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Veteran music manager and record label executive Mary Martin — a champion, career guider and musical connector for artists including Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Rodney Crowell and Vince Gill — died on Thursday (July 4) at age 85, according to a statement from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Born on June 15, 1939, Martin, a Toronto native, studied briefly at the University of British Columbia before moving to New York in the 1960s and working as an executive assistant to Albert Grossman, a manager for Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot and Peter, Paul and Mary.
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“Working for Albert Grossman in those days, it didn’t matter how menial the task was,” Martin said during a 2009 interview at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, where she was honored as part of the Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum. “It was that we were surrounded and enveloped by all these great artists.”
After returning to Toronto, Martin got involved with the folk music scene and became aware of the band The Hawks, which inclueded members Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko. The group would later become known as The Band, and Martin is credited with connecting the group with Dylan in the mid-1960s.
Martin went on to become an artist manager for artists including Cohen, who would later release songs including “Suzanne” and “Sisters of Mercy.” She began managing Morrison just as he released such star-making albums as Astral Weeks, Moondance and Tupelo Honey.
Throughout much of the 1970s, Martin worked as an influential A&R executive for Warner Bros. Records, signing and developing the careers of artists including Emmylou Harris and Leon Redbone.
“If you take her out of the equation, my life would be very, very different,” Harris said in the trailer for the documentary Mary Martin: Music Maven.
After leaving Warner Bros., Martin began managing Crowell, a relationship that lasted from 1979 to 1983. In 1983, she became the manager for Gill, who was at the time a guitarist in Crowell’s band The Cherry Bombs. After Martin connected Gill with then-RCA Records Nashville head Joe Galante, he signed a label deal with RCA, which would launch Gill to country music stardom on the strength of songs including “Oklahoma Borderline,” “When I Call Your Name” and “I Still Believe in You.”
In the Music Maven documentary trailer, Gill calls Martin “one of the special people on earth that uses her gift for the right reasons. There’s no question she’s a rare breed.”
“Mary and I started working together in ’85,” Galante tells Billboard in a statement. “Her knowledge, frankness, humor and wit were a powerful combination. We hit it off instantly. She was never interested in musical trends. Mary was focused on artists that could make music that would last. She was respected and loved by people throughout the industry. Mary raised the bar for us all creatively. I will miss that smile and distinctive laugh.”
Martin halted work as Gill’s manager when she joined RCA in an A&R role. While at the label, she signed artists including singer-songwriter Matraca Berg and guided the careers of artists including Lorrie Morgan and Clint Black.
Over the course of her career, Martin also worked at Asylum and Mercury Records (where she co-produced the Grammy-winning Hank Williams tribute album Timeless). It was also Martin who offered early career encouragement to another triple-threat singer-songwriter-guitarist named Keith Urban, encouraging him to move to Nashville from Australia to pursue his musical aspirations.
“Time and again, Mary Martin spotted great talents and elevated their careers,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, in a statement. “Early on, she connected Bob Dylan to her friends the Hawks, who became the Band. She managed Leonard Cohen in his first musical outings, then guided the budding solo careers of Van Morrison, Rodney Crowell and Vince Gill. At Warner Bros., she signed future Country Music Hall of Fame member Emmylou Harris, at RCA she helped sign and develop Clint Black and Lorrie Morgan, and she encouraged a young Keith Urban to move from Australia to Nashville. Mary’s unerring feel for songs and performers was legendary, and she was a fierce ally for the artists she represented.”
Martin was also a survivor of sexual assault and became a strong advocate for justice for fellow survivors.
In 2007, Martin was given a lifetime achievement award by the Nashville music industry group SOURCE and celebrated with the Americana Music Association’s Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009, she was honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as part of the Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum.
Two Canadian legends are three spots apart on the charts this week.
Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne both have new debuts on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart. Dion lands at No. 68 for the soundtrack to her new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, chronicling her struggles with Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS). Lavigne comes in at No. 71 with Greatest Hits, her new compilation of fan favorites.
Though neither is a blockbuster debut, both chart placements show that two of Canada’s biggest stars in the 2000s still have staying power. Dion’s soundtrack features many of her biggest hits, including “My Heart Will Go On” and “Pour que tu m’aimes encore,” as well as a score by Redi Hasa.
Lavigne isn’t quite as decorated as Dion, but the Napanee, Ontario pop-punk singer has been stepping into a new echelon of Canadian legends as of late, with recognition from Canada’s Walk of Fame as well as a recent appointment to the Order of Canada. Greatest Hits comes alongside a tour of the same name, which just saw Lavigne play at Glastonbury to one of the U.K. festival’s biggest crowds this year. – Rosie Long Decter
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Anthem Music Publishing’s Gilles Godard Enters Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame
The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) has announced Gilles Godard as the 2024 Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame Stan Klees Builder inductee. Both Godard and recently named fellow Hall Of Fame Artist inductee k.d. lang will be honored and celebrated in an induction ceremony during Country Music Week 2024, taking place in Edmonton from September 11–14.
