Executive of the Week
Page: 7
In April, Myke Towers landed his third top 10 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart with his fourth studio album, La Vida Es Una, which debuted at No. 9 on the tally. It was Towers’ third straight top 10, an impressive showing despite the fact that it landed below his previous album, 2021’s Lyke Myke, which had debuted at No. 3. The 23-track set also boasted a lighter, more island sound, a departure for the Puerto Rican reggaetón star — a versatile artist who can definitely sing, but who is best known for party reggaetón tracks and hard-hitting lyrics on his trap fare.
La Vida Es Una included collaborations with reggaetón giants like Ozuna, J Balvin and Daddy Yankee, who is featured on the first focus track, “Ulala,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart. But the set’s biggest success has come not via a collaboration, but with a solo track — “Lala,” a lilting, romantic reggaetón whose chorus plays over a vocal loop of “Lala, lala, lala,” turning it into an irresistible invitation to dance.
So irresistible, in fact, that this week, a full four months after the album’s release, “Lala” surged from No. 13 to crown Billboard’s Global Excl. U.S. chart (dated July 22), becoming Towers’ first leader on the list.
The song’s rise has been remarkable in its swiftness. “Lala” entered the charts for the first time when it debuted at No. 25 on Latin Rhythm Airplay less than two weeks ago. Last week, it debuted at No. 50 on Hot Latin Songs, at No. 26 on the Billboard Global 200 and at No. 13 on the Billboard Global Ex-U.S. chart. Then, in a single week, it shot to No. 1 on the latter.
How did this happen? “Music discovery has no time frame, and once a track gets into the online conversation it’s our job to jump in and maximize that buzz to turn it into a hit,” says Alejandro Duque, president of Warner Music Latin America, who has oversight of the label’s U.S. Latin and Latin American operations. Duque, who took over the job two years ago after 19 years with Universal, is, at 40, the youngest head of a Latin multinational music company. He’s also been firmly embedded in the digital landscape, an area he’s worked in since the early 2000s when Latin music began its digital transition. That intimate knowledge has allowed him to deeply mine data to bolster hits.
“Everyone has the same data,” he told Billboard last year. “You have to know how to interpret it. Having experience in data tendencies and how consumers behave lets you apply that to marketing and release strategies.”
Duque’s successes interpreting data include Anitta’s “Envolver” and, most recently, Yng Lvcas’ “La Bebe Remix” featuring Peso Pluma, which topped the Latin and Latin Rhythm Airplay charts and has spent 20 weeks on the Global 200 chart, peaking at No. 2. In Towers’ case, the success is particularly sweet because the artist had three previous top 10s on the Global Ex-U.S. chart, all collaborations. To get to the No. 1 spot solo is a feather on Duque’s cap, in tandem with Towers’ joint management team, with Orlando Cepeda and Brandon Silverstein sharing duties through their separate offices. And it earns Duque the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Duque spoke to Billboard about how this “Lala” of a love song became a global success in a single week.
La Vida es Una came out in March. Why is “Lala” rising to the top four months later?
In mid-June, a micro-influencer posted a CapCut filter with “Lala’s” audio, which kicked things off. That post was organically picked up by a couple of major influencers, which led to even more users making their own creations with it — right now, we’re seeing thousands of creations daily. This was an enormous music discovery opportunity. People weren’t just listening to the snippet on social media, they started searching for the track on streaming platforms and fully engaging with it.
When did you realize “Lala” was a hit in the making?
We see tracks going viral on social media on almost a daily basis, but not all of them lead to an effect on streaming. The way we see it is that TikTok and other social media platforms help generate awareness and buzz around the songs — and it’s all about creating the curiosity that will get people wanting to explore more and listen to the music or watch the music video. Once people are exposed to the song, it becomes about whether they will like it, share it and keep engaging with it. Once we saw “Lala” started translating very quickly from TikTok creations to YouTube views and audio streaming, we knew people were connecting to the song itself and not just the trend.
Are there any specific countries that led the charge?
The micro-influencer that helped kick off the CapCut trend is from Chile, which was one of the key countries that led the initial growth. Spain has been a key country for the song since its release, and it was also one of the first countries to see the growth alongside the trend. After that, we started seeing numbers come up in Colombia, Peru, Mexico and then the U.S. We’re now seeing the track expand to other parts of Europe and gaining new chart positions in countries like Italy and Switzerland. We strategically use data to understand the growth trajectory and which countries we should impact next, as each song has its own trajectory and requires a customized strategy.
What exactly do you do?
Music discovery has no time frame, and once a track gets into the online conversation it’s our job to jump in and maximize that buzz to turn it into a hit. It’s a very similar strategy we used with Yng Lvcas and Peso Pluma’s “La Bebe Remix,” where we identified which countries were connecting with the song first — through consumption data, but also social listening and engagement — and kept expanding our targets until the track hit No. 2 globally.
Did you have a global strategy with the song?
Yes. We always approach key releases with a regional and global strategy, and we rely on data to adjust as we go. Our strategy here started before La Vida Es Una’s release, with teaser and album launch campaigns across countries where Myke has a strong audience, especially the U.S., Latin America and Spain. After release day, we’re constantly monitoring how fans are engaging with the music on different platforms. That’s why we were able to identify what started out as a small trend so quickly and were able to jump into action and maximize the growth as much as possible.
“Lala” is not simply reggaeton; it has a swaying island vibe, too. What does this signal in the evolution of urban Latin music?
