’s music business program celebrated its half-century milestone last year. The program launched in 1973, founded by the late Robert E. Mulloy and with support from former University president Dr. Herbert Gabhart and music industry executive Cecil Scaife (who was part of Sun Records in Memphis before relocating to Nashville), with the intent of providing formal education and real-world career experience to young adults with aspirations of entering various sectors of the music business, including record production, label operations, songwriting, music publishing. The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business was established in 2003 and is located at 34 Music Square East in Nashville (Belmont has contributed to preserving the historic Music Row recording studios Columbia Studio A and Owen Bradley’s Quonset Hut). The program is also a mainstay on Billboard’s annual Top Music Business Schools list.
The expansion project will be in two phases. The first, which is underway, includes the renovation of the historic Buddy Lee Attractions/Capitol Records building at 38 Music Square East. The renovation will add 17,000 square feet of space, including songwriting rooms, live sound classrooms, listening spaces and student lounges. The renovation will also include an updated space for Nashville’s Leadership Music office.
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Phase two will involve developing a 75,000-square-foot building behind the program’s current Music Row-area building, with construction of the new facility beginning over the next 24 months. The building will serve both students and the greater Music Row-area community, encompassing a performance venue that can accommodate more than 150 people, as well as networking and gathering spaces for both students and industry professionals, a coffee shop, content creation rooms and underground parking. Phase two will involve a broader fundraising campaign, which launched Tuesday night.
Curb’s gift, and renderings of the spaces, were unveiled during a reception held just prior to the “Belmont at the Opry” event, which featured prominent Belmont University alumni, including artists Trisha Yearwood, Brad Paisley, Tyler Hubbard, Hailey Whitters, Ashley Cooke and Ian Munsick, as well as songwriters Ashley Gorley, Hillary Lindsey and Nicolle Galyon.
Other Belmont alumni among Nashville’s music industry community include Steven Curtis Chapman, Josh Turner, COIN, Brian Kelley, Sony Music Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston, producer/guitarist Dann Huff, UMG Nashville chair/CEO Cindy Mabe, Spirit Music Nashville CEO/Chief Creative Frank Rogers and Warner Chappell Nashville president/CEO Ben Vaughn.
“Mike Curb’s remarkable generosity and partnership with Belmont over many years has been invaluable in advancing entertainment and music business education,” Belmont University President Dr. Greg Jones said. “This latest transformational gift solidifies Belmont’s position at the forefront of developing the next generation of music industry leaders. We are profoundly grateful to Mike and Linda for their continued investment in Belmont’s mission.”
“As Nashville’s music industry has grown and evolved into an international entertainment hub, it’s crucial that our education system keeps pace to develop skilled talent,” Curb added. “Belmont has been a fantastic partner over the years in preparing aspiring artists, songwriters, engineers, and music business leaders who go on to become invaluable employees for record companies throughout Nashville and the industry at large. With this latest investment, we’ll build upon that strong foundation to push entertainment and music business education ahead to the next level, ensuring a steady stream of well-prepared professionals for the ever-growing industry.”
“For 50 years, our faculty, stage and world-class facilities have made Belmont a top destination for future music executives, engineers, artists and songwriters. Mike’s partnership over decades has allowed Belmont to continually elevate our entertainment curriculum and facilities in lockstep with industry needs,” said Brittany Schaffer, who joined the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business as dean in May 2023. “This lead gift allows us to deepen our integration with Music Row, creating an unprecedented immersive experience that will directly connect our students with industry leaders and opportunities while driving innovation alongside our partners in Nashville’s entertainment landscape.”
In the music industry, I’ve realized how important it is to open doors for others. Being a Latin woman in this industry means running into quite a few locked doors. These barriers aren’t just about missing opportunities; they often come down to gender or where we come from, making it feel like we’re all scrambling for a key that’s hard to find.