A native of Cornwall, Ontario, Godard boasts over five decades of music industry experience and currently serves as the president of Anthem Music Publishing Nashville. He began his career with Anthem (formerly known as ole) as a writer, working his way up through various key positions. Godard oversees Anthem’s extensive roster of country songwriters including Canadians Meghan Patrick, Chris Buck, Jimmy Thow and Patricia Conroy.
An accomplished writer, publisher, artist and producer, Godard’s talents have earned him two CCMA Awards, two BMI Awards, four SOCAN Awards including an International Songwriter Achievement Award, a Felix Award and multiple JUNO Award nominations. Over 400 of his songs have been recorded, including by artists such as Terri Clark, Patty Loveless, Anne Murray, Ricky Skaggs, Tommy Hunter, Blackhawk, Tracy Byrd, The Road Hammers, Colleen Peterson and Ronnie Prophet. – Kerry Doole
Karan Aujla Becomes the First Punjabi Artist Featured In Apple Music’s Up Next Program
Karan Aujla is continuing to break new ground this year.
The Punjabi-Canadian musician became the first artist of Punjabi descent to win the Juno Fan Choice Award in March, and now he’s the first Punjabi musician to be featured as part of Apple Music’s global Up Next initiative.
The program highlights emerging stars, devoting Apple Music’s editorial resources to uplifting featured artists through original short films, interviews with Apple Music radio hosts and more. Aujla’s short film finds him venturing into his favourite spots in Vancouver, like barbershop Eddy’s, and reflecting on his musical ambitions.
“I feel like my music helped a lot of people that don’t know my language,” he says in the film. “There don’t have to be barriers around it, like ‘Oh, this is this is a Punjabi song. I can’t listen to this.’ I don’t think that’s right. I listen to Spanish music all the time. I don’t know a word of Spanish.”
Aujla hopes that Punjabi music will have its own “Despacito,” moment, he says, referring to the Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee song’s international impact, as the Punjabi wave continues to rapidly grow in markets outside of India.
Aujla got his start as a lyricist in Vancouver working with Punjabi artists like Diljit Dosanjh, but has since made his own name as an artist, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart last year with Making Memories, his collaborative album with producer Ikky.
Aujla also has a new EP, Four Me, as he prepares to kick off his first Canadian tour this summer that will take him to three arenas around the country. – RLD
It’s time for a July 4th weekend edition of the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. Check out this year’s Pride List of top LGBTQ+ executives in the industry. 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.
Thomas Coesfeld celebrated his one-year anniversary as CEO of BMG by joining the executive board of Bertelsmann, parent company of the Berlin-based music giant. The 34-year-old executive is point-person for Bertelsmann’s music business as a member of the board, which also includes chief executive Thomas Rabe and Thomas’ big brother Carsten Coesfeld, CEO of its venture capital arm, as well as company CFO Rolf Hellermann and chief human resources officer Immanuel Hermreck. Coesfeld took the reigns of BMG from longtime CEO Hartwig Masuch on July 1 of last year, and in short order instituted a new organizational structure by globalizing its catalog, sales and marketing teams and a “recalibration” of its presence in continental Europe, among other changes. Prior to rising to CEO, Coesfeld had been named deputy CFO at BMG in October 2021 before taking over as full-on CFO the following spring. During that time he oversaw BMG’s balance sheet and helped the company land 70 deals, including acquiring the catalogs of Mötley Crüe and Tina Turner, as well as those of Paul Simon, The Pointer Sisters, Peter Frampton and others.
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He previously served as chief strategy officer on the executive committee of the Bertelsmann Printing Group, but began his career in 2014 as a consultant at McKinsey. Coesfeld is also a member of Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee (GMC), which advises the executive board.
“[Coesfeld] knows Bertelsmann well from various positions,” Rabe raved in the announcement. “As CEO of BMG, he has made important decisions for the future of the business, for example by bringing digital distribution in-house and using artificial intelligence in various areas of the music business. Thomas will enrich the work of the Management Board as well. I look forward to working even more closely with him.”
Meanwhile…
Hannah Neaves
Laura Lewis
Universal Music UK promoted Hannah Neaves to sole president of its catalog division, Universal Music Recordings. Her co-president over the last two years, Azi Eftekhari, has left the company, Billboard can confirm. Neaves and Eftekhari joined UMR in early 2022, roughly a year after the pair launched a London-based creative agency called Remedy Inc. Prior to joining forces, Neaves was creative director at TaP Music and Eftekhari had been head of label relations (EMEA) at YouTube. In the last two years, UMR’s wins include “Now and Then” — the “last Beatles song” — and other releases featuring Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, the Spice Girls and more. “Hannah is, first and foremost, an artist person with an innate understanding of where creativity and discovery meet, something she has brought in abundance since re-joining our team,” said Universal Music UK chief David Joseph, referencing Neaves’ tenure at UMG’s Polydor earlier in her career. “A truly exceptional and inspiring executive, Hannah has already had huge success, most recently creatively leading the global and record-breaking Now And Then campaign for The Beatles, and there’s so much more to come.”