For a while, reggaeton was the Latin genre dominating the global charts. This year, we’re seeing different types of Latin songs connecting with a global audience — from songs like “Lala,” which has a more island sound, to “La Bebe Remix,” which is a Mexican reggaeton track reaching No. 2 on Spotify’s Global Chart and the Billboard Global 200. The Argentinian urban movement is also making an impact. We have a massive record with “Los Del Espacio,” a song from Lit Killah with seven other key Argentine artists including Maria Becerra and Tiago PZK. The track reached No. 17 on the Billboard Global 200. People have talked about the explosion in Latin music for years, and rightfully so, but today we are really seeing an unprecedented diversity in the hits coming from across the region.
What comes next for Myke Towers?
We’re very excited, there’s a lot of surprises coming up. From big general market collaborations to a few Latin ones, we continue to focus on building his reach and audience and growing his fan base every day.
This week’s Billboard 200 is led by a paid of familiar faces in Morgan Wallen and former One Direction member Niall Horan. But coming in at No. 3 behind those two is a complete newcomer to the top echelon of the chart, with an album that’s more than eight months old: Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (Mercury/Republic), which saw its deluxe version come out and send the album soaring from No. 100 to No. 3 on the chart with 71,000 units, far and away the best mark of Kahan’s career.
It’s a big moment for Kahan, who also achieves a slew of additional firsts in his career: his first entry on the Hot 100, with the No. 43 debut of “Dial Drunk,” which also reached No. 1 on Hot Alternative Songs; and No. 1 album markers on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums and Americana/Folk Albums for Stick Season, which saw a vinyl release of the original version the same day that the deluxe, with seven additional tracks, was released. And the rejuvenation of the album, and Kahan’s career-best marks, earns Mercury Records general manager Ben Adelson the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Adelson talks about the strategy for boosting Kahan’s album — his third for Republic (the label relaunched Mercury Records in April 2022 with executive vps of A&R Adelson and Tyler Arnold at the helm, at which point Kahan moved to Mercury) — to career highs, and how the label developed the singer and songwriter over the years to get to this point.
“The landscape of the business is always changing but the one thing that remains constant is true artistry,” Adelson says. “Our belief in Noah from the beginning has always been in him as a songwriter and artist.”
This week, Noah Kahan’s Stick Season jumped from No. 100 on the Billboard 200 to No. 3, becoming the highest-charting album of his career and his first-ever top 10. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
It was truly a team effort, from making the incredible records with Gabe Simon, Konrad Snyder, Carrie Karpinen and Ryan Hewitt to the amazing teams at Mercury Records, Republic Records and Noah’s management at Foundations Music. There was such a cohesive partnership between the songs, creative and rollout that the buildup to its release felt more about an artist than a singular song or moment.
Noah Kahan
Josh Goleman
This week’s deluxe reissue coincided with the first time the original was available on vinyl. What was your sales strategy with this release?
Alex Coslov, our head of marketing at Mercury, and Kevin Lipson, head of commerce for Republic, identified the fan demand for vinyl as we were releasing the original album. We started on production early and they saw the opportunity to deliver the vinyl on the same date as the new album. It was a key part of this week’s number, showing the true passion of Noah’s fans.
Last week, the album earned 11,000 equivalent album units; this week, that ballooned 574% to 71,000 units, with 48,000 of that unit count coming from streaming. What changed between the album’s initial release and this deluxe reissue that helped streams explode that much that quickly?
Sometimes, it’s just letting the music shine. Noah made a fantastic album featuring some of the best songs I’ve ever been a part of. With seven new tracks on Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever), we put a marketing strategy together of sharing the new music as early as possible with his core fan base. Alex Coslov and the team treated the rollout as a new album, not a reissue, and with engagement high throughout the past year that momentum brought in all the fans.
Latest single “Dial Drunk” is Kahan’s first No. 1 on Hot Alternative Songs and his first-ever song to hit the Hot 100, coming in at No. 43 this week. How have you built that song, and his profile at radio, to reach new heights in his career?
Noah Kahan and Noah Levine, who plays guitar in his band, wrote the song together and we knew it was special from the first time we heard it. Amanda Dobbins, Drew Hauser, Gary Spangler and the entire Republic radio team immediately started getting plans together, and with the amazing job they’d already done over the years at Triple A and Alternative, we were set up perfectly for this moment.
This is Kahan’s third album for Republic, and the first to reach this level of success. How did you bring him along steadily in an era of the music business when so much happens so fast?
The landscape of the business is always changing but the one thing that remains constant is true artistry. Our belief in Noah from the beginning has always been in him as a songwriter and artist. We’ve always wanted to support him however we could, and we followed his vision and passion for this album. At Mercury, giving artists the time to develop and find their path is what matters most to us.
What have you learned from watching his career grow? And what are the plans to continue growing from here?
We have learned at Mercury that supporting our artists’ creative visions and instincts is the best way to achieve true success. For Noah, that meant going back to his roots of growing up in Vermont and New England and using that to guide the album, art, marketing and creative. Noah’s accomplishments have reinforced our belief that taking the time with genuine artists and never cutting corners, even with the current challenge of breaking acts, truly works. We know things will only continue to grow for Noah and it is our responsibility to make sure that each step of the way feels authentic to him and his fans.
Previous Executive of the Week: Jon Loba of BMG Nashville
As Jelly Roll himself told it in his recent Billboard cover story, it was attending church with his daughter that inspired the raw, career-defining record Whitsitt Chapel. The rising Tennessee artist has become a sensation over the past two years building up to this release, with a number of accolades that have burgeoned his career and his story.
