Executive of the Week
Merely existing in the world in the past few weeks would be enough for most people to know that the film adaptation of the beloved Broadway play Wicked is arriving in theaters today (Nov. 22).
Starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, the musical film is one of the most anticipated releases of the year, with first-week box office projections of $100 million and a marketing campaign that includes everything from billboards to merchandise to late-night TV appearances and even its own category on Jeopardy! earlier this week.
But it’s impossible to separate the spectacle that is Wicked from its songs, and there has also been intense interest in both how the music is incorporated into the film and the construction of its soundtrack, given the original cast recording from 2003 won a Grammy Award in 2005 for best musical show album. And that’s something that NBC Universal president of music Mike Knobloch knew to take extra seriously. “The original cast recording is iconic, so priority number one was to not mess it up,” Knobloch tells Billboard. “It has also been a great opportunity to make a soundtrack for a beloved musical that will only be the second Wicked album in two decades. But while our primary mission was to make the film, we didn’t want the soundtrack to simply be a ‘copied and pasted’ byproduct.”
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To make that happen, Knobloch and original Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, along with the filmmakers, producers and the rest of their music team, got to work more than two years ago to make sure they struck the right notes. And as the film and its soundtrack finally make their way into the world today, Knobloch earns the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Knobloch discusses the work that went into helping Wicked come to life, as well as the marketing campaign behind the project and the state of musical films these days. “Wicked is the perfect example of how it all comes down to just making an excellent movie, whether characters on the screen are singing or not,” he says. “It’s got an engaging story, it’s timely and relevant — eerily so for something written 24 years ago — has performances that take your breath away, it’s visually stunning, exhilarating, innovative and multidimensional in a way that makes the state of the musical movie feel pretty epic right now to me.”
This week, the new film Wicked opened wide in theaters, and the official film soundtrack was released, featuring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and more. What role did you play in helping make this project come to life?
There’s no handbook for how to take an existing stage musical and adapt it for the screen, especially with the film’s scope and scale and lack of constraints compared to the stage, and how cherished these songs are to so many. I worked closely with the filmmakers, Jon Chu and Marc Platt, and composer Stephen Schwartz from the very beginning, starting with the critical task of putting together the right team of best-in-class creative and technical personnel so we could be equipped to make something really special. And then I pretty much assumed the role of the “music team coach” through every stage of production all the way through the delivery of the soundtrack.
When did the work for it first start, what challenges did you face and how did you overcome that?
We started in earnest very early in pre-production more than two years ago, and we had a lot to figure out, starting with the production methodology — how to go about equipping the production for live singing, developing the instrumental tracks, adapting the structure of the music to the requirements of the film and so on. We had to start with demos and record in phases in order to put Schwartz’s brilliant music up on the screen. This allowed the music to have the flexibility to follow the actors’ performances, which provided them a great deal of creative freedom.
We consistently found ourselves in uncharted territory, so we put a lot of emphasis on the “how to” from the jump so that we could drive the process as efficiently as possible — and especially make sure the cast and crew had what they needed well in advance of each day of filming. We did some atypical things, like building a bespoke recording studio tailored to our unique needs and routines, for example. The music team was entrusted with this huge responsibility to work closely together and realize the music of Wicked at a level that’s never been done before. It just required an intense level of teamwork and collaboration at every step.
There is a beloved recording made by the Broadway cast that won a Grammy in 2005 for best musical show album. How did you approach making the soundtrack different, or expand upon it, given that original material?
The original cast recording is iconic, so priority number one was to not mess it up. It has also been a great opportunity to make a soundtrack for a beloved musical that will only be the second Wicked album in two decades. But while our primary mission was to make the film, we didn’t want the soundtrack to simply be a “copied and pasted” byproduct. Stephen Schwartz worked extremely closely with executive music producer Stephen Oremus — who has also been the music director of the stage play since its beginning — producer and mixer Greg Wells, and the rest of the music team to make sure the album would be a standalone and complete aural experience.
So without the dialog — except for some snippets for narrative context — and the rest of the sound from the film, a great deal of time and effort went into balancing the vocals with all the orchestral and other instrumental elements and editing the songs together into a cohesive structure. A lot of care went into capturing cast vocals throughout filming that would be production-quality for the soundtrack so that it would reflect their true performances from the movie. This new soundtrack isn’t really meant to be compared to the Broadway recording since it’s a different medium, obviously — but everyone was extremely careful to be faithful to and respectful of what people know and love about the music of Wicked, as well.
How difficult is it to adapt a Broadway production to film, and how did you navigate that from a music point of view?
With genuinely brilliant talent like Ariana, Cynthia, Jonathan Bailey and the rest of the cast, combined with Jon Chu’s imaginative direction, the “adaptation” of the music really gets to be led by their amazing performances. There are orchestration choices, instrumentation and dynamics that differentiate what these songs sound like on stage versus onscreen. Of course, Wicked is a break-out-into-song musical, but something it does very well is to transition in and out of songs without having any of those obvious flags that make you think, “Oh, she’s about to sing something now.” It’s all very fluid and organic, and the musical “bed” was subsequently built to support the performances on the screen. John Powell coming in to score the movie with Stephen Schwartz was also a big part of differentiating the style, scope and scale of the storytelling on the screen. Their score is what glues it all together and makes it feel cinematic.
Wicked has benefited already from an extensive marketing campaign. What role did you play in that, and how have you seen that pay off?
Wicked, the film and the campaign, is just the biggest thing we’ve ever done. Accordingly, we needed a soundtrack partner that could rise to that level and bring an appropriate amount of supplementary marketing muscle to the campaign. We’ve had a great deal of soundtrack success with Republic Records over the years. For Wicked, we had the fortuitous advantage with Republic in that they are also the label to which Cynthia and Ariana are both signed. Our combined teams — along with Verve Records — have been working together since the beginning and our shared mandate was to swing for the fences and treat this soundtrack like an A-list artist record. That has really framed what we’ve done at every step to put together an impactful global campaign filled with “first-ever” initiatives and top-tier programs with partners.
Also, Ariana and Cynthia have been in the war room and a critical part of creative and strategic decisions alike. So it’s just been much different than a typical movie soundtrack of songs and/or score in terms of the level of anticipation, fandom and demand. That said, we are not leaving anything on the table with this global marketing campaign. It’s been a really special, once-in-a-lifetime, lightning-in-a-bottle experience and an honor to be part of it.
How do you feel about the state of the musical movie in general right now?
I feel great about it. Audiences show up for quality films of all genres and, as you may have noticed from our campaign, nobody is trying to disguise the fact that this is a break-out-into-song musical — but that isn’t singularly what defines it. Wicked is the perfect example of how it all comes down to just making an excellent movie, whether characters on the screen are singing or not. It’s got an engaging story, it’s timely and relevant — eerily so for something written 24 years ago — has performances that take your breath away, it’s visually stunning, exhilarating, innovative and multidimensional in way that makes the state of the musical movie feel pretty epic right now to me.
What other projects do you have on the horizon?