Former BMI executive Jody Williams was elected to a one-year term as the new chair of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum‘s board of officers and trustees. The publishing veteran, who founded Jody Williams Songs in 2020 following a 14-year run at BMI, has served on the museum’s board for 17 years. He replaces outgoing chair Mary Ann McCready, who remains as a trustee. CMHFM CEO Kyle Young remarked that Williams is “woven into the fabric of country music’s creative community in a true and meaningful way” and “resolute in furthering country music’s vitality as a cultural artform.” The Nashville institution also elected several new members to the board, including artist manager Clint Higham and WME agent Becky Gardenhire.
Merlin, the digital licensing partner for the independent music sector, welcomed Neil Miller as its new general counsel. Miller arrives from Greenberg Traurig, where he served as partner of the global law firm for three years. Prior to that, Miller was an associate general counsel at Facebook and earlier in his career spent six years as GC at SoundCloud. He is based in the UK. “Merlin is a dynamic organisation operating in a complex and ever changing legal and commercial environment,” said Charlie Sexton, Merlin COO. “Neil’s wealth of experience across music and digital entertainment is exactly what we need to meet these challenges. He is highly respected across the industry and brings a valuable blend of long-term thinking, technical skills, and impressive leadership.”
Believe has new leadership in place for its efforts throughout China, naming Charles Liu as general manager and Rebecca Dong as managing director for the growth-ready region. Based in Beijing and reporting to Sylvain Delange, Believe’s president of Asia-Pacific, Liu will focus on building partnerships and growing Believe’s roster of labels and artists. Dong rolls up to Liu and will manage all operations, along with legal, finance and HR matters. Believe has operated in China since 2016 and has grown to 80-plus “digital and music experts” across offices in five cities, the company said. “Greater China is both an exciting and challenging market where Believe’s unique approach can significantly contribute to accelerate the rise of a strong, diverse and thriving local music ecosystem as we’ve done is so many other markets in Asia Pacific,” said Delange.
NASHVILLE NOTES: Universal Music Group Nashville hired Houston Gaither as director of radio marketing. She was previously Sony Music Nashville’s manager of content, promotion and artist development … Former PLA Media director of publicity and branding Becky Parsons formed Found Sound Media, a PR and management firm focused on developing LGBTQ+ and female artists … Kylie Taylor joined Black River Entertainment as a graphic designer. Reach her at ktaylor@blackriverent.com.
OTM Music, a boutique publishing company with footholds in London, New York and Los Angeles, welcomed Kristin Genovese as the firm’s new U.S. head of sync and Kate Sweetsur as the new head of A&R. The company, which provides creative services for its roster of songwriters and brands, also noted the recent additions of Chi Chi Nwakodo as senior creative and Ethan Mizen as A&R manager.
ICYMI:
Britney Davis
Hipgnosis Song Management founder Merck Mercuriadis will step down as chairman of the investment manager, months after vacating the CEO role … Stephanie Rosa is managing director of Tixr‘s new London office … Former Capitol Music Group executive Britney Davis was named general manager at Quality Control … Warner Records promoted Robert Santini to senior vp of brand partnerships and ad sync … and Mano Sundaresan is the new head of editorial content for Pitchfork.
Last Week’s Turntable: Audacy OG Elevated
After 14 years, a new political dawn in the United Kingdom as Keir Starmer’s Labour Party storms to victory in the general election. And the end of the Tories’ long reign.
Labour won in a predictable landslide, paving the way for Starmer to become the next prime minister.
The U.K. music industry, through its various support networks and lobby bodies, has welcomed the incoming, center-left government, with a resounding message: let’s get to work.
“Our industry faces serious challenges and needs urgent attention to recover from years of neglect through the cost of living crisis and the pandemic,” comments Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA).
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Michael Kill, CEO of NTIA, Welcomes Labour Government: The Real Work Starts Today! “As CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), I warmly welcome the new Labour Government. Your commitment to our sector, vital to the UK’s economy and culture, is appreciated.… pic.twitter.com/HXWFQJvWlY— Night Time Industries Association (@wearethentia) July 5, 2024
The sector must now “rebuild trust with the new government, after years of feeling misunderstood and undervalued, we must work towards changing the narrative around the value of the night time economy, secure stronger representation at all levels, and create a more integrated regulatory system.”