After nearly 15 years in this field, we’ve been lucky enough to enter rooms we never dreamed possible. Having secured a seat at the table and pushed open doors that were once closed to us, we feel a deep responsibility to keep those doors ajar for others. This journey has highlighted the unique hurdles women face in the music industry and has motivated me to ensure these doors stay open, particularly for other women aiming to make their mark and overcome the challenges we once faced.
In the MIDIA Women in Music 2022 survey, when respondents were asked what would encourage women and other “non-male gender identities” to grow in the music industry, mentoring and coaching opportunities were overwhelmingly the top response. It’s a resource I wish I had when I was coming up through the business, as I often faced a lack of access to other women, and particularly fellow Latinas, who could help guide me throughout my career. I was fortunate to have lots of great colleagues who inspired me but I was always craving that deeper connection and a safe space to have open conversations with women in this industry who have stood where I did or could offer fresh perspectives.
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As a foundational team member at Symphonic Distribution, I’ve navigated the challenges of expanding a business within a small music market. As a Latina, these experiences have equipped me with the insight to provide the mentorship opportunities I always wished were available to me, to others. With the launch of the Women Empowered+ Program at Symphonic, we’ve created a testament to the belief that mentorship can change careers and lives, particularly for women.
Since beginning the program in 2022, we have connected 165 mentors from companies across the music industry with 340 mentees spanning the U.S., Mexico, Latin America, South America, Europe and Africa. This initiative reflects our commitment to dismantling the barriers that disproportionately affect women in music, providing them with the guidance, support, and opportunities they have historically been denied.
As we prepared to launch our third year of the program this March during Women’s History Month, I began reflecting on what we have been doing well and what we could do better going forward — not just at Symphonic but in the industry in general. With this perspective, I’d like to share some suggestions and insights aimed at creating effective mentorship programs for women and diverse genders in the music industry, for companies committed to making an impact.
Structure Objectives and a Matching Protocol
Define the program’s objectives upfront, ensuring both parties have a mutual understanding of their roles, expectations, timeline and time commitment. Launch the program with a clear framework, pairing mentors and mentees based on complementary interests and career goals. We created a simple Airtable form with all the details we felt were needed to fully understand each of our mentors and mentees.
Resources, Support and Honesty
Provide training and/or resources to prepare participants for effective mentoring relationships. The cornerstone of an effective mentorship is confidentiality, fostering an environment where open and honest conversations can occur, grounded in trust and mutual respect. Maintain a support system for addressing challenges, while allowing flexibility to meet diverse needs and schedules. This ensures the program is both supportive and adaptable to individual circumstances.
Feedback and Community Building
Implement a continuous feedback loop to refine the program and recognize participants’ efforts and achievements through the program through surveys. Foster a community of past and present mentees and mentors to encourage networking, shared learning and ongoing support, enhancing the overall impact and sustainability of the mentorship initiative. This can be done via Facebook Groups, Slack, Whatsapp or any other community-building platforms. We discovered that some of the mentors and mentees can help by being the community manager for these.
By bringing the next generation of female music executives up through your mentoring program, we are in turn training the next generation of mentors who will be able to reach out and continue to help bring people in. Whether mentoring or being mentored, we are all contributing to the common goal of making things better for those who come after us.
As we gear up for another year of fostering connections and growth through the Women Empowered+ Program, I’m reminded of the transformative power when we choose to support and uplift one another. We encourage every company in the music industry to create similar programs to cultivate more diverse talent and hope our experience can be a guide for others to take action and inspire even more women to join our industry. In a world where the music industry’s doors seem heavy and unwelcoming, let us be the force that opens them wider, inviting in the voices of women who have waited for their chance to be heard. Together, we can ensure that the next generation of female talent finds a nurturing space where their goals are encouraged, supported by a community that understands the unique challenges they face and believes in the power of mentorship to change not just careers, but lives.
Janette Berrios is the vp of corporate marketing for Symphonic Distribution, a leading independent music distributor with a global presence. She was included on Billboard‘s prestigious Indie Power Players list in 2022 and 2021 and was honored with the “Wonder Women in Latin Music” award presented by the LAMC and Amazon Music.