Following Twisters and The Wild Robot and Wicked, we have a diverse portfolio of projects in the pipeline: Our specialty shingle Focus Features is releasing Nosferatu and is also in production on a biopic that’s the true story of a Neil Diamond impersonator. We’re in production on another Super Mario Bros film as well as a Shrek reboot, and we’ve also got another Jurassic World film coming next year, a live-action How To Train Your Dragon to name just a few. And of course, Wicked Part Two!
Over the past decade-plus, few artists have become as much of a creative, cultural and economic force in the entertainment industry at large as Tyler, the Creator. Emerging from the hip-hop-meets-everything collective Odd Future, he has continued to innovate and expand the boundaries of his career each year, whether it be in fashion, festivals or with the type of music he puts out into the world — with plenty of recognition, and accolades, coming his way as a result.
But these past two weeks have topped even that. With the release of his latest album, CHROMAKOPIA — which dropped on Oct. 28, a Monday, bucking the industry norm of Friday — Tyler earned the biggest debut week of his career, with 299,500 equivalent album units earned — even more impressive given that it was achieved in just four days of the tracking week. Now, he’s landed a second straight week atop the Billboard 200, with another 160,000 equivalent album units — his first time spending back-to-back weeks at No. 1 on the albums chart in his career. And that success helps Columbia Records’ vp of marketing Victoria White-Mason earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, White-Mason discusses the strategy that went into the release — including the much-discussed Monday debut — and how Tyler has been able to grow himself as an artist and a businessman so effectively through the years. “It’s clear that Tyler is truly an artist in every sense of the word, and he extends his taste level and ingenuity into all the verticals he touches,” White-Mason says. “Whether it’s fashion, business or film, he’s going to bring perspective that is shaped by curiosity and an enduring sense of wonder.”
This week, Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA spent its second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after debuting at the spot last week, making it his third chart-topping album. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
My job as marketing lead was to amplify, scale and make tangible the world of CHROMAKOPIA, which started with the CHROMAKOPIA trucking activation that launched alongside the album announcement. We knew that these shipping containers would be a centerpiece of the overall creative and it sparked the idea to utilize them as moving billboards originating in Tyler, Texas, with pitstops in multiple markets.
The activation was an ambitious endeavor made possible by an immense amount of collaboration across our teams — from complex routing and logistics to daily social touchpoints alongside the truck’s movements and planning experiential elements for fans along the way. The payoff was clear almost immediately upon launch, as the trucks became a movement builder for us.
Most notably, Tyler initially released the album on a Monday, instead of the industry standard Friday, meaning he missed out on three days of the chart week in his debut week. How did that affect your rollout strategy? And how important was the first day in your planning?
With a career-best debut, the numbers indicate that Tyler didn’t miss out on much! His intention for a Monday release was for listeners to start their week with CHROMAKOPIA, on their commute to work or school. By encouraging you to listen as a part of your natural routine at the start of the week, the hope is that you become an active listener in the process.
Of course, shortening the release week is not a natural instinctive idea in today’s market, but it is hard to overstate how remarkable a job Tyler did to create that awareness through visual trailers, touring announcements, live events and more.
At 299,500 equivalent album units, the first week was the biggest of Tyler’s career and the sixth-biggest debut of the year so far. How did you set this up differently from his other projects?
Tyler has always been a first-rate world builder, constantly innovating and transforming, and consistently besting himself in the process. With CHROMAKOPIA, I think we have an album and a campaign that feels almost cumulative in nature. It’s bursting with vulnerability, maturation, peak creative prowess and a pristine level of cohesiveness throughout it all.
CHROMAKOPIA’s success is not an anomaly, it’s the result of all the foundational work he’s done to get to this point. That said, we had a perfect storm of a tapped-in, fully engaged artist, an equally tapped-in and engaged fan base, and an overwhelming desire from fans to be fed.
With 66,000 vinyl sales in its first week, the album was also the third-biggest hip-hop vinyl album since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. How did vinyl — and physical product in general, given his six CD boxed sets — play a role in this album campaign?
There’s an obvious and immense demand for physical product for this artist and we were fortunate to be able to make it available immediately thanks to the tireless efforts of our Commerce and Release Planning teams. The partnership between Golf Wang, Ceremony of Roses and Columbia Records is as strong as ever. We took all our learned experience to date from his previous releases and strategized the best way to make the strongest impact. Tyler’s standard of exceptional quality and creative cohesiveness were pivotal in helping to create the demand.
How has Tyler’s career grown and developed outside of just the recorded music to the point where you guys were able to set these benchmarks in just four days of release?
Tyler, the Creator is a genius and a generational talent. I don’t say this lightly, or with the slightest bit of hyperbole, and I think it’s starting to be recognized en masse. His ability to envision and, more importantly, manifest the worlds and characters that live inside his mind is truly unparalleled. It’s clear that Tyler is truly an artist in every sense of the word, and he extends his taste level and ingenuity into all the verticals he touches. Whether it’s fashion, business, or film, he’s going to bring perspective that is shaped by curiosity and an enduring sense of wonder.
The album has already spent a second week at No. 1 now. How do you keep the momentum going from here?
Before I had the opportunity to work with Tyler, I came across an interview he did where he talked about the importance of promoting your work. He told aspiring artists to be proud of the work they made and to never stop being a passionate advocate for your art. Tyler’s conviction and candor always stuck with me and now, years later, it is truly inspiring to witness his commitment to his craft firsthand.
CHROMAKOPIA’s momentum will continue to be sustained by that commitment. Look at Tyler’s activity in the 11 days since release and you’ll see that he is promoting the work authentically through his connection to his fans. What he’s encouraging is an ongoing conversation around the feelings that this music evokes and the connection that it helps create. On top of that, you have a massive world tour that will continue to expand the world of CHROMAKOPIA.
This week, one of hip-hop’s rising stars hit a new milestone in his career: With the release of his latest album, LYFESTYLE, Yeat landed his first-ever No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 89,000 equivalent album units, following up on the No. 2 debut of his last album, 2093, back in February.
It’s a big achievement for Yeat, who has seen his career steadily project upward, reaching the top 10 of the Billboard 200 with each of the five albums he’s released since he began working with Field Trip Recordings in 2022. This one also came with another big milestone: In its first week, LYFESTYLE, released in conjunction with Capitol, sold 60,000 units, outstripping the entire sales volume of his prior catalog to date so far (35,000) due to a combination of vinyl albums, his first-ever CD release and exclusive songs on various digital variants. And the success of the album earns Field Trip founder/CEO Zack Bia the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Bia — who has also served as Drake’s tour DJ for the past two years — discusses Yeat’s commercial glow-up since they began working together, what sets this project apart and why they leaned into a sales strategy for the first time with this new album. “Ultimately, it will actually just be the next stepping stone of an achievement that allows us to jump into even bigger live show experiences and wide-reaching ventures outside of just the music,” Bia says.