Kill continues, “We must also address tax disparity, reform business rates, protect independent operators, and align VAT with European standards.”
UK Music CEO Tom Kiehl calls on the new leader to use his “resounding mandate for change” to boost jobs, growth and opportunity in the sector.
The nation’s music industry contributes almost £7 billion ($9 billion) annually to the U.K. economy and supports 210,000 jobs, according to the London-based umbrella organization, which represents all sectors of the U.K.’s music industry.
Right now, explains Kiehl, the music business faces “a number of challenges, but also opportunities. A strong relationship between UK Music and the new government will be essential to navigating what the rest of this decade brings.”
UK Music sends its congratulations to Sir Keir Starmer and his team on their election victory, which gives his new Government a resounding mandate for change. My reaction to the outcome of the 2024 General Election https://t.co/u5OEtHDxnI— Tom Kiehl (@Tomkiehl) July 5, 2024
UK Music developed and published a 10-prong pre-election “manifesto” for the next government, which includes objectives to boost music exports, protect music spaces, improve music education and encourage responsible AI use.
“As the collective voice of the music industry, UK Music already has strong links with Sir Keir’s top team,” Kiehl adds. “Our plan is to continue to build on those relationships and work across the political spectrum, including the many newly elected MPs, to deliver real change and further growth for our world-leading sector.”
According to an BBC forecast published Friday morning (July 5), Labour is set to take 410 seats (out of 650) with an expected majority of 170. For the Conservatives, the result could be their worst in history, with the party predicted to win as few as 129 seats.
Vinyl Group CEO Josh Simons, Billboard senior editor Lyndsey Havens and VibeLab co-founder Lutz Leichsenring join the second wave of speakers locked-in for Bigsound 2024, Australia’s annual conference and showcase extravaganza.
Also confirmed to this year’s lineup is Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd and Live Nation’s Kamran Haq, senior national promoter at the concerts giant and senior booker for Europe’s Download Festival.
Simons, the leader of Vinyl Group, Australia’s only ASX-listed music business, will speak at Bigsound just six months after the company completed the acquisition of The Brag Media, which is now housed alongside Jaxsta, Vampr and Vinyl.com. A former artist with indie band Buchanan, Simons has, over time, successfully raised A$20 million for his tech startups.
Havens, say organisers QMusic, will share her thoughts on leadership and authenticity in the current landscape, while Leichsenring will offer perspectives on creating sustainable music ecosystems.
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The daytime industry sessions will include a timely panel discussion, “Who Gives a F*ck About Australian Music?,” which will explore the global perception of Australian music and engagement from local music fans.
Meanwhile, a slew of 50-plus buzz acts are added to the nighttime program, including Miiesha, Bean Magazine, tiffi, Stella Bridie, Neptune, Same Blood, TOWNS and Alayna.
Set for Sept. 3 – 6 in Brisbane, the 2032 Olympic city, Bigsound’s conference and showcase extravaganza will once again make a splash in the vibrant Fortitude Valley.
As previously reported, “Milkshake” star Kelis and Amy Taylor, singer with ARIA Award-winning punk rock act Amyl And The Sniffers, are keynote speakers, while a lineup of international speakers has been confirmed, including Korda Marshall (Mushroom Group), Bradly Palmer (Concord Music Publishing), Elliott Lefko (AEG / Goldenvoice).
The event is supported by the Queensland government through Tourism and Events Queensland, and is presented by Oztix and Brick Lane.
Visit Bigsound.org.au for more.
Hipgnosis Song Management announced on Tuesday that Merck Mercuriadis will be stepping down as chairman of the music investment advisor. In giving his notice, which goes into effect upon closing of the proposed acquisition of Hipgnosis Songs Fund to private equity giant Blackstone, HSM’s founder called it the “right time” and a “timely opportunity for me […]
Mano Sundaresan, founder of the music blog No Bells, will take on the role of Head of Editorial Content for Pitchfork, the publication announced on Tuesday (July 2).
He joins during a fraught time for media — numerous publications have laid off staff in the last 18 months — and for Pitchfork in particular. In January, parent company Condé Nast folded Pitchfork into GQ and cut a number of longtime staffers, including Puja Patel, who had served as editor in chief since 2018. The backlash was swift: The Washington Post declared “the end of Pitchfork,” while The Guardian called the move “a travesty for music media” and many publications ran postmortems eulogizing the venerated site.
“I understand what the concern was — [people thought] this really important media outlet was going away,” Will Welch, global editorial director of GQ and Pitchfork, tells Billboard. “It was a misunderstanding. It’s not going away, and in so many ways, it’s getting all this new energy.”