But this record was that final piece of the puzzle, and its artistic merits were matched by its commercial performance: The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums and, with 90,000 equivalent album units, became the largest week for an initial entry on Top Country Albums since the chart transitioned to a consumption-based methodology in February 2017.
As BMG Nashville president Jon Loba puts it, that’s down to Jelly Roll and the work he put into the music. But the success nonetheless earns Loba the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Loba talks about the build-up to the album, the strategies the label used to maximize its impact and where they can go from here in building Jelly Roll’s career. “Going forward we will continue giving Jelly his creative and artistic freedom, while we continue to work on building the connection to new audiences and nurture the connection with his existing audience,” Loba says. “It’s really that simple. When you have your first experience or interaction with Jelly, you have a strong desire to go deeper — and tell others about him.”
This week, Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and topped both the Rock & Alternative and Country Albums charts. What key decision did you make to help make this happen?
It of course all starts with the music. Jelly turned in an absolutely epic record that we have no doubt will stand the test of time. I think we will look back two decades from now and see this as the album that fully revealed the depth, texture, intellect and heart of Jelly Roll. The biggest decision I made was getting out of Jelly’s way and trusting him to turn in such a masterpiece. Initially, we had a collection of absolute slam dunk, commercial country hits Jelly wrote and was ready to record. After he attended his daughter’s church one Sunday, however, he called me up to say he felt the deep need to scrap all those songs and go on a musical and spiritual journey with his next record. We knew we had hit singles lined up, but I heard the conviction in his heart about this alternate path. His manager John Meneilly and I always say, “When in doubt, trust Jelly,” and that’s what we did. We didn’t know what this album would be, but we wanted to support him and his creativity. It turned out to be not only the right thing artistically but the right thing commercially.
The album had the biggest opening week for a first entry on the Top Country Albums chart since it went to a consumption-based methodology in 2017, almost tripling the previous record. How did you build the momentum leading up to this release?
Once you meet him, you are a fan for life. The buzz on Jelly started with “Save Me” and grew with “Dead Man Walking” and “Son of a Sinner,” so the commercial credibility was there to begin with. Our partners were really interested in his music and curious about him as we communicated how special he was. Once they met him one on one, it was a game changer. When you spend time with Jelly, you immediately root for him and want to create opportunities, which they did. Importantly, when they created those opportunities, Jelly always delivered for them and, in turn, [they] wanted to create more. Ultimately, the opportunities for his singles grew organically into opportunities for his album release.
What was your sales approach for this record?
First and foremost, making sure our partners heard the entire project well in advance. We knew the music would speak for itself and afterward our partners immediately came back to us with new creative opportunities for exposure. Wherever possible, we wanted Jelly to present it first-hand, to talk about his motivation and journey in creating Whitsitt Chapel. We also know Jelly has a passionate and committed fan base, so we wanted to be sure we had a strong focus on physical, as they are collectors… more so than most country consumers.
Jelly Roll’s music crosses several different genres, and Whitsitt Chapel is the latest in a line of albums that have reached the top echelon of both the Country radio charts and the Rock & Alternative radio charts. How do you work the same songs differently at different formats?
We don’t work them much differently. When Jelly and I first met, he had many questions about where his music would fit. He had a strong desire to have his music heard and accepted in the country genre, but he also wondered if some of it could work in rock and top 40. I was really firm in telling him not to worry about genres. All he needed to do was keep making music that connected with hearts and minds — music that saves and changes lives. You see examples of that at every Jelly show as you talk to his fans. He has this ability to connect with a wide variety of audiences because of his truth and willingness to be extremely open and share it. I said it in that first meeting, and I feel it even more strongly now: Jelly transcends genres. He is on the path to becoming a cultural icon.
Jelly Roll’s success has been considered one of the best examples of artist development in recent years. How do you continue to build on that in his career going forward?
We would love to take credit for Jelly’s artist development, but that wouldn’t be honest — Jelly is responsible for his artist development over the years of making music, touring and speaking his truth. We were fortunate that before us, there had not been a full team out there strategically telling his story, introducing him to partners and passionately laying down in the road for him as we asked for exposure opportunities. Going forward we will continue giving Jelly his creative and artistic freedom, while we continue to work on building the connection to new audiences and nurture the connection with his existing audience. It’s really that simple. When you have your first experience or interaction with Jelly, you have a strong desire to go deeper — and tell others about him.
Ten years into his career, Lil Durk keeps putting up numbers. The Chicago rapper first broke onto the scene in 2013 from the drill scene in his hometown, before cycling through the Def Jam system and re-igniting his career a number of years later, landing his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as a solo artist last year with 7220. But this week, he one-upped himself again: Durk’s new album, Almost Healed (Alamo Records), debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 — behind heavyweights Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen — and became his fourth straight No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, moving 125,000 equivalent album units, his best mark of his career and the biggest debut week for a project on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart this year so far.
But that’s not all — Durk also landed his highest mark as a lead artist on the Hot 100, when his single “All My Life” feat. J. Cole debuted at No. 2 on the chart, matching the highest mark for each artist (Durk previously hit No. 2 as a featured artist on Drake’s “Laugh Now, Cry Later”) amid 15 songs he landed on the Hot 100 this week. It’s a high-water mark for Durk’s career in a number of ways — and the success helps his manager, Grade A Productions partner Peter Jideonwo, earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Jideonwo, who started working with Durk ahead of this album, talks about the work that went into making this a success, helping push Durk’s career forward after a decade in the game and the state of hip-hop in a year dominated by country, R&B and Latin music on the charts.