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This week, Yeat scored his first career No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with LYFESTYLE. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
My main role is always just to help bring his vision to life. Making sure that all the elements between the music, the visuals, the live show and the world-building as a whole are synergetic. Creating unique eras for each project that his fans can bask in.
Over the course of his career, each of his albums has debuted higher than the previous one, with February’s release 2093 coming in at No. 2 prior to this new chart-topper. How have you worked to build his career steadily through the years?
The goal is always to elevate with every album. Learn from previous rollouts and apply and adjust to the next one. He’s so prolific and puts out music at such a high velocity it’s just about continuing to go bigger with every release but in a way that stays true to the core audience. Our goal has always been to just add to the burning core fan base and with every release this group just gets bigger and stronger.
What sets this project apart from the rest of Yeat’s catalog, and how does it help you build from here?
This project I think comes at a time where after a meteoric rise he finally decided to lean back into the “lifestyle.” Reaping the rewards of his hard work, and I think the fun he’s having translates into the music. This project is braggadocious and polished and sets him apart and into a next category after reaching No. 1. Ultimately, it will actually just be the next stepping stone of an achievement that allows us to jump into even bigger live show experiences and wide-reaching ventures outside of just the music.
With 60,000 units, this week was Yeat’s biggest sales week of his career and outsold the entirety of the rest of his catalog to date. What was your approach to the sales aspect of this? And why go down the CD road for the first time?
I think the demand was always there, we just didn’t always cater to it. We are so precious with the music oftentimes we didn’t even have the time to make physical product on such short timelines. After putting out a massive project top of the year, there wasn’t a rush necessarily to force this one out. We could finally take our time to build product around it and lean into giving people actual things to collect: large-format vinyl to listen to and hang in their collection, or collaborative merch with designers he’s admired. Also rewarding people for buying into it, exclusive songs and different offerings that only were available to people who really paid attention and wanted to collect them.
What is your approach to digital marketing? And how have you been able to leverage TikTok for Yeat’s singles?
Yeat is so prolific in music making but is reclusive as a human in general. The rest of the internet can do the documenting and interacting for him. We never try to spark anything on TikTok out of the blue; all we can do is let the people pick. It’s very democratic in that sense, whatever song they champion then we can go lean into [it] and try to spread it wider.
How has the music industry evolved over the course of your career?
To echo the answer from the previous question, I believe that every era of social media has been intrinsically tied to the popular music of that era. Whether the music blew up on the platform of that time or it was big culturally and then translated back to that platform. I think in my time we’ve seen the most digitally-native fandoms yet, so learning to balance both living online but then translating it to live experiences and vice versa, real-life moments that then live online. I think in a time of virality we’ve swam the opposite way and tried to just stay true to chipping away piece by piece at growing something. But granted, this is the time of the quickest evolution in music history. When else has it been possible to make a song on your phone, upload it that night, and go viral the next day?
I would like to thank everyone on our team that works tirelessly and selflessly towards this common goal of uplifting a truly amazing artist. I know this is just a little small recognition that I received but I appreciate it and want to share my gratitude to everyone on our internal team and to [Capitol chairman/CEO] Tom March and the entire Capitol Records family. Also, new BNYX music soon.
Following his 2023’s breakthrough album, Whitsitt Chapel, Jelly Roll has become a country superstar widely embraced for the former rapper’s confessional, salvation-seeking songs and his larger-than-life personality, as well as his redemption arc as a former convict.
As he began promoting and releasing songs from his follow up release, Oct. 11’s Beautifully Broken, Jelly Roll also made it very clear on social media that debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 would be the realization of a dream. That dream came true this week, when the set entered atop the chart with 161,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. for the week ending Oct. 17, according to Luminate — the artist’s best week ever by units and the third-largest week, by units, for any country album in 2024.
The work began more than a year ago, as Jelly Roll began writing and recording songs for the new album. He worked closely with Katie Kerkhover, vp of A&R for Nashville-based BMG/BBR Music Group (which released the album in conjunction with Republic), whose own background as a musician helped inform her work with Jelly Roll. And her contributions to Beautifully Broken help earn Kerkhover the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Kerkhover discusses the making of the album from the “vision” Jelly Roll took into its creation, his sense of purpose in recording every song and the intention behind picking his duet partners from several different genres, as well as the non-stop promotion efforts that brought it over the line.
Beautifully Broken debuted at No. 1, something that Jelly Roll made clear was his goal. What decisions did you make in the making of the album that you felt would increase its chances for a No. 1 debut?
Jelly has a very strong vision for the impact he wants to make with his music. It has a purpose. Every song he writes has a purpose. Making sure his heart and the gravity of his messages was the constant that was guiding everyone was critical in making the album. Encouraging those involved, who have their fingerprints on it with him, to bring that emotion out of their own contributions was vital. Making sure the production and mixes were mirroring Jelly’s emotions. He was creating until the absolute last moments, so having trust in each other when we were counting the hours on the final touches was also extremely important. Don’t forget, he was finishing this album while he was in the middle of tour.
This album was a joint project with Republic. What was the division of duties in terms of the A&R?
Jelly started working on this album in 2023. He had already defined a solid foundation and clear direction, so when Republic joined the team, we all knew what we were aiming at. There wasn’t so much a division of duties as more of how we work together to add the most value to Jelly. What strengths do we have separately and together to elevate his vision and hit his goals.
Was there a mission statement from the moment you started recording tracks for what Jelly Roll wanted the album to be?
There wasn’t any more of a mission statement than what you hear him continuously say, “I make real music, for real people, with real problems.” When we started to go through songs in 2023, we listened to every song he had written and focused on the ones with the strongest impact. Did we feel something? One of the things I admire most about Jelly is he always comes back to the purpose and to the why. “Why am I cutting this song? What purpose is it filling on the album and in the lives of others?”
Jelly Roll duets with a number of artists, country and otherwise, on Beautifully Broken, including Halsey, Keith Urban and Wiz Khalifa. How were his duet partners chosen and how does the diversity of the artists broaden the album’s appeal?
The collaborators were chosen by who Jelly felt the song would resonate with. Who would be the best person to add their talent and continue to elevate the song? As far as the broader appeal, Jelly is a huge music lover and that’s why you see so much diversity in his collaborators on this album. I think it’s only natural that the appeal is broadened because he creates without boundaries and, ultimately, the human factor is what connects all of us. Fun fact: he also knows more about the history of songs, artists and genres than anyone I’ve met, so his well of potential collaborators runs deep.
“I’m Not Okay” tackles mental health and is a Hot 100 hit for Jelly Roll. How has that song brought him a new audience?
We all have times we struggle and are not okay. The message of this song transcends genres and resonates deeply with listeners. Jelly has the courage to share his personal struggles through candid lyrics, revealing a vulnerability that really enables him to connect with a broader audience, including those who may not have been familiar with his earlier work.
There are several different configurations of Beautifully Broken, ranging from 14 to 28 tracks. How was the sequencing for each project decided to convey a cohesive work no matter what variation fans were buying?