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That starts with Sundaresan. In 2021, stuck at home during the pandemic, he decided to launch No Bells. “Everybody in quarantine had their little hobby,” he tells Billboard in his first interview since taking the job. Some took up baking bread; he started a site to house some of his stories — “mostly about these undercover online music scenes” — that weren’t being accepted by the remaining publications in a rapidly-thinning music media landscape.
“It was initially me doing everything: writing, editing, designing a bit,” Sundaresan recalls. “But then I brought on some friends and made it more of an actual publication.”
As No Bells grew, it “started to gain a bit of authority,” he continues. “We definitely became a voice for the underground rap scene in New York, and in Milwaukee, and in these various micro-communities that were popping off.”
Sundaresan, who also worked previously at NPR and freelanced for several sites, spoke with Billboard about his plans for Pitchfork‘s future, in an interview alongside Welch. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
What did you learn building No Bells that you’re hoping to implement at Pitchfork?
Sundaresan: What I’m bringing to Pitchfork is essentially the adaptability and experimentation that comes with trying to start a music blog in the 2020s. It’s really hard. It requires not only publishing interesting stuff but also seeing where your audience is and cultivating that. We didn’t have any type of legacy to hinge on.
Pitchfork is interesting because it obviously has this authority [built] over two decades now. It’s also got a bevy of incredibly talented writers, and I think we’re in this age where we turn to individual tastemakers for validation when we’re curious about new music. I think more care needs to be put into building worlds around those tastemakers. That’s kind of what I was doing at No Bells, and that’s what I’m going to try to do at Pitchfork.
Are there other new directions or priorities you’re interested in?
Sundaresan: I’m definitely trying to honor the traditions of Pitchfork as-is. They’ve done so much over the past few years, especially with broadening the accessibility, making it more conversational. I want to continue those efforts. Really, my focus is to try to adapt Pitchfork to the modern age of media, where individual voices are prioritized. We can tap into the incredible writers that are on staff and try to build verticals and columns around what they’re doing — cater to more specialized audiences that way, and younger audiences that way.
What does it mean for Pitchfork to be folded under GQ? What’s different now compared to a year ago?
Welch: Pitchfork is still continuing as Pitchfork and GQ is continuing as GQ. I’m now leading both, and very excited to have Mano working on the Pitchfork project with me. And there are ways that we are sharing efforts on the back end — operational stuff, logistical stuff. We just had a really cool meeting last week, where it was GQ editors sharing what they’re excited about in music looking ahead at the rest of the year, and then the Pitchfork editors doing the same. There are conversations like that happening, but the Pitchfork brand is continuing standalone, and GQ is continuing standalone as well.
This new chapter is taking place after a round of layoffs that got a lot of attention. What led to the layoffs, and what do those mean for the future of the publication?
Welch: I’ve been a reader of Pitchfork for 20-plus years. I started my career at The Fader, another music magazine that was sort of at its peak around the time that Pitchfork was really thriving. There was always a [dynamic of] looking across the road at what the other was doing. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to actually work on Pitchfork and to lead the team. They have done an awesome job in the time since January; we’ve been continuing to publish at a great clip. There’s been a lot happening in music, really exciting, emerging music that the site has covered — as it always has, going all the way back to the beginning — and then a bunch of huge releases as well.
Mano had such a clear vision for really what drives music conversation today, what all of us who are on the internet every day want to see. That just clarified for me what the future should be. Now we get to lead a conversation with a team of staff members and contributors about how we apply what Mano articulated: What should we keep exactly the same, and what can we do in new ways, especially as we think about all the platforms at our disposal.
It’s really hard for musicians right now. The way things are set up can be really beneficial to the huge acts, and it can be really hard for the middle and for the younger acts. And I think a huge part of Pitchfork‘s role is supporting that whole ecosystem, especially new artists and people that are in that difficult middle ground.
Sundaresan: One thing that’s working really well with No Bells is the way we’ve built a community around what we do — writers certainly, but also artists. Pitchfork at one point, before it got bigger, was very community-driven. I want to try and restore some of that feeling, getting back to being literally on the ground reporting about things, creating physical spaces for writers, whether that’s live events, readings, panels. I want to create more of a real community around this really robust online ecosystem that Pitchfork already has.
Even before the layoffs, it felt like Pitchfork started running fewer reviews and moved them down the homepage. The New York Times was historically focused on reviews but it has moved away from them as well. Do you still believe that format has value?
Sundaresan: I feel like every few months the album-review-is-dead conversation pops up. For every discourse around that, you see 18,000 more people posting that Taylor Swift got like a 6.2 or whatever it is. Album reviews, especially for some of these really big releases, are pored over by fans. Some of the highest-performing things on the Pitchfork website are still album reviews.
And I think there’s still such a necessity, from a historical record standpoint, for album reviews. You see with platforms like Tiktok and Instagram Reels — they’re really important, and I think Pitchfork really needs to tap into them more and create more interesting content around them — but there’s only so much you can do. You need comprehensive writing of some sort about these really important releases, just so that in five or 10 years, somebody can come back and see this is what happened at this time.