Music talent agents Michael Gorfaine and Sam Schwartz were honored at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s (LACO) 2024 Gala Celebration on Saturday (April 6) at the Skirball Cultural Center’s Ahmanson Ballroom in Los Angeles. The agents, co-founders of Gorfaine/Schwartz, received the LACO Hollywood Ally Award.
In accepting his award, Gorfaine said, “John Williams shared something with me that I believe should be a guiding principle: ‘Be in service to music.’ It’s our responsibility to support the wonderful musicians who play, the talented composers who write, and the dedicated teachers who teach.”
For more than 40 years, Gorfaine and Schwartz have represented top composers, songwriters, music supervisors and record producers working in film, TV and video games.
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The event raised a record-breaking $1 million to benefit LACO’s artistic and educational initiatives. Highlights included a concert with LACO artists led by music director Jaime Martín.
Film composer James Newton Howard, who was honored by LACO in 2022, was the honorary chair. In addition to Williams and Howard, others in attendance included composers Glen Ballard, Sean Callery, John Debney, Harry Gregson-Williams, Corky Hale, Steve Jablonsky, Julia Newman, Thomas Newman, Mike Post, Theodore Shapiro, Alan Silvestri, Michael Skloff, Mike Stoller and Brian Tyler; and industry executives Spring Aspers, Paul Broucek, Alex Hodges, Tom MacDougall, Tracy McKnight, Alison Smith and Randy Spendlove.
Brigitta B. Troy and Alden Lawrence served as event chairs. Peggy Falcon and Anne Grausam were event committee co-chairs.
Shaheen and Anil Nanji, longtime LACO advocates, community leaders and philanthropists, received the LACO Heartstrings Award.
For information on LACO, visit LACO.org.
Music investment enterprise Firebird acquired a stake in JET Management, the Los Angeles-based company that boasts a roster including Justice, Madeon, LP Giobbi and Suki Waterhouse.
Launched in 2023 by founders Nathan Hubbard and Nat Zilkha, Firebird is a multi-sector music company that includes labels and publishing, with an emphasis on management and label services.
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In 2023, Zilkha told Billboard that he and his partners are building Firebird to respond to a changing industry in which artists are moving away from label structures to partner with companies that can provide label services and artist development, as well as help them tap into additional income streams, such as publishing, merchandising, branding and live events.
“Firebird partners with artists and their teams to build longer lasting, higher impact, and more profitable careers,” Hubbard said in a statement on the new partnership. “JET is on the cutting edge of building the brands of the most respected artists that influence culture. Tyler, John and their team have an impressive track record of partnering with artists of all types to ignite both their fan bases and businesses in harmony.”
“The music industry is evolving rapidly, and power is continuing to shift towards artists and their teams. Firebird’s artist-first ethos and ambitions around empowering the core team is what drew us in at the start, but the people are what kept us around,” added JET Management co-founder John Scholz. “This is a great group of sharp industry veterans walking the same path as us that we couldn’t be happier to lock arms with.”
“Firebird’s strengths complement JET’s vision seamlessly,” adds JET co-founder Tyler Goldberg. “This partnership allows us to streamline operations, broaden our reach, and ultimately deliver greater value to our clients.”
JET clients including Waterhouse, Justice, Neil Frances and Blond:ish are all slated play both weekends of Coachella later this month.
Thus far, Firebird has acquired stakes in companies including Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management, which represents roughly 400 artists including Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Brandi Carlile and Chris Stapleton; Mick Management, which specializes in independent singer-songwriters such as Maggie Rogers and Hamilton Leithauser; Transgressive Records; and U.K.-based electronic label Defected Records.
“We are maintaining separate brands of the companies that we invest in,” Zilkha told Billboard last year. “We allow their creative process to remain very independent from us; but we’re giving those companies an ecosystem that helps them create opportunities for themselves and the artists that they work with.”
Firebird says it generates $2 billion in gross revenue annually across its businesses and with its collective of artistists reaching a global audience of more than a billion fans.