Elektra Records
McHale’s Bar & Grill, a pub in midtown Manhattan, bills itself as “the best Irish bar in NYC.” It opens bright and early, at 10 a.m. on weekdays; it also happens to be right around the corner from Warner Music Group’s New York office. And on Thursday (Sept. 19), it was crammed full of Atlantic Music Group employees gathering to honor colleagues who had been laid off earlier that day. Several staffers clambered onto chairs to deliver spontaneous speeches about their time at the storied label.
McHale’s “is the only thing open during the day in that area,” says one employee who survived the cuts. At the impromptu gathering, “Lots of people who have been at Atlantic for 10- or 20-plus years said they loved being able to work with everyone. People were feeling supported since a lot of staff had been let go” — around 150 layoffs in total, according to WMG’s SEC filing.
Multiple sources stress that these departures, as well as the new regime being put in place by incoming Atlantic Music Group CEO Elliot Grainge, represent a seismic shift for Atlantic — a generational changing of the guard. A number of high-profile executives will be leaving the company, including Atlantic Music Group CEO Julie Greenwald, who co-led Atlantic for nearly 20 years; WMG’s CEO of recorded music Max Lousada, who had been at WMG for decades; 300 Elektra Entertainment chairman/CEO Kevin Liles; Atlantic general manager Paul Sinclair; and Atlantic co-president of Black music Michael Kyser, along with several department heads at both Atlantic and Elektra Records.
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In the wake of the cuts, sources say the Elektra side of 300 Elektra Entertainment is down to fewer than 20 people; Warner announced that 3EE president Gregg Nadel will move to become co-chair of Warner Music Nashville, but did not mention a replacement. (Lousada and Liles will also not be replaced.) Atlantic made further cuts to its radio team, which now has fewer than 10 employees, having already been hit in previous waves of layoffs. The label slashed the publicity department to just a handful of people.
In addition, Atlantic and Elektra eliminated their touring teams, which help artists with promotion and production on the road. The creative departments of Atlantic and 300 — the staffers who help furnish artists with the content they need in a visual, social media-driven age — suffered losses as well. And the label cut some A&R executives.
All these vanished jobs are the latest sign that the definition of a major label is transforming rapidly. “The old advantages that a big label had in the past, radio and press and TV, those just aren’t as powerful as they were,” says Jonathan Daniel, a veteran artist manager. The industry is trying to “remodel what a major label is, because the old way is unsustainable at this point.”
That retooling process has led to a number of layoffs at both WMG and Universal Music Group over the last 18 months. (Cuts at Sony Music have been more moderate, sources have said, at least so far.) Executives in traditional departments, like radio and press, have been especially vulnerable. And companies have tried to reduce overlapping roles at frontline labels in favor of a shared central system of services.
Grainge, 30, has expressed disdain for the more sprawling, old-fashioned major label model in the past. In 2016, he founded the label 10K Projects, which has billed itself almost as an anti-major: Small and fleet-footed instead of large and lumbering, with a heavy focus on modern tools (digital marketing) at the expense of more old-fashioned ones (radio). He has had success with this approach, helping boost the early careers of artists like Ice Spice, XXXTentacion and Trippie Redd.
Several Atlantic staffers started to worry about the possibility of additional staff cuts in August, as soon as WMG unexpectedly announced that Grainge would replace Greenwald starting October 1. In the past, major leadership changes at labels have often been accompanied by layoffs. Roughly 20 years ago, for example, not long after Lyor Cohen took over as chairman/CEO of WMG, the company let go of around 1,000 employees.
That said, the record business was shrinking then, rather than growing. And WMG had already made three rounds of cuts in the past 19 months before last week’s layoffs.
Some executives believe that Atlantic Music Group, which has struggled to produce new breakout artists in the last two years, was still too big and too inefficient, even after the previous reductions in staff. It’s nearly impossible to turn a massive ship quickly, and speed is crucial in what WMG CEO Robert Kyncl recently called a “fast-paced, fiercely competitive industry.”
The company’s realignment is intended to strengthen the core Atlantic Music Group structure while also making it more flexible, so it can throw its full weight behind artists at Atlantic, 300 or Elektra at any given time, sources say. “Elliot is confident in the team he’s put in place and they’re all focused on moving the needle,” a source inside WMG tells Billboard. The mission, this person continues, is focusing on “artists, artist development, great music. With all the anxiety about changes, there is excitement about the future, too.”
But others wonder if deep cuts will ultimately affect a label’s ability to deliver on behalf of its artists. “They’re smart people; obviously there’s some sort of plan” with the restructure and the layoffs, says Motti Shulman, who exited his role as senior vp of rhythm promotion at 300 Elektra Entertainment in 2023. “But if you keep cutting the fat, at some point you dig into the muscle. I think they’ve gone beyond the fat.”