Welch: I would also add that if other outlets have moved on from reviews, and Pitchfork is still known as the place that’s really committed to that form, then that’s a position of strength for us. The foundation of the site is news and reviews, and that can and should continue. And then we’re going to do a bunch of other cool stuff too.
Is there a tension between trying to document some of these smaller scenes and the need to generate traffic? It seems like people have moved away from covering some of the niches because they’re all fighting for the same mainstream clicks.
Welch: We live in a world where audience matters, traffic matters. At Conde Nast, we have KPIs for audience just like any other media brand on Earth. But I think there’s a huge opportunity to evolve the Pitchfork ecosystem. When that’s done effectively, and I think GQ is a good example of this, your business does not live and die based on pure raw traffic.
Broadly right now in internet media, relative to other phases that I’ve been in, this is not a time of traffic as the be-all, end-all. Without taking it to a naive extreme, Mano’s directive is not to chase traffic. It’s to build a really high quality website. And then we’re going to be collaborating with the rest of the team on building out the Pitchfork ecosystem. Mano referenced events — I think that’s incredibly important. Thinking in new ways about the social platforms, there’s just so much you can do, so many different ways to not just mean something to your audience, but also to bring revenue into the brand that isn’t about raw traffic.
Sundaresan: You nailed it. Tent-pole reviews are always going to matter. But No Bells to some extent was about, “Let’s create this ecosystem around online music scenes.” We didn’t always have the highest readership. That wasn’t our goal. But we were able to sustain ourselves just by having very loyal readers because they cared about the things that we cared about.
I think Pitchfork has a potential to essentially do that tenfold, and have different pockets that cater to specific audiences, almost like subcultures, that are spearheaded by genre specialists — which, by the way, Pitchfork already has. The resources just haven’t been put in those directions yet.
After the layoffs, I’m sure you saw there was just a wave of pieces basically saying that Pitchfork was dead. Do you have any response to those?
Welch: Just that Pitchfork is still continuing as Pitchfork. I feel confident in my ability to lead the title, and I think we have an incredibly exciting new voice, new thinker — it wasn’t until I talked to Mano that it really crystallized what I thought the future of Pitchfork should be. He’s bringing this very of-the-moment perspective: This is how people want to talk about music. All the tools are there, we just need to adjust the dials a little bit, do some new things. And I think there’s an opportunity for Pitchfork to really grow and feel fresher than ever.
“I don’t know if there’s ever a perfect time to open something like this,” says Jim Davis with a laugh.
Davis, president of audiophile retailer Music Direct, is standing at the front of the newly unveiled Fidelity Record Pressing, a high-end vinyl pressing plant in Oxnard, Calif. And while he doesn’t believe there can be a “perfect” time to open a new pressing plant, he does believe in the “right” time, adding: “Our niche in this industry is the high-quality end, and there’s always room for someone making a better quality product. So I’d like to think it’s the right time because we have the right people who put this plant together, and that’s going to make all the difference in the world.” Plus, as he admits while scanning the state-of-the-art facility during an invite-only preview, it’s “very encouraging that people wanted to see what’s going on here.”
Davis co-founded Fidelity with the father-and-son team of Rick and Edward Hashimoto; the two have over seven decades of pressing plant experience combined and have emerged as leaders in quality and proficiency. Rick sees Fidelity as an opportunity to bring high-end vinyl back into focus. “I think that commercial records have been kind of pushed out the door [lately], and I think it’s important for the vinyl industry to maintain a high-quality presence,” Rick says.
Fidelity Record Pressing Plant
Courtesy of Fidelity Record Pressing
One way Fidelity’s practices help set its products apart are the burnished edges, which Edward says is an “extra hassle” but well worth the quality. “Whether you realize it or not, [the edges of vinyl are] one of first things people notice,” he says. Another way is through the plant’s record cooling process, in which only five vinyl are stacked on aluminum plates (as seen above) to help preserve disc integrity by drying slowly. Specially designed spindles also run through the center to hold each disc and prevent warping.
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But perhaps Fidelity’s biggest differentiator is that the plant presses both vinyl and SuperVinyl, a proprietary compound developed by PVC manufacturer Neotech and Record Technology Inc. (RTI) exclusively for Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (MoFi). The composition features carbonless dye, resulting in a quieter surface that reduces noise floor and enhances groove definition. (Manufacturing costs for SuperVinyl can be eight times more than regular vinyl.)
After a two-year build, Fidelity officially opened at the start of 2024 as the pressing plant for MoFi; it soon started accepting vinyl orders from outside clients. There are currently six presses (manufactured in Nashville by Record Pressing Machines LLC) that can churn an estimated annual capacity of around 1 million records. Another four presses are on the way (the plant can accommodate a total of 12). As of now, one employee operates up to three machines, with additional employees focusing full-time on quality control, which includes spot listening to every 40-50 records for around 30 minutes.