“We are sometimes too focused on the music and not everything else around it,” he says, eyes to the future. “Durk can be bigger than what we have just accomplished.”
This Week, Lil Durk’s Almost Healed debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 125,000 equivalent album units, the biggest week of his career as a solo act. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
Picking the right single. Making sure all the creatives were on point, picking the right directors, photographers, interviews as well as directing videos. Making sure features were completed. Introducing Durk to Dr. Luke, who helped create “All My Life.” “All My Life” was the first record me and Durk did together and “Stand By Me” was the second. Visiting all the DSPs ahead of time before the album came out. Creating outside-the-box marketing strategies to push the narrative of a new and better Durk.
Lil Durk performs during Future and Friends “One Big Party Tour” at United Center on Jan. 20, 2023 in Chicago.
Prince Williams/Wireimage
The album was set up by “All My Life” feat. J. Cole, which matched Durk’s all-time high on the Hot 100 when it debuted at No. 2. What did you do to help that song cut through immediately and debut so high?
The song was created by Durk, Luke and J. Cole. The first session I ever did for Durk was putting that record together. Durk and Cole had a relationship, but I had to follow up for over five weeks to get the verse from J. Cole. The video was shot by my production company and produced by me. Setting up Durk’s scholarship fund with Howard [University], meeting the Mayor [of Chicago] and doing positive things in the community, was what we had to do to make sure the record connected properly.
Almost Healed’s first week is also the largest debut week for a project on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in 2023. In a year where the top of the charts have been dominated by country, R&B and Latin music, is it tougher to break through with a hip-hop album, or do you just see these things as going in cycles?
Yes I think so; hip-hop is dying, unfortunately. I say so because we have lost Juice [WRLD], X[XXTentacion], Mac Miller, [Young] Thug to jail, careers like Boston Richey and Gunna tainted by snitching accusations. Our industry in is a self-inflicted turmoil that I do not see reversing anytime soon. We don’t have a stronghold of artists anymore and there is no togetherness. We are also dealing with over-saturation and not enough love shown to our currently-established artists. The only way to fix it is to reduce the amount of people making this music and for our current artists to think outside the box to create new sounds. Everyone makes the same music and the same topics — cars, money, clothes, girls — and that’s not going to take us far anymore. Especially when streamers like Adin Ross and Kai Cenat are pulling hundreds of thousands of kids for hours. They don’t have time to listen to new music, so if you are going to release music it needs to be undeniable or it will not sell.
Durk is now 10 years into his career, and still setting high-water marks in terms of first-week numbers and chart positions. How do you continue pushing his career forward in an era when so much is focused on the next new thing?
We are going to focus on pushing his sound to the next level. I am also focused on making him a household brand, bigger than music. We are sometimes too focused on the music and not everything else around it. Durk can be bigger than what we have just accomplished. Putting out this classic album was very tedious but we are ready to get into tech, gaming, sports, movies: all around new challenges which he hasn’t done yet. We are almost healed.
You’ve been a manager and a label executive in your career. How do you balance the expectations and demands from both?
The easiest way to put it is that I dedicate my life to my clients. I only touch what I love. I am answering these questions on my birthday instead of chilling. We are still working on new things every day, which excites me. I have also been lucky to mostly only work with artists who are signed to me; that has also made my life easy. The music industry is very difficult and the most important thing is to stay ahead of the curve.
How else are you guys planning on continuing to push this Durk project forward?
We are going to keep releasing new music videos. We have an arena tour coming up where we will be performing new records from the album. We are going to put out some new versions of the records, maybe we will get to hear the Kanye West mixes that Durk spoke about in an interview.
Previous Executive of the Week: Austin Neal of The Neal Agency
In early 2011, Miguel was a rising R&B singer who had just released his debut album, All I Want Is You, and was seeing his single “Sure Thing” gain traction on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. The song would eventually reach No. 1 that May, while also climbing to the summit of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and peaking at No. 36 on the Hot 100, where it spent 23 weeks between March and August, when it fell from the chart. After 59 weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, it eventually fell from that chart in 2012.
And that was the extent of its chart run — until this year, when a TikTok trend led to an explosion in streams, catapulting it back onto the charts — and to entirely new territory. Earlier this month, “Sure Thing” broke the record for most weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at 76 (it is now at 78), and this week it achieved a mainstream crossover, 12 years after its initial debut on the charts, by reaching No. 1 on Pop Airplay, the longest trip to the top of that chart from a song’s release in history.
It’s the latest example of older songs being reinvigorated and reaching new chart heights in recent months, following The Weeknd’s “Die For You” (after a remix featuring Ariana Grande) and Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” which also benefited from a TikTok trend. And it helps RCA senior vp of digital marketing Tarek Al-Hamdouni earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Al-Hamdouni explains how the track came back after such a long break, and how RCA helped spur it into a new realm. “We know activity can spring up at a moment’s notice, and when it does, the best labels are able to move quickly and turn a spark into a flame before it goes out,” Al-Hamdouni says.