We selected the initial 14 as the first collection for vinyl because he was still writing. The sequencing is tied together by the overarching message that Beautifully Broken is a reflection on his experiences with mental health and addiction, and the idea that winning comes from losing. The road to atonement has no shortcuts and there will be highs and lows along the way. It all began once he selected “Winning Streak” to be the opening track of the album.
Beautifully Broken achieves the third largest week for a country album in 2024, behind Beyoncé and Post Malone. What does that mean to Stoney Creek/BBR?
Jelly’s success speaks volumes about the incredible connection he shares with his audience. His fan base is broad and deeply passionate, showing up in full force for every project. This relationship helps fuel our growth as a team, pushing us to innovate and strategically add resources that make sense. Our collaboration with Republic on this project is one example.
But the real driving force behind this achievement is Jelly himself. The sheer amount of work he poured into creating and promoting this album is nothing short of mind blowing. For two months leading up to its release, Jelly didn’t have a single free minute. Every ounce of his energy was devoted to making this album the best it could be, and the results speak for themselves. His work ethic, paired with the passion of his fans, made this project a true success.
You come from a publishing background. How did that help you approach picking songs for this album?
I’ve had a long and extensive career as a touring musician, having played violin since the age of four. Before I turned 20, I was performing hundreds of shows a year with Nashville artists like Sara Evans and Billy Currington, playing at the biggest country festivals and stadiums.
What I set out to do was take my real-life musical experience and transform it into a tool to help songwriters and artists master their craft. A great example of that is from late 2020 when I joined BMG as a publishing A&R. One of the first things I did was bring in the incredibly talented songwriter/producer Austin Niveral, just as the label was signing Jelly Roll. I immediately saw the potential for the two to collaborate, [then-BMG Nashville president] Jon Loba recognized my strengths and ultimately appointed me to lead A&R for the label side. As we know, Jelly and Austin would go on to write the massive hit “Need A Favor” from Whitsitt Chapel, and they continued their partnership with Beautifully Broken, setting the tone for the album with “Winning Streak.”
When “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, it became Luke Combs’ 18th chart-topper on the tally. But this one was different from its 17 predecessors for the Sony Music Nashville artist. “Oklahoma” was the lead-off single from Atlantic Records’ Twisters soundtrack and his first hit spawned from a movie. Also, as the song spends its second week atop the chart, it brings Combs’ cumulative weeks spent at No. 1 on Country Airplay to 53, making him only the sixth artist in history to have spent more than a year at the summit.
Every one of those 18 No. 1s has been promoted to country radio by Sony Music Nashville senior vp of promotion Lauren Thomas, who oversees promotion for SMN’s RCA and Columbia imprints. And that feat earns the radio veteran, who joined SMN in 2009, the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Thomas explains how Sony Nashville and Atlantic worked together to promote both the song and the movie, how Combs’ previous No. 1, his remake of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” paved the way for a broader audience and how Combs integrated the song into his sold-out summer stadium tour. “Honestly, [‘Oklahoma’] is a Luke Combs song through and through and perfect for the live stage,” Thomas tells Billboard. “Luke did the perfect job of writing something for this massive film and soundtrack and making sure it was original to him as well.”
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” is No. 1 for the second straight week on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. What key decisions did you make to help that happen? We are fortunate to have a hit song along with an incredible track record with Luke at country radio. The team’s relationships paired with communication with our partners on our goals — and ultimately their support — drove this one home.
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” is from the Twisters soundtrack, which Atlantic released. How did you and Atlantic work together to take “Oklahoma” to country radio, while also promoting the film? Working with Kevin [Weaver, Atlantic Records president, West Coast] and his team from the beginning was exciting. From the beginning, their team wanted to make some noise. With the teases of the trailer directly [to] moviegoers inside the theaters to the massive music video with Luke and all the film footage, we were given the ball to make this Luke’s next No. 1 single and their team trusted us to do so.
The song leans more into rock than Combs’ songs usually do. Did you receive any initial pushback from radio? Luke has a solid track record and his sound covers a wide range. Tempo from a superstar like Luke was embraced fairly quickly and given a real opportunity with immediate airplay from a world premiere across all chains.
Though written specifically for the soundtrack, what about the song do you think appealed to Combs’ existing fan base and did you work it as if it were a standard Combs’ single release or were there different elements that came into play because of the film?
Honestly, it’s a Luke Combs song through and through and perfect for the live stage. If you’ve never seen a Luke show before, it fits perfectly into his set. Whether a ballad or something more hard-hitting, they love Luke and are here for him and I think Luke did the perfect job of writing something for this massive film and soundtrack and making sure it was original to him as well.
How did you tie in with the success of the movie to help promote the song?
It was all Luke. Luke was on his massive sold out stadium tour at the time of the movie so there was an easy tie-in to have Luke talk about the song as well as what it was like to shoot the music video for such a big blockbuster — which, as Luke explained, was a very different process from a standard music video shoot, most notably having debris flying at him during filming. That, and of course the weekend the movie came out Luke invited Glen Powell and some of the cast up on stage for his shotgunning beer moments.
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” is Combs’ 18th No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. What has been the strategy when taking him to radio in terms of picking singles and working with him and his manager, Chris Kappy? It is very much collaborative with Kappy, Sophia [Sansone] and our respective teams. Luke definitively knows his audience and speaks into the decisions we make — he leans in and always has with both his fans and our partners. It’s wild to think about the days of driving Luke around in a rental car to radio station shows and visits and now Kappy, Sophia and I get on bi-weekly calls to talk through things like multiple sold-out stadium dates. Wild.
Combs’ songs have now spent a cumulative 53 weeks at No. 1 on Country Airplay, making him only the sixth artist to have registered more than a year. Is there one thing you and your team have consistently done when taking Combs to radio that has resulted in such a huge number? It really is the perfect marriage of compelling music and communication to partners. Luke has done an incredible job of consistently delivering music that moves people in a variety of ways. The enthusiasm from Luke and his team is contagious and the Columbia promotion team carries that energy into the promotion of his music and the execution of our goals.
He took his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” to No. 1 in 2023 and that song also received some crossover play on pop formats. How did that increase his audience?
The whole collective team — management, marketing, press, promotion, etc. — came together to push this in front of new audiences. It really wasn’t one thing alone. The song and story behind it were everywhere and people who had never heard of Luke Combs now know who he is.
This might be a really silly example, but I have worked every Luke Combs number one. When “Fast Car” came out, it was the first time my dad spoke to me about Luke Combs’ music. He knew who Luke was but this song and story behind why Luke cut it was familiar and clearly spoke to him. In contrast, same story with my little brother. Working with [senior vp of pop promotion] Brady Bedard and the team at Columbia was a dream and opened the door for both Luke and that song to have another moment with audiences at the different formats.
The song also made history for Tracy Chapman and brought us one of the most memorable Grammy performances to date. They both just looked so happy. I will always be honored to have been a small part of that song.
What did you learn from this rollout that you can use with other songs from soundtracks, and do you think the Twisters’ soundtrack success will lead to more country artists having songs on soundtracks?