“If you have a flawed record, you may as well just stream it on Spotify,” says Rick. “But if you have a great sounding record, you’re going to want to play that record over and over and that’s what’s going to keep people coming back to vinyl. It’s got to be great — and I think that’s what we do here.”
Rick and Edward Hashimoto
Courtesy of Fidelity Record Pressing
Sphere Entertainment Co. stock gained 5.4% to $35.04 this week after Point72 Asset Management, the hedge fund of Wall Street giant Steve Cohen, took a 5.5% stake in the company, making it one of the best-performing companies on this week’s Billboard Global Music Index.
Cohen is the owner of the New York Mets professional baseball team. Sphere’s sister company, MSG Sports — James Dolan is CEO of both companies — owns two of the city’s major professional sports franchises, the New York Knicks basketball team and the New York Rangers hockey team. The Sphere venue in Las Vegas will host its first sports event Friday evening (June 28): the National Hockey League draft.
Elsewhere, radio companies Cumulus Media and iHeartMedia gained 9.1% and 9.0% this week, respectively, as radio stocks bested other publicly traded music companies on the Billboard Global Music Index. Both Cumulus and iHeartMedia clawed back nearly half of the losses they suffered in the previous two-week period. After dropping 21.1% from June 7 to June 21, Cumulus finished up at $2.04. Similarly, iHeartMedia had lost 21.1% in the prior two weeks and finished this week at $1.09. Townsquare Media, which is not in the Index, rose 9.2% to $10.93, turning its 5% year-to-date loss into a 3.7% gain.
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Many radio companies are still having a tough 2024, however, as they slog through a challenging advertising climate. Through June 28, iHeartRadio has fallen 59.2% and Cumulus is down 61.7%.
The Billboard Global Music Index was effectively unchanged from the previous week, rising less than one point to 1,815.54. The index’s year-to-date gain was also unchanged at 18.3%. Most of the stocks showed little movement as 16 of the 20 companies fell within the range of +2.1% to -3.4%. Even though 12 of the companies posted gains, the biggest winners are among the index’s smallest companies, and those winners were overcome by losses suffered by larger companies such as Spotify (down 1.1%), CTS Eventim (down 1.3%) and SiriusXM (down 3.4%).
Streaming stocks had the worst week of any sector after losing an average of 0.4%. The top streamer was Anghami, which rose 0.9% to $1.07. Cloud Music and Deezer each lost less than 1%. LiveOne fell 1.3% to $1.57.
Reservoir Media was the week’s greatest gainer after improving 11.9% — 9.6% on Friday alone — to $7.90. The gain came without major news or analyst commentary. The last analyst to increase a price target on Reservoir was B. Riley on May 31, the day after Reservoir announced that its full-year revenue increased 18% to $145 million.
K-pop companies all had modest increases this week. HYBE gained 1.3% to 202,500 won ($146.60). SM Entertainment, also a Billboard Global Music Index member, rose 1.1% to 80,400 won ($54.21). Elsewhere, JYP Entertainment jumped 2.1% to 57,300 won ($41.48) and YG Entertainment sank 1.0% to 40,300 won ($29.18). All four stocks have fallen sharply in 2024, however, with an average year-to-date decline of 22.6%.
Major stock indexes had mixed results this week. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to 17,732.60 and the S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 5,460.48. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index gained 0.5% to 2,797.82. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.9%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 1.0% to 2,967.40.
One of Canada’s biggest stars is getting one of the country’s highest honours. Pop-rock star Avril Lavigne has been named to the Order of Canada, a civilian honour that recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions to the country. Lavigne was announced by Governor General Mary Simon yesterday, amongst a list of 83 new appointees that includes scientists, economists, poets and activists.
Lavigne’s appointment highlights her impressive commercial and artistic achievements, as well as her charity work. “With over 50 million albums sold worldwide, she paved the way for female-driven punk-rock music and continues to do so today,” the notice reads, going on to mention her support of individuals living with disabilities and serious illnesses through the Avril Lavigne Foundation.
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The Order of Canada appointment comes as Lavigne is celebrating her successes with Greatest Hits, a new compilation released June 21 featuring platinum singles like “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi” as well as her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Girlfriend.” Lavigne is one of Canada’s best selling artists.
The Canadian icon is also taking her hits on the road with a major tour, which kicked off in Vancouver in May and begins its second leg in Toronto on Aug. 12 with a sold-out Scotiabank Arena show.
Beyond the charts, Lavigne helped pave the way for a punk-inspired vision of girlhood in the early 2000s, when most female pop stars were embracing a more traditionally feminine image. Lavigne’s brash attitude and white tank top and tie combo cemented her as an icon for a generation of Canadian kids.