This week, Miguel’s “Sure Thing” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, 12 years after its initial chart run. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
The climb to No. 1 began in November of 2022 when we first saw the signs of organic growth and engagement on “Sure Thing” across socials and streaming services. The first major decision came in us validating the opportunity and investing in sustaining the activity across TikTok, Reels, Shorts & Snapchat. The initial goal was to “see how far we could take the trend,” knowing every jump in creations and streams was broadening our listener base and building familiarity, which would eventually result in bigger opportunities.
Miguel attends the 65th GRAMMY Awards on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Winkelmeyer/GI for The Recording Academy
We knew the record was already a favorite among fans since its release, but the key component to this new activity is that it was coming from new listeners. This led us to make the key decision to treat “Sure Thing” as a new record in our marketing efforts, also giving us the new task of turning listeners into fans. To connect the dots, we worked closely with Miguel — who deserves all the credit in the world for leaning in with curiosity, passion and optimism around this new activity — to start to engage with fans and content across socials.
Our promotion team did a fantastic job in following along with all the activity we were generating and timed their impact such that we were already receiving pull from the markets and stations. The last key decision I’ll offer up is the move to leverage the activity around “Sure Thing” to prime the market for new music from Miguel, something that we kicked off with his new single, “Give It To Me.”
In its original run, the song was an R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay hit. Why did the song work at Pop radio this time around?
I think the beauty of an artist like Miguel is that he’s always been ahead of his time. While often thrown into the “R&B” box, his music and artistry have always pulled from diverse corners of the music spectrum. And when you look at the freedom streaming has given Gen Z to bounce from record to record and genre to genre with such ease, it’s no wonder they gravitate towards a forward-thinking artist like Miguel.
It’s also worth noting that the dynamic between data and radio has strengthened at a rapid pace over the last few years. This has given us the opportunity to build our case in advance of an impact, showing the audience potential and, in a lot of ways, letting the story and streams reach critical mass with core Gen Z music fans before taking it to the broader audiences that only radio can reach.
The song’s resurgence originated on TikTok with a sped-up version. How did that come about? How often are these sped-up versions of tracks spawning new life for songs?
The sped-up version of “Sure Thing” emerged purely as organic UGC on TikTok. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see the activity come from such an edit, as sped-up sounds have been a trend on TikTok and across UGC for quite some time now. That said, I do think it’s fair to say that sped-up sounds hit a bit of critical mass in early 2023 as we started to see platforms like TikTok create specific playlists centered around the phenomenon, all of which gave us more editorial placements and ways for Miguel to lean in.
The opportunities to breathe new life into a record through a sped-up sound are plentiful, but it’s important to note the viral success of a record like “Sure Thing” is still a huge outlier in terms of how much effect a campaign could have. At this point, I expect most singles to be accompanied by a sped-up version at some point in their life cycle.
This is the latest example of an older track coming back to be a force at radio and in pop culture — something that almost never used to happen. Are you guys increasingly focused on working catalog songs in a similar manner to new songs?
We don’t focus solely on the “catalog” aspect of any record at this point as much as we’re focused on using the influx of data we receive from social and streaming platforms to ensure we never miss an opportunity. We know activity can spring up at a moment’s notice, and when it does, the best labels are able to move quickly and turn a spark into a flame before it goes out.
The reliance on data is important because our core mission as marketers is to create this activity and engagement out of the gate. By collaborating with our internal data teams, we can build tools to monitor the key aspects we believe drive streaming growth while spending the majority of our time and energy collaborating with our artists and building next-level marketing campaigns.
Although to be fair, I think the rediscovery of music by the next generation of listeners is something that has happened for quite some time. Prior to shortform video, syncs played a huge role in this rediscovery, going back to examples like Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” in Volkswagen’s 2000 Cabrio commercial to the much more recent lift of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” off the back of its inclusion in season four of Stranger Things.
The song also broke the record for most weeks ever spent on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, now at 78. How did you help market the track beyond radio and TikTok?
Outside of those two platforms, we worked to ensure this record and Miguel’s content was spread far and wide across the internet. We built custom campaigns for Instagram and YouTube, we drove awareness and engagement through savvy ad spends and boost campaigns. And we worked closely with media accounts and press outlets to drive consistent presence in front of a wide range of audiences.
What have you learned from the song’s surprise success that you can use moving forward on other projects and songs?
When you zoom out far enough, you start to see that the equation we’re chasing with a resurgence is new context for a great record with a new, young and engaged audience. Additionally, the benefits of driving engagement through a catalog record doesn’t require the type of success we’re seeing on Miguel to be meaningful. Going forward, we see this as a key way to drive engagement and build demand for new music for any artist with an established catalog.
Previous Executive of the Week: Corey Calder of APG
Over the past few years, country superstar Luke Combs has succeeded in crossing over to a pop audience with a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits: 2020’s “Forever After All” (No. 2) and last year’s “The Kind of Love We Make” (No. 8). Now he’s gunning for a third, with his cover of Tracy Chapman‘s 1988 hit, “Fast Car,” reaching No. 14 on the tally this week (it’s also sitting pretty at No. 2 on Hot Country Songs).
It’s rare for a country artist to record a cover of a pop hit, but as a fan-favorite staple of Combs’ live shows, “Fast Car” built up a head of steam that was undeniable, making the choice to get it on record an easy one (the song is included on Combs’ latest album, Gettin’ Old). But the decision to release it as a single — an even more unusual move — was part of a strategy to continue expanding Combs’ fanbase to a pop audience. And that helps Combs’ manager, Make Wake Artists founder Chris Kappy, earn the title of Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.