I think we always have to be open to different ways to promote music and this song helped our team do that. Having an extra bonus of a song being in a film and as the lead from the soundtrack just helps add the exposure of any song no matter the genre.
Country music is about storytelling so I think music supervisors should certainly pay more attention to the genre to help tell the stories of their films and shows. This soundtrack helped bring the genre to the forefront at a time when country music is shining. I can only hope that the music teams at these film companies realize the power a song can have to really amplify their story.
There are a lot of recognizable names on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart: Green Day, Jack White and Linkin Park are all in the top 10, to name a few. But this week, one of the most successful bands in the chart’s history spends a second week at No. 1: Cage The Elephant, whose latest single “Rainbow” becomes their 12th leader on the chart, tying Linkin Park and the Foo Fighters for the third-most all time.
That’s a significant milestone for both the band and its label, RCA Records. But RCA’s success atop Alternative Airplay goes deeper, and more unconventional, this week: Myles Smith’s breakout single “Stargazing” reaches No. 2 on the chart, giving the label the top two songs there for the week. And Smith’s achievement is all the more remarkable because the song is his first charting hit in the U.S., a relative rarity for an artist making waves at alternative. And that one-two punch success helps RCA’s senior vp of pop/rock promotion Gary Gorman earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Gorman explains the strategies that helped RCA hit those marks, the differences between veteran acts and new artists at alternative radio and how the promotions job has changed over the course of his extensive career. “The information and technology we have now vs. 15 years ago is staggering and allows us to be more strategic than ever,” Gorman says. “The bones of this job are, however, still the same. I expect that to continue, as long as music programing at radio is still editorialized.”
This week, Cage The Elephant spent its second week at No. 1 on Alternative Airplay with “Rainbow,” tied with Foo Fighters and Linkin Park for third-most all time, with 12 No. 1s. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
Cage The Elephant is a Goldilocks band for the alternative format. Their history of No. 1 songs and alternative chart success coming into the Neon Pill album cycle was undeniable. Not to mention, for my money, they are one of the most consistently ferocious live bands in the space. That being said, multiple No. 1s from any campaign are promised to no one, so a lot of the strategy here lies in the long tail of the promotional campaign and how to outline a comprehensive 24-plus-month plan. Our partners at Q Prime are an incredible asset and invaluable in all collective decisions from the timing, touring, artist participation and information sharing. One of the hardest and most discussed decisions wound up being about which single to lead with. Impacting the darker “Neon Pill” first into the lighter “Rainbow” still rings true for me.
With Myles Smith’s “Stargazing” at No. 2, RCA has both of the top two slots on the chart, with two vastly different songs. What strategy goes into making that happen?
So wildly different — it’s such an exciting moment. Cage is an established band at the format, and it had been many years since new Cage music, so the table was set and the anticipation was high. Myles, on the other hand, was a virtual unknown to alternative radio. As a result, the set up was more “door to door” as we sought early champions. A handful of alternative major-market programmers led the way, early, on the backs of a huge streaming story and we were off to the races. We couldn’t have achieved this level of success on this campaign without the early belief from those first alternative stations. Those folks have all my gratitude.
The upper tier of the Alternative Airplay chart is full of artists who have had careers stretching back 10 years or more — Cage, White, The Offspring, Linkin Park, Green Day — but Myles is a much newer artist, with “Stargazing” being his first charting hit in the U.S. How hard is it to break a new artist on alternative radio these days?
As Public Enemy once said, harder than you think. Alternative radio has always played a wide variety of new musical styles, but ultimately, it’s their gold libraries that hold everything together. One can say many of the most successful new songs at alternative have “connective tissue” sonically to a station’s music library. With the nostalgic feels coming out of the pandemic, heritage artists releasing new music have been a hot ticket item for many programmers, making shots on new artists even tougher. That being said, there certainly have been some brand-new artists with terrific runs at alternative in the last year. Myles Smith has been a triple threat with “Stargazing”: a sonic fit, incredible streaming and early power-worthy research.
On the flip side, why is the format so friendly to artists with long careers, when so much of pop radio is driven by new hits and new artists?
How much time do you have? Alternative radio today has remained true to their explosive origins, continuing to support a larger library of songs and artists dating back to the format’s inception. As a result, these stations tend to have a slightly older audience than pop, along with fewer current tracks in rotation at a given time. As mentioned, the wave of historic artists releasing new music has created quite a dilemma. Given the limited space for current music, it would seem many programmers have opted to lean into the artists they know have worked in the past. The irony, of course, is that we have seen some of the biggest researching songs of the year come from either new or unexpected artists at this format, with Myles Smith being a prime example.
How has radio promotion evolved over the course of your career?
The information and technology we have now vs. 15 years ago is staggering and allows us to be more strategic than ever. The bones of this job are, however, still the same. I expect that to continue, as long as music programing at radio is still editorialized. I learned a long time ago that the one constant in this business is change. Having a crackerjack team here at RCA across all formats, including the promo leadership from Keith Rothschild and Sam Selolwane, allows us to face new challenges and adopt new strategies while remaining focused and unrelenting in the amplification of our artists across the radio platform.
In the middle of August, with precious little warning, two of the biggest artists in the world decided to take hold of the pop-music narrative. On the night of Aug. 15, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars unleashed their collaborative ballad “Die With a Smile,” complete with a Dolly Parton-inspired music video released the same evening, as well as a surprise duet performance at Mars’ show in Los Angeles, blanketing the Friday release day with a full-court press in the first few hours of the song’s release.
As the week went on, a digital campaign began to factor in as well, and the work paid off: “Die With a Smile” debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 2 on both the Global 200 and the Global Excl. U.S. charts in its first week. But since then, the song has only grown, particularly around the world — this week, “Die With a Smile,” which is credited to Gaga’s label Interscope but is receiving a helping hand from Mars’ label Atlantic, spends its second week as the biggest song in the world, topping both of Billboard’s global charts midway through September. And that worldwide success helps earn Interscope Geffen A&M senior vp/head of pop/rock marketing Adrian Amodeo the title of Billboard’s Executive of the week.
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Here, Amodeo, discusses the initial rollout of the song, how Interscope and Atlantic worked together and how the Interscope global strategy — which has also seen huge success with Billie Eilish and Karol G, as well as with BTS’ Jimin — has helped the company reach new heights around the world. “We don’t want to just put out records in other territories,” Amodeo says. “We want to build real campaigns that are extensions of our domestic campaigns and also build into local cultures and communities on the ground and online.”
This week, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” is No. 1 on both of Billboard’s global songs charts for the second straight week. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
First off, it was an enormous team effort across two amazing artist teams. We have two of the most important pop stars on the planet who wrote and recorded an absolutely incredible song and were involved in every detail of the rollout. We knew it was going to be a special moment once the song came out, but also knew we had to build a campaign that honored two superstars and their incredible artistry. We wanted to show the power of these two stars together and show that Gaga and Bruno are at the top of the game, with a ballad, in the midst of what has been an incredible summer of pop music.