Earlier this month, WMG employees say Grainge spent time in the company’s Los Angeles and New York offices along with Zach Friedman and Tony Talamo, who are set to become chief operating officer and general manager of Atlantic Music Group, respectively. Several Atlantic staffers believed that the incoming leadership was evaluating their work and weighing who might be cut.
When layoffs began in New York last Thursday, a number of employees were told they were being let go in individual meetings with Greenwald — who had, in many cases, played an instrumental role in hiring them, sometimes decades ago. Some staffers started to call the artists they had collaborated with to notify them that they had been laid off. Others updated their LinkedIn profiles: #OpenToWork.
Historically, when labels cut a lot of employees — as Universal Music group did in 1999, and WMG did in 2004 — they often trim artist rosters as well. Specific employees often champion specific artists in the building; if those cheerleaders are gone, the label may in turn sever ties with the acts they cheered for. On top of that, remaining staff might be spread too thin to aid as many acts as it did previously. Many managers are still waiting to hear if their artists will be affected in the shakeup.
Todd Rubenstein, a veteran music lawyer, has been watching the steady drumbeat of layoffs across the major labels since the start of 2023. “I find it all sad,” he says. “Not just from the human level of people losing their jobs, but everyone was already complaining before about what labels were not doing for their artists. What happens now that a hundred people got let go?”
On Monday (Sept. 23), Atlantic started trying to answer that question. The company announced a “new era” and a series of promotions. “We are committed to a single principle,” Grainge said in a statement. “Maximum impact for original artists.”
Much of the conversation in the music business this year has been about superfans — where to find them, how to connect with them and the ways to better cater to them during single and album rollouts. Suffice it to say that the team behind Twenty One Pilots and their latest album, Clancy, took that conversation to heart.
This week, Clancy debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and flew in at No. 1 on both the Top Album Sales and Top Rock Albums charts with 143,000 equivalent album units, landing the biggest rock debut of the year so far in the process, with a campaign that leaned heavily into super-serving the group’s biggest fans. That took the form of exclusive listening parties at independent record stores around the country, a multi-pronged sales strategy that offered more than a dozen different ways of purchasing the album and thinking holistically about each tier of fandom and what they want the most.
The result: Nearly 60% of the album’s first week numbers came from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales, according to Elektra vp of D2C, streaming and marketing strategy Thom Skarzynski, who worked on the album rollout. And the success of Clancy helps earn Skarzynski the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Skarzynski discusses the fan-led strategies that went into the album release, as well as the career-long buildup that got the band to this point. “We went into the campaign with a refreshed mindset,” Skarzynski says. “It was all about bringing things back to the surface and carrying the story to life for not only the deeply-rooted superfans but also the more casual listeners who may have lost the plot along the way.”
This week, Twenty One Pilots’ Clancy debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on both Top Album Sales and Top Rock Albums. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
My role at Elektra is multifaceted — depending on the project, I might be involved in marketing, D2C or streaming strategy. In the case of Twenty One Pilots, I was fortunate enough to run point on all three, co-running the overall marketing on this album campaign with Katie Robinson [senior vp of marketing at Elektra], so I truly was able to engulf myself into the whole picture and curate what we needed to happen and when.
That said, the area that I’m most proud of in impacting our debut was what we were able to do via D2C on the band’s store. We took extra care to custom tailor each of our offerings, accounting for every level of fan, what would excite them, and how it would deepen their connection with the band. In the end, D2C accounted for nearly 60% of our first-week activity. Their overwhelming response shows the power of a fan base when they’re being listened to and treated right.
With 143,000 equivalent album units, Clancy nearly doubled the first-week mark from the band’s last album, 2021’s Scaled and Icy. What did you do different this time around to achieve that?
We went into the campaign with a refreshed mindset. It was all about bringing things back to the surface and carrying the story to life for not only the deeply-rooted superfans but also the more casual listeners who may have lost the plot along the way. I must credit the band themselves, management [Chris Woltman and Ashley Pimenta at Element 1] and their creative team [Mark Eshleman and Brandon Rike], as they were true architects in the early teaser campaigns we executed for the core fanbase — sending 1,500 red envelope letters out to fans across the globe, swapping all studio artwork of previous albums to have “red tape” over it. Cryptic moments like that activated their hardcore fans, and from there we just expanded. This album campaign was about bringing every level of fan together and nailing the conclusion to a story the band has been telling for nearly a decade.
The album’s huge sales week was also bolstered by its physical availability — 11 vinyl variants, plus several CD editions and deluxe box sets. What was your approach to the physical sales aspect, and how were you able to pull that off?
Very early on, we connected with the band’s creative director Brandon Rike, and went through ideas and suggestions for this launch — including my absolute favorite, the Clancy Journal — as well as box-set options and how many different vinyl variants we would need to ensure everybody from the fan base had something they loved enough to own. We chose carefully, knowing where each level of fan would be shopping and what they would engage with, and let that be our guide.