Below, Kappy discusses the choice to finally record “Fast Car” six years after Combs first released a snippet of it, the track’s embrace by radio programmers and how it ties into Combs’ success as a worldwide touring phenomenon. “Being able to have a hit that is globally recognized and accepted outside of country radio, and into the ears of CHR and Hot AC listeners, is very much the same thing as being able to do sold-out shows in places we have never been,” says Kappy. “The music is traveling and we want to be on the forefront in any way possible.”
This week, Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” hit No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on Hot Country Songs. What key decision did you make to help make this happen?
I got out of the way. I know that sounds weird, but it truly is what we do with Luke. He knows his fanbase so well, and he also knows what works. The song felt right when he sang it in the studio, and we all just nodded in the control booth.
Luke Combs performs onstage during Day 3 of the 2022 Stagecoach Festival at the Empire Polo Field on May 01, 2022 in Indio, Calif.
Amy Sussman/GI for Stagecoach
“Fast Car” was a popular staple at Luke’s live shows, but the decision to record the cover for Gettin’ Old — and especially to release it as a single — feels like an outside-the-box move. What was behind that?
The demand from our fans has been rabid for “Fast Car” since he first released a snippet of it more than six years ago. We also felt that it would help draw non-country fans into the genre and experience the wonder that is country music. This song is an iconic masterpiece and we all felt that it was the perfect song to crossover to a new audience that we didn’t particularly have.
It’s interesting to note that Luke kept the “checkout girl” lyric instead of changing it to “checkout boy.” What was behind the decision to stay 100% faithful to the original lyrics?
Luke is a songwriter too and Tracy is one of his favorite artists. So his goal was to never change the song. His goal was to honor the perfection that it is, and changing the gender never crossed his mind.
Was there a good-faith attempt made to reach out to Tracy and ask her permission to cover the song, even though that wasn’t required? If so, did you all track her down, and what, if anything, was her response?
At this level, our labels and teams have been in communication and we were always going to follow her lead. Luke, nor I, have spoken directly to Tracy. This is her song and we were going to live within any parameters she had for her song. We are just happy we were able to release it and see the response of fans enjoying it.
Are there plans to make a video?
If given the opportunity, we would love to be able to create a visual piece that would only enhance this already amazing song.
Are there any plans for Luke and Tracy to perform the song together?
As of right now, no. But we never say never to anything.
Big pop covers are a bit of a rarity these days — the trend has swung more toward interpolations recently, which allows songwriters to keep a bigger piece of the publishing pie. But are there advantages to trying to break a cover as opposed to an interpolation?
I don’t think we were looking to make money off of this, as much as Luke wanted to be able to deliver a great song, that has shaped his musical career, and give it to a new generation and genre of fans. Luke doesn’t think, “How can I make money off of this,” more so, how can he give the fans a look into the music that shaped him?
Is it tough going to radio with a big cover in 2023? There are so few conventional covers on the airwaves these days. Do you have to demonstrate a song’s strength at streaming before program directors will even start a conversation with you about putting it in rotation?
Luckily, this song has hit home with a lot of programmers. It has given them the opportunity to showcase a song they also love. We are having streaming success, very early out of the gate, but we are also having radio success running parallel with it. It’s fun to see the both running, hand in hand, with one another.
Luke already saw success with Billboard top 10 hits like “Forever After All” and “The Kind of Love We Make.” What could the success of “Fast Car” at pop radio mean in terms of exposing him to a new audience?
We have always wanted to bring our genre to the ears of more people. That’s why we play shows internationally and invest in Europe, Australia, and Canada. Being able to have a hit that is globally recognized and accepted outside of country radio, and into the ears of CHR and Hot AC listeners, is very much the same thing as being able to do sold-out shows in places we have never been. The music is traveling and we want to be on the forefront in any way possible.
Speaking of crossover success, Luke is at such a career high point all around, including as a global touring star — rare for a country artist. Do these kinds of big successes at pop radio help his act translate to an international audience?
Luke has already laid the groundwork for his global success before this release. What I think happens now, is that we are able to widen our focus so when we do come back to other countries, we can welcome more fans and give them the experience that is three chords and the truth. It’s all we have ever wanted to do.
Previous Executive of the Week: George Prajin of Prajin Records
Growing up in East Los Angeles in the 1980s, George Prajin could see music in the making. His father was Antonino Z. Prajin, owner of Prajin One-Stop, a music retailer and distributor in Huntington Park, Calif., that sold to over 3,000 stores in the U.S. and Mexico and had 26 warehouses throughout Southern California. At that time, the music known as regional Mexican — comprising subgenres like banda, norteño and mariachi — dominated U.S. Latin music sales.
At the Prajin brick and mortar record shop that catered to mostly Mexican and Mexican-American buyers, “I always noticed that Mexican-American youth would buy hip-hop and regional. And I always tried to mix the two,” says Prajin today. “I tried to come up with a fusion of the two sounds.”
It took 25 years, a lot of money and a lot of heartbreak, but Prajin has finally found his sound with the artist known as Peso Pluma, the only act signed to his indie Prajin Records, and distributed via The Orchard. While Regional Mexican music is definitely having a moment — this week, 13 Regional Mexican tracks are on the Billboard Hot 100, a record for the genre — the current wave is led by the 23-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico.
Of those 13 tracks, an astounding eight are his, including “Ella Baila Sola,” his smash hit with California quartet Eslabón Armado, which reached No. 5 on the chart, marking the first time ever a Regional Mexican track, in Spanish, reached the top five — or the top 10, for that matter. The song also reached No. 1 the Billboard Global 200 chart (dated April 29). It’s the first leader on the list for each act, as well as the first for the regional Mexican genre. And it helps make Prajin Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.