When we first heard the song, Kirsten Stubbs, our co-head of digital marketing, flagged that Bruno happened to be opening the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles around the time the song was coming out, so we immediately put the wheels in motion to make a performance be a key moment in our campaign. The genuine connection the world saw between the two of them, and the content we were able to capture and spread, really set the tone for the entire campaign. It was lightning in a bottle with the release of the song, the video and the performance that night. But we knew we had to keep building a runway for the song and eventize the release around the globe, so we treated it like an album rollout, not just as a single.
The song debuted at No. 2 on both charts, before ascending to the top spot a week later. What went into such a huge global impact right out of the gate?
Our international team has been so integral — every territory made it a priority to make this the biggest song in the world. Before the song came out we were fortunate to have all of the label heads from around the globe into our studio where we unveiled our plan for the track. We were able to play the music and explain our global vision, but more importantly we had Gaga and her team in the room to be part of those conversations with us. It really energized everyone to be part of a process like that. The subsequent local campaigns and partner support our teams have put together have been really amazing.
I’m proud of what the team pulled off for the fans around the world, too. The out-of-home campaigns became important fan experiences, anchored by an eight city storefront experience that paid homage to the song, the artwork and the video. Combined with all the billboards around the globe, it just felt huge — and, more importantly, we got it to travel online. A great job by Kevin Rankin and Jessica Staats for driving that with all the teams around the globe. The themes of the song have also helped build an incredible TikTok world for the song, which has been fun to watch and really helped take it to another level globally. Our ability to conceive of and execute such a complex global campaign is really a core strength of Interscope and Universal Music Group.
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This music video also had a big impact, with its throwback theme and Dolly Parton-esque vibe. How important has it been to the song’s success, and what do you see as the role of the traditional music video these days?
The music video has been so important, if not the most important part of this campaign. It was co-directed by Bruno, which continues to exemplify his artistry and shows the trust that Gaga put in him as a partner in this whole process. Again, that genuine connection can’t be overstated. Beyond being an incredible video, it also inspired every inch of our creative. The single art, the outfits they wore on stage at the Intuit Dome, the global out-of-home; everything has intentionally been cohesive and respectful to the aesthetic world built by Gaga and Bruno. The music video also kicked off a powerful viral moment with the fans recreating Gaga’s dance and inspired fans to recreate the looks online, at shows, and at the clubs — our influencer marketing team was quick to identify this and amplify it globally. It has been so amazing to see and we fully expect Gaga-Bruno to be one of the most seen Halloween costumes this year. We’re already getting ahead of that.
Gaga and Bruno are two of the biggest superstars on the planet, and are signed to different labels. How did this song come together, and how did the marketing plan work across two companies?
The making of the song is Gaga and Bruno’s story to tell, but it’s very well documented that they have wanted to work together for a long time. [Interscope chairman/CEO] John Janick’s relationship with Bruno goes back for many years and the trust that Bruno and Gaga put in John can’t be overstated. [Atlantic Music Group chair/CEO] Julie Greenwald was an absolute force as well. Her energy and passion for the song helped drive both teams to be great. With so many relationships and teams in place we were truly able to hit the ground running. We spent about six weeks planning the song together and the relationship was great with all of our departments working hand in hand, on Zooms, calls, texts, DMs, voice notes and faxes. We’re still going.
Alongside Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” Interscope has three songs in the top 10 of the Global 200, and those three make up three of the top five on the Global Excl. U.S. chart. What is IGA’s overall global strategy and why are these songs working so well around the world right now?
We’re very fortunate to work with incredible artists and incredible partners. It starts with the teams, but the vision is always global from the start. We don’t want to just put out records in other territories. We want to build real campaigns that are extensions of our domestic campaigns and also build into local cultures and communities on the ground and online. Our teams literally stay across all the creative, creator campaigns and local moments to make sure it’s a unified creative marketing rollout with a local touch. The way we’ve also been able to integrate partners like AmEx and Sony into our global rollouts has been a testament to the 360 approach we take globally.
Jimin’s “Who” is also in the top 10, by the way, and I can’t emphasize enough the importance of our relationship with HYBE. We are thrilled with our new HYBE x Geffen global girl group, KATSEYE. Building a global girl group with such an important partner has been an incredible undertaking, but a big part of our vision for the future. It’s been amazing to see them grow exponentially on streaming and socials as PopStar Academy: KATSEYE, the eight-episode series that tracks their journey, keeps growing on Netflix. They’re currently in Korea on a huge promo trip that will take them to Japan and the Philippines, too.
Where do you see the biggest growth opportunities for Interscope around the world right now?
Our relationship with our artists continues to be our biggest opportunity. What we can bring to them in building their global brands is our core strength, so we must continue to emphasize and build what we have, while reinvesting into new strategies. Direct to consumer and [customer relationship management] strategy is so important, and we continue to build those globally with our partners at Bravado and Fame House. We’ve built a company culture where it feels like one team with them, and that’s so important in helping to create global artist brands. Our collective ability to communicate with the fans directly around the globe is critical. We’re really focused on that, while we also continue to strategize emerging markets.
Last Week: How Sabrina Capped Her Rise to Stardom With ‘Short N’ Sweet’
Few people are having a better week than Sabrina Carpenter. The singer capped one of the most complete ascents to pop stardom in recent memory with the release of her latest album, Short N Sweet — the culmination of an extended campaign in which she was able to build her career brick by brick, single by single, into the upper echelons of pop music and culture — which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 362,000 equivalent album units, the best week of her career and the third-highest debut week of the year so far.
That type of success doesn’t happen by accident: Carpenter’s team worked all sides for this project, which included radio (two songs, “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” are in the top 10 of Billboard‘s Radio Songs Chart), streaming (Short N Sweet also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Streaming Songs chart, with 233 million official on-demand streams) and sales (with nine vinyl variants, she sold 105,000 vinyl records, the second-largest week of the year and good for No. 1 on Billboard‘s Vinyl Albums chart). Four digital album variants, available for a limited time, moved 45,000 units, while five different CD editions added another 33,000 to the total. And all that activity and wide-ranging success helps Island Records’ senior vp/head of commercial strategy Marshall Nolan earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Nolan walks through the strategy that led to Carpenter’s career-best debut. “The plan from the start was that every detail mattered,” Nolan says. “We knew to double down on her strengths, in areas like e-commerce, and once we built a rhythm there, it afforded us the time to nurture elements that still had room for growth.”
This week, Sabrina Carpenter landed her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with Short N Sweet. What key decision(s) did you make to make that happen?
Sabrina’s ability to world-build alongside her incredible team of creatives is unparalleled. We challenged ourselves to take that world and embed it into every e-commerce experience, building a range of carefully-curated collectibles for her superfans.
In many ways, the rollout of this album was very traditional: single built on top of single, radio play and streaming build-up, all leading into the climactic album release. Was that the plan from the start, or did things evolve along the way?
The plan from the start was that every detail mattered. We knew to double down on her strengths, in areas like e-commerce, and once we built a rhythm there, it afforded us the time to nurture elements that still had room for growth.