We also held listening events at over 175 independent record stores across the country the Saturday prior to album release, which brought out an estimated 20,000 fans. That indie variable was super cool and we were so happy to bring the physical community together to experience the album as one. I am a firm believer that fans want to own an item from an artist they love that they can proudly display or cherish, and that’s what we aimed to offer. Every decision we made was around “thinking like a fan.” Any mindset different from that was unacceptable as we rolled this out.
The album was the final chapter of a conceptual series. How were you able to play into that to help generate excitement among the fan base?
For me, the pressure was on to deliver on behalf of the band and their team, and simply connect the dots wherever possible. This storyline that they’ve built for nine years now is so much bigger than me and I not only accepted that fact but was humbled to be trusted to handle parts of the campaign that played into it. Ultimately, what generates the most excitement are three things: excellent music; a message and lyrics that resonate with people; and bringing fans along on the journey with you.
Clancy also represents the biggest debut for a rock album this year so far. With rock such a sales-heavy format and the industry at large so dependent on streaming, how do you leverage streaming with that sales strategy to deliver such a big debut?
The variety and cadence of the single releases leading up to the album kept the fan base engaged and built up anticipation for the full album. We also had great support from our streaming partners with multiple playlist covers, and excellent positioning in both their new music and flagship playlists across rock, alternative and pop. When it comes to sales itself, we looked at everything mathematically, and strategically pinpointed where we could find wins and where we felt we may have had some challenges. We knew how much we had total control of — D2C, physical retail, indie retail and digital albums — and making each of them the best experience possible maximized our results. We just knew the fan base so well and were able to be strategic with how, when and where we interacted with them.
How are you guys planning to continue to promote the album moving forward?
We are just getting started. “The Craving (single version)” is impacting at Top 40, Alternative and Hot AC radio right now and already getting incredible support. This is also a band that never stops: They have their massive Clancy World Tour which hits arenas and even some stadiums across North America starting in August before going overseas to Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Europe. In my very first conversation with management back in October, they walked me through a plan that ran through 2026 and beyond. Twelve years in, this is still just the beginning for them.
Burgeoning country artist Brittney Spencer has signed with Elektra and will drop if i ever get there: a day at blackbird studio, her first release for the label, at midnight ET.
The highly sought-after Spencer, who put out her breakthrough single, “Sober & Skinny,” independently in 2021, has made tremendous inroads at country, opening for Maren Morris, Reba McEntire, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell, Willie Nelson and others. Additionally, she is an honorary member of Morris and Carlile’s The Highwomen (which also includes Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires), often stepping in for group members, including on Oct. 30 when the quartet performed at Loretta Lynn’s memorial concert at the Grand Ole Opry, where she substituted for Morris.
Spencer began drawing industry attention two years ago in October 2020, when she posted her cover of The Highwomen’s “Crowded Table” on Twitter and drew the praise of Morris and Shires, who invited her to perform with them when they returned to the road after the pandemic. That dream came true in September 2021 when she stepped in for an ailing Shires at The Highwomen’s appearance at the Bottle Rock Napa Valley Music Festival. CMT’s Leslie Fram also became an early supporter, naming her to the CMT Next Women of Country class of 2021. Spencer made her Grand Ole Opry debut in May of last year and embarked on her own headlining tour last December. She also received a CMT Music Awards nomination earlier this year for digital-first performance of the year.
“We were instantly moved by Brittney’s astounding talent and infectious spirit as soon as we met her,” said Breanna Duncan, senior manager of A&R at Elektra, in a statement. “She has a natural ability to connect with listeners with her brilliant vocal delivery and her gift at capturing emotions through her songwriting is just remarkable. Brittney Spencer is an absolute gem in the music scene and we couldn’t be more excited that she has chosen Elektra as her label home.”
Spencer, who is part of Victoria Secret’s “Undefinable” global campaign, recorded her three-track EP live at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio with producer Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town). The first single is her cover of The Chicks’ 1999 hit, “Cowboy Take Me Away”; the set also includes two originals, “Better As Friends,” co-written with Hailey Whitters, and “A Hundred Years,” co-written with Ashley Ray and Sean McConnell.
“These three songs are some of my favorites to perform live, and they reflect a lot of where my head and heart have been lately – a little sad girl fall, a little gleeful nostalgia. I’ve been touring with some of my absolute heroes, getting to partner with brands I love like Victoria’s Secret (like, what?!), and just being a person feeling my way through my ever-changing, stupid life,” said Spencer, who is managed by Activist Artists Management’s Matt Maher and Caitlin Stone. “Still, writing and creating music has been my honest guide, my emotional safety and my best companion this year, my album is close to finished now!”
The Baltimore native, who is booked by UTA, will open for Morris at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 2. Her full-length debut is expected in 2023.
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