The importance of the moment is not lost on Prajin, who grew up following the Billboard charts and who in the 1990s launched an independent record label for the first time. When the recording industry’s bubble burst at the onset of the digital download age in the early-mid-2000s, Prajin closed shop, studied law and established a practice — alongside veteran music entertainment lawyer Anthony Lopez — representing athletes and musicians. In 2019, when streaming numbers started to soar, he decided to give the music industry another shot as a record executive and launched Prajin Records. This time, the timing was right. Among the different projects that were shopped to him, one was Peso Pluma, a young Mexican singer and rapper who was living in New York and had been discovered through social media.
“Ella Baila Sola” is not only a Peso Pluma track; it was released on another California-based indie, DEL Records, whose founder Angel Del Villar was also an Executive of the Week when Eslabón became the first Regional Mexican act to enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200 last year.
This week’s achievement, says Prajin, was not just the result of DEL and Prajin’s strategy with “Ella Baila Sola.” Instead, he says, “it’s been a strategy with the project overall.”
Peso Pluma arrives for the 8th annual Latin American Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 20, 2023.
ROBYN BECK/AFP via GI
What was it about Peso Pluma that you found interesting?
I saw how he flowed on the tracks. He could do it all: He could rap, he could do regional, he could do reggaeton. But he was very stubborn that he wanted to do everything independently of each other. He said, “I want to rap on a rap song, I want to sing reggaeton on a reggaeton song.” I realized there is a way to do it and it’s how Peso envisions it, by staying in each lane and killing it in each genre but giving people what they want. I always recognize his base audience is regional and that’s actually the music he loves the most. But because Peso can do all these genres, and when they [he and his cousin Tito] write songs, they [incorporate] all these influences.
You met Peso Pluma through your former artist, Jessie Morales (El Regional de la Sierra). Jessie wanted you to sign Peso, but you actually turned him down the first time, even though as an attorney you represented several prominent Regional Mexican artists and labels at that point. What happened?
At the time, I didn’t want to compete with my clients, even though I felt the kid had a lot of talent. He ended up signing with Herminio Morales, Jessie’s brother. Fast forward 2021, Herminio got really sick and called me up and asked me if I could help with Peso. You don’t get two bites of the apple very often, and I was restless. I wanted to produce more music. And at that time nobody was really interested in Peso, because it wasn’t really a successful project.
Once you started with Peso, what would you say was your breakthrough track?
Because no other label was interested, I didn’t feel I was competing with anybody [so I would experiment]. He had an album already recorded and one song attracted my attention: “El Belicón.” He gave me permission to work on the track and we ended up taking the guy that was there off the track and putting in [singer] Raul Vega. We mixed the song — I have an amazing engineer — and we put it out on TikTok. We saw that there was a spark and we put in promotion and made an inferno. We made sure the video was like Call of Duty because we really wanted to target the kids. We threw all our efforts into making the song as big as we could. And we got to the level where we got people’s attention.
You did tracks with more urban acts like Nicki Nicole from Argentina and Ovy on the Drums from Colombia. Were you aiming for a more international sound?
I feel we started in regional but at the same time we were expanding regional. It’s like when rock n’ roll got into grunge. Peso’s saying, “We’re not regional; we’re Mexican.” When we saw the fusion going to the top of the charts, that’s when we invited others. The goal was to expand the international Latin scene. And what’s really, really cool is they all want to jump on Peso’s sound.
I feel that has really expanded the Mexican market. He wanted to do reggaeton and rap, we’d be in talks with major artists in other countries and we’d usually say, “Lets do a reggaeton song,” but they’d say, “Let’s do a regional song.” When we saw these artists wanted to do something regional, we started to double down.
When did you realize there was another audience interested in this guy?
I pay a lot of attention to the analytics. I’m always looking at the numbers and looking at what countries we get engagement. I saw we were getting a lot of engagement in the countries we were targeting but also in places like Japan and Germany. And then, obviously, the global charts. When we broke into the Billboard Global 200 and then we became the No. 1 song, and then we get interest from Jimmy Fallon, that’s when you see something that is global. As an executive I take everything and say, “How do we double down?”
Peso Pluma & Blessd
Cristhian Álvarez Suarez
And, how do you double down?
We’re Latin and we’re keeping our base. We’re opening offices, we’re doing a global tour, but like when we first started at the top of the charts in Mexico we doubled down on our infrastructure, and now that we’re global we’re going to make sure we can double down and have boots on the ground and make sure we’re touring individual countries.
“Ella Baila Sola” is originally an Eslabón Armado track. What is it about that song?
It’s a combo of a good sound, and Eslabón has a really good U.S. base which is something we were on the verge of entering. At one point our streams were 80% in Mexico and 20% in the U.S. Now I think we’re 50-50. But I feel this momentum was coming and we had been focused on international development. The audiences were looking for another regional track from Peso Pluma and it just so happened we were releasing with Eslabón. [Lead writer and singer] Pedro Tovar is an amazing talent. And the song was produced to be in line with Peso’s sound.
You hit a historic top five on the Hot 100. Were you aiming for that?
Nobody knows what’s going to be a hit. But the way it came out with the numbers it did overnight and on a weekly and monthly basis, I knew this song was going to be massive. I’d never seen those numbers with a regional song before. DEL released that track and they’ve done a lot to support the success of the track.