How did her singles’ success at radio help the digital campaign for the album?
Constant communication with our promo team, who are the best in the business, allowed us to narrate each movement and growth spurt in real-time. We as a team never focused on the successes of an individual single; the intention was always to build Sabrina as an artist and brand first. We welcomed any success that came along with that.
The album had nine vinyl variants, five CD editions and two cassettes available — what was the physical strategy for the album rollout, and what was behind the success of the vinyl in particular?
The variants are first and foremost a reflection of the incredible creative team surrounding Sabrina, who built products that fans immediately embraced as must-have collectible items. From the packaging finishes to the stylized content with which it was promoted, her passion for each variant came through in every detail. Each product paid special tribute to the many layers of Sabrina’s sharply sweet world.
How much does fan demand play into your commerce plan for any album?
This was another important factor in deciding to offer a wide range of album variants. Sabrina crafted a world we’re lucky to be a part of; we ensured that each album offering felt like an extension of it.
What did you learn from rolling out this release that you can take into other projects in the future?
Everything starts with trust — learning to build it, continuing to maintain it and working to strengthen it every step of the way. We never take for granted the role we are fortunate enough to play in maximizing and achieving an artist’s wildest dreams. Sabrina taught us all to allow time for a slow rise, there is so much to learn and look forward to along the way.
Post Malone has been on a musical journey through the majority of his career, cycling through releases that have spanned hip-hop, pop, rock and alternative over the past several years. And on his latest release, F-1 Trillion, he shifted focus again — this time to country, putting out an album full of top-shelf collaborators like Morgan Wallen, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton and Hank Williams, Jr., among many others. And the result has been one of the highlights of his career: accepted by the Nashville community, Post delivered an album that became his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in five years, and his first-ever Country Albums No. 1, racking up 250,000 equivalent album units this week.
But it wasn’t easy — the feat was the result of years of work ingratiating himself into the sometimes insular world of Nashville, with its entrenched traditions and long-held customs. But Post was willing to put in the work, making appearances at the ACM Awards, CMA Fest, the Grand Ole Opry and the Bluebird Cafe, all staples of Music City’s circuit, while his high-profile list of writers and collaborators are testament to the embrace he was able to achieve. And with the chart-topping success of F-1 Trillion, his label Mercury Records’ executive vp Alex Coslov is Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Coslov discusses the work put in by Mercury — which has a partnership with Big Loud Records for Wallen, and also has 2024 Grammy best new artist nominee Noah Kahan on the roster — on the Post album, as well as the four albums by Post, Wallen and Kahan that are in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week. “Mercury Records is a place where we support our artists’ vision and are passionate and committed to each and every artist we work with,” Coslov says. “We’re a close core team that understands what it takes to break an artist in today’s climate, while acknowledging our strategies need to constantly change and evolve.”
This week, Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 250,000 units, his third No. 1 and first in five years. What key decision(s) did you make to help make that happen?
First and foremost, we have a phenomenal team at Mercury Records under the leadership of president Tyler Arnold and GM Ben Adelson. A lot of credit needs to go to my partner in crime Tyler Arnold, who signed Post nearly 10 years ago. When we began talking about F-1 Trillion, he was already spearheading the music and set the goal in stone that we needed to make a statement with this album by bringing Post back to No. 1.
Alongside Post’s management team, we collaboratively formulated the F-1 Trillion plan. Our core strategy was built around showcasing the authenticity of Post’s entry into country music by highlighting his time in Nashville while writing and recording this album with an incredible list of collaborators both old and new. We built out a world of Post Malone’s Nashville that centered around the music through key moments curated to engage his current fan base while respectfully winning over new country music fans. Post’s performance of “America The Beautiful” at the Super Bowl was a great start, but then activations such as the writers’ round at the historic Bluebird Cafe, his Grand Ole Opry debut, the ACM Awards performance, the CMA Fest moments, the superfan underplay, etc., helped drive it all home. All of these moments were captured by our partners at Trenches, which we then used for strategic content and social moments.
Republic Corps was also instrumental, with executives like Jim Roppo, Gary Spangler and our CRO, Kevin Lipson, working alongside us. Kevin’s commerce team is the best in the business and absolutely integral to achieving the 250,000 number with their innovative strategies, physical music expertise, incredible partner relationships and relentless ideating on how to achieve our goals.
Post dropped a second, deluxe part to the album with nine additional songs, all solo, hours after the main album. What’s the strategy behind doing that? Is there a tradeoff at all with putting out so much material at once?
Post was having so much fun writing and recording this album with his core collaborators — the geniuses Louis Bell and Charlie Handsome — that he wanted to work right up until he had to stop for us to deliver the album. The collaborations were great, but the solo songs were frankly fantastic. Knowing that we had these in our back pocket, we wanted to give fans a surprise and time to fully enjoy both. It also showed that Post could carry any country song by himself.
Most notably, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Hot Country Albums chart, fittingly his first entry there for his first country album. What was most important about this pivot to country that you guys had to get right?
Our main priority for this project has always been, how do we be as respectful to country culture and Nashville as possible? From the first meeting with Post’s management team, we agreed how important it was to all of us, Post included, that he ingratiate himself as much as possible into the Nashville community. Post is a prolific songwriter and country music historian, so Nashville embracing him meant a lot to him. In many ways, Nashville has become a new home for Post, so these moments are certainly not over just because the album is out.
Post’s recent albums spanned hip-hop, rock, alternative and pop. What’s different about the country genre, and how did you guys have to move differently for this release? And what have you learned from your partnership with Big Loud that may have helped?
Seth England and Big Loud have been incredible partners and advisors to us throughout this process as well. It goes without saying that their executive vp of promotions, Stacy Blythe, and her team have absolutely smashed it with historic stats at country radio with “I Had Some Help” and “Pour Me A Drink” (currently Top 10) and “Guy For That” climbing the Country Airplay chart currently.
Between this Post Malone album and albums by Morgan Wallen and Noah Kahan, Mercury artists have four of the top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 this week. How have you guys been able to achieve that in such a relatively small amount of time?
Mercury Records is a place where we support our artists’ vision and are passionate and committed to each and every artist we work with. We’re a close core team that understands what it takes to break an artist in today’s climate, while acknowledging our strategies need to constantly change and evolve. We’re invested in building long term trust and relationships with our artists for the duration of their career.
The Wallen and Kahan albums in particular have stuck around the top echelon of the charts for an extended period now, something that is happening more and more lately. Why do you think big albums have such staying power these days, and how do you keep fueling their continued success?
Morgan builds unparalleled bodies of work that combine his powerful voice, his unique sense of melody with some of the best written songs of the modern era and the brilliant production of Big Loud partner/producer Joey Moi. The seemingly endless stream of singles from both Dangerous: The Double Album and One Thing At A Time are proof of Morgan’s musical prowess — he hears things no one else does. Major credit of course to our partners on Morgan, Seth England and his team at Big Loud, who lead on his campaigns and have been instrumental in the historic success of the last five years.