Lavigne wasn’t the only musician recognized by the Order of Canada this week. Montreal singer-songwriter Daniel Lavoie was named an Officer of the Order, as were percussionist Beverley Johnston and conductor Kent Nagano. -Rosie Long Decter
Mustafa’s ‘Name Of God’ Named Best Canadian Music Video of the Year, Winning 2024 Prism Prize
Mustafa has become the first two-time winner of the Prism Prize, the award that celebrates the best in Canadian music videos. He has won the 2024 Grand Prize for video of the year for “Name of God.”
Mustafa, also known as Mustafa Ahmed and Mustafa The Poet, also took home the award in 2022 for “Ali.” Both of his winning videos are self-directed. Mustafa’s win comes with a $20,000 prize, the largest monetary award for music videos worldwide.
Mustafa released “Name of God” last year days after penning a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging him to speak for Palestine. The song and video touch on violence and grief as well as the power of community and tradition.
Mustafa isn’t this year’s only winner. Nemahsis has won the fan-voted Audience Award, winning “i wanna be your right hand.” That $2,500 prize goes to both artist Nemahsis and directors Norman Wong and Amy Gardner. The video takes the Palestinian-Canadian artist in a choreographed dance through a restaurant kitchen and into a showstopping empty-room dining hall performance.
Mustafa and Nemahsis beat out a strong shortlist of videos, including clips from The Beaches, Feist, Snotty Nose Rez Kids and more. See the whole list here and check out the four other special award winners here. -Kerry Doole
k.d. lang To Be Inducted Into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2024
k.d. lang will be inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2024 by the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA). The induction will take place at Country Music Week 2024 in Edmonton, Alberta, September 11–14 leading to the CCMA Awards.
“I am beyond thrilled, and frankly pleasantly surprised to be honored in this way,” says lang, who was born in Edmonton. “My love for the prairies, the people and our culture underscore every ounce of my inspiration. Not without its complexities, I might add. Such is life. I am so stoked to be coming to Edmonton to bask in this celebration… with deepest gratitude.”
Emerging in the 1980s as part of a then-burgeoning “cowpunk” scene, lang has had one of the most powerful and beautiful voices in country music and beyond. A queer icon and activist in many spheres, she’s expanded the boundary of the genre and pioneered within and beyond it.
“Today, we are excited to announce the incomparable k.d. Lang as our 2024 Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Artist inductee,” says Amy Jeninga, president of CCMA. “A true Canadian icon and trailblazer in country music and beyond, k.d. embraced the genre with unparalleled passion, and her extraordinary talents have left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of our nation. We proudly honour her incredible legacy and outstanding contributions, and can’t wait to celebrate her induction in Edmonton this September.”
The Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame is housed at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, in Calgary. A new exhibition celebrating new and historic inductees will open September 11, 2024, with more details still to be announced. -Richard Trapunski
Country Label MDM Recordings Inks Global Deal With Warner Music Canada’s ADA CANADA
Country music is big business in Canada right now, and one of the nation’s major labels has made a new deal to reflect that.
ADA CANADA, the independent label and artist services arm of Warner Music Canada, has announced a new exclusive global distribution deal with MDM Recordings. Founded by Canadian music industry veteran Mike Denney in 2008, MDM Recordings describes itself as “a full service independent label and management company specializing in country music.”
MDM has an impressive track record, especially with up-and-coming country acts. Its roster has included such notable Canadian country musicians as Chad Brownlee, Tyler Joe Miller, Bobby Wills and Don Amero, and music released on the label has earned over 450 million global streams, and more than 500,000 physical units sold. Artists currently on the MDM roster include Jess Moskaluke (a platinum-selling artist and Juno and CCMA Award winner), Charlie Major, Amero, and The Redhill Valleys, alongside promising newcomers Savannah Jade and Josh Stumpf.
MDM Recordings has twice been awarded record label of the year at the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards. Mike Denney has been honoured with the record company person of the year title three times and has overseen seven CCMA Award wins for their artists.
“MDM Recordings has always been about fostering incredible talent and sharing their music with the world,” says Denney. “This partnership with ADA Canada marks an exciting new chapter for us. We are thrilled to leverage ADA’s extensive global network to bring our artists’ music to an even broader audience.”
Greg Morris, VP of ADA Canada, says: “Mike Denney had a vision 16 years ago to create MDM Recordings, and he has done incredible work building it into what it is today. It has an excellent track record of discovering and developing country artists, and has regularly been recognized as one of the best country labels in Canada. I’m proud that Mike has entrusted ADA Canada to support and grow his business, and am excited to work with him and his team to grow his artists’ success, and help them connect with their fans around the world.” -Kerry Doole