With Noah, he has truly built a world around his Stick Season album and fans relate and feel seen by his lyrics. The personal connection fans feel to him is beyond special and like nothing I’ve ever seen. The Stick Season (Forever) collaborations only added to the fan excitement by highlighting Noah as an artist’s artist. The outpouring of support from his peers led to even more discovery, engagement and critical acclaim.
This summer, nothing has been bigger than the Paris Olympics. The global games — held across 17 days from late July through last Sunday’s Closing Ceremony — set all kinds of records. They drew an average U.S. daily viewership of 30.6 million, an 82% jump from the 2021 Tokyo Games, and created worldwide stars out of some of the top athletes on the planet.
The Paris Games culminated in that star-studded Closing Ceremony, which featured a huge performance headlined by French band Phoenix in the iconic Stade de France, with onstage assists from Air, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and French producer Kavinsky, among others. The Closing Ceremony drew more than 20 million viewers in the U.S. alone, while its effect led to a giant surge in streams and sales for Phoenix and Kavinsky in particular: Streams for Phoenix’s catalog jumped 86% over the prior week following the performance, while Kavinsky’s “Nightcall” broke the record for most Shazams in a single day and saw its streams grow 74%.
But it was also a massive showcase for one of the most successful groups of the past few decades and one of the top French groups of all time — and it helps their manager, C3’s Matt Sadie, earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week. Here, Sadie talks about all the work that went into the performance behind the scenes, the platform of performing in front of an estimated 800 million people worldwide and what this means for the band. “There have been so many times over the years when we — the management team and Branco, Christian, Thomas and Deck in the band — have all worked very, very closely to bring their special vision to fruition,” Sadie says. “The Olympics performance felt like a real crowning moment in Phoenix’s career, and I am thrilled to have been a part of it.”
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This week, Phoenix performed in Paris for the Olympics Closing Ceremony, a huge event for the band and the country. How did that come together, and what key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
As soon as Paris was given the Olympics for 2024 back in 2017, we immediately identified the opportunity internally. It felt very logical that a band of their international stature, from near Paris and largely based there, should have a place in the Olympics. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were definitely top of the list.
Clearly, the Olympics team weren’t at the stage of picking acts for the ceremonies in 2017, but around two years ago, alongside my counterpart in France, Laurence Muller, and the band’s agent in France, Sofiene Bijaoui from Corida, we identified who the powers that be were and began conversations. There was a lot of perseverance from everyone on the team. In the meantime, last year we planned the band’s touring to keep them in Europe over this summer, leaving gaps in the schedule where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were. This allowed the flexibility needed in case the call came, which it eventually did.
What are the considerations when putting an act onto an event as prestigious as the Closing Ceremony? Was there any hesitation or was it an automatic yes?
How do you say no? Given the scale of the opportunity and the very natural connection in being a French band from the area, it was as close to an automatic yes as one can get. In our conversations with the Olympics team, we were immediately given a lot of independence in putting their set together — there was simply the remit that the performance had to feel like a party for the athletes and that we had 15-17 minutes to play with. Knowing that the band would be playing to a global audience of around 800 million, the priority for us was to put a show together which would have the potential to appeal to people who’d never heard of Phoenix before and would remind those who had why they’ve continued to be one of the most beloved artists of the last 20 years. We immediately felt the pre-conditions of the set given to us by the Olympics meant that this was a no-brainer.
How did you prepare for this differently than any other gig?
Pretty much every aspect of this show required preparations that were different to a normal show for the band. It was very much non-stop from myself, Laurence and the rest of the team from the moment we got the green light.
The band haven’t played a medley set of this kind before, so that was a challenge in itself. They knew they wanted to have some guests, so identifying them, getting them on board, and working through logistical gymnastics was pretty consuming for all. For the band, having the acts they wanted to join them in Air, Kavinsky, Angele, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and VannDa, was a very different approach to a normal show but one they relished.
If you’ve seen them play before, you’ll know that the band have always put a lot of focus into the production at their live shows. They’d usually have the control and time to finesse it into something very special. We had neither of those luxuries here; we were simply told, “You’ll be playing on a stage in the middle of the stadium which is shaped like the world map — you’ll be playing in Africa.” We worked closely with the team to create a scenario which would work for the band and their guest performers. Playing in a stadium is very different to a festival show or the sheds the band played at during their recent U.S. co-headline run with Beck, but it gave our brilliant lighting designer Pierre Claude a huge scale of production elements to work with. His efforts to pull things together were truly herculean.
We’ve done plenty of live streams — from festivals and most recently with Air from the roof of the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, but this was on a whole different scale, with over 80 cameras in the stadium capturing the show. We also weren’t in control of the direction during the livestream. As a solution, Laurence brought in David Ctiborsky from Blogotheque, who’d worked closely with the band on various livestreams, to ensure that the various “moments” were filmed effectively, advising the team from the Olympics capturing it. We also were conscious that this was being broadcast around the world via local broadcasters, so talking points on each of the songs and artists involved was critical promotionally.
Outside of the show itself, promoting it was very different from any other show. Rather than the usual heavy promotion into a show, news of their performance was technically embargoed until the last minute, despite the odd leak here and there. This meant that we had to be reactive with media after the fact, which we were ready to do via our PR — Jen Appel of The Oriel and Nathalie Ridard of Ephelide — our digital marketing team, Dream Team, and the team at C3 Management.
With the band appearing onstage with Kavinsky and Air, and the closing ceremony also featuring a medley of Justice songs, what does it all say about the importance of electronic music to French culture?
To their credit, in choosing artists from the “French Touch” movement, the creative team behind the Closing Ceremony identified something very special that France brought to the world. Daft Punk, Air, Phoenix, Justice and many more have had a huge, and sometimes unsung, impact on music globally, not just in the electronic space. To my mind, it’s one of the country’s greatest present-day cultural exports. Highlighting it in the ceremony really allowed them to celebrate something uniquely French but also globally relevant and ultimately timeless.
What position does a performance like this put the band in, in terms of their next moves? How do they capitalize on the moment?
Clearly this has been a huge watershed moment for the band globally. Every metric has shown that this week, notably seven of the top 11 songs on Shazam this week are from their set, including Kavinsky’s “Nightcall” receiving the most Shazams of any song in a day ever. We’ve seen serious growth on socials and streaming numbers, alongside a vast amount of media coverage. There’s no doubt that a huge number of people have discovered the band, and I’m sure many others have enjoyed being reminded of some of their favorite songs from the last couple decades. The performance has opened a lot of doors already and we’re still seeing the impact in real time.
More than anything, though, after more than a decade as one of the band’s managers, I’m proud of them for always being open to new challenges that push us all creatively and beyond. There have been so many times over the years when we — the management team and Branco, Christian, Thomas and Deck in the band — have all worked very, very closely to bring their special vision to fruition. The Olympics performance felt like a real crowning moment in Phoenix’s career, and I am thrilled to have been a part of it.