What’s next for you and for Peso Pluma?
Peso just launched WP Records. He’s the CEO and he’ll be producing a lot of the tracks. The first single came out 4/20. We’ll finally be releasing a Peso Pluma album before summer and that will be the focus in the next two to three weeks. I give all the credit to my artist. I’m an executive. I’m involved in every single aspect. But I give leeway to my artist and I trust him so much that we created a label.
Previous Executive of the Week: Cindy James of Virgin Music
This week, Lana Del Rey released her ninth straight top 10 album on the Billboard 200, with Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd debuting at No. 3 on the chart. But it was the manner of that debut that caught the eye: of the 115,000 equivalent album units the record racked up in its first week, 58,500 units were vinyl — the biggest vinyl sales week of the year so far and the best of her career, with it also available on CD and cassette. And the remainder of the sum equated to some 36.14 million on-demand streams, the biggest streaming week of her career, to boot.
That success was no accident: the singer has always sold well at the vinyl format, according to her label Interscope Geffen A&M, and the label and her management team at TAP prioritized the format, as well as the other sales variants, in order to have them available the day the album came out, resulting in the big sales week. And that strategy helps earn Interscope Geffen A&M chief revenue officer and global head of streaming and strategy Gary Kelly earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Kelly breaks down what went into the big vinyl and sales week for Lana Del Rey, as well as how that major streaming activity helped play into the overall success of the album. “We always like to begin with what the demands of the fans are,” Kelly says. “This is what you see here, so every music product we created was based on our insights for what the fans would want to own.”
This week, Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 115,000 equivalent album units, with vinyl making up 58,500 units — the best vinyl sales week of the year so far and best of her career. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
Lana has been at the forefront of the vinyl resurgence, so our strategy was based on years of historical data and her overall growth with the Gen Z audience, who we know love vinyl to listen to and also to show their fandom. The Interscope revenue team worked closely with [her management team] Ben [Mawson], Ed [Millett] and Wendy [Ong] at TAP Management to ensure the album was delivered in time to ensure we had the master and the packaging in time to deliver for street date.
The album had six vinyl variants, with several exclusives available in different stores. How did you develop that strategy and how did you see it pay off?
On previous releases we had productive campaigns with partners like Target, indie retail, Amazon and Urban Outfitters. We looked at that historical data to determine the best path for Lana’s new project.
Have production delays for vinyl gotten easier, or does it still require long lead times? And how did you navigate that?
The supply chain issues that we experienced at the height of the pandemic are improving and we were able to manage inventory to ensure that we had plenty of the vinyl. Long lead times however still exist, but Universal Music Logistics has done a good job turning around reorders quickly. That helped tremendously, as some of the initial allocations sold out and we had to re-run additional inventory that arrived in time for street date. That would not have been possible in 2021 or 2022.
The album was also released through nine different CD variants, and also five different cassette versions. Why lean so much into those formats?
We always like to begin with what the demands of the fans are. This is what you see here, so every music product we created was based on our insights for what the fans would want to own.
The debut also marked the biggest streaming week in Lana Del Rey’s career. How did the streaming and sales strategies dovetail and feed off each other?
Lana having the largest streaming week of her career is tied to her making a brilliant album. She is a true artist and she pushes boundaries with every new project. New fans and audiences are catching up to her. That said, we look at streaming and sales audiences as having overlap, so when we launched the preorder and first single in December, we were driving pre-sales, but also driving fans to listen on the DSPs.
We had Lana in our Santa Monica recording studios in January and while listening to the album, there was a general feel from the marketing, digital and revenue teams that “A&W” would be the ideal song to release to further connect the streaming audience and pre-sales. It worked perfectly as the song reacted incredibly well with fans across the world and drove a substantial number of preorders. In fact, preorders jumped around 20%, which is unusual given that we had already amassed thousands of preorders because they had been available for almost three months by that point.
The album also reached No. 1 in the U.K., Australia and several other countries around the world. What was the global strategy with regards to this release?
We worked with Ben Mortimer, Stephen Hallows and the rest of the Polydor team to craft an in-depth global strategy with the UMG teams across the world. The Interscope international team did a great job working with the local affiliates to ensure the best plans were in place and executed. The results show how deeply connected we were with all of them between DSP campaigns, physical partner campaigns along with our direct relationship with fans across the world with our D2C strategy.
Do you see the future of physical sales as being more merch item or niche consumer product?
Most of the physical music products are built for segments of the fans that want to own something from their favorite artist to show off their fandom. That said, I do not see these as niche as much as reflective of what these fans want. Will those tastes change in the coming years? That most likely will be the case and we will want to adjust what we, and the artist, create to match fan interests and preferences.
Previous Executive of the Week: Joseph Oerke of Decca
Classical music has been in the news this month, with the launch of Apple Music’s new classical-specific streaming app and Universal Music Group’s purchase of classical label Hyperion Records. But under the hood, another notable classical music story was brewing: for the first time in its history, Decca Records has nine of the top 10 songs on the classical U.S. on-demand audio streaming songs chart, according to Luminate.
The achievement is the fruit of several different strategies to help boost those artists, including Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Cody Fry, Chad Lawson and Lang Lang, across streaming services, from reworks, playlisting and, of course, TikTok. And it helps earn Decca Records U.S. senior vp of marketing and artist strategy Joseph Oerke the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Oerke tells Billboard about several of those strategies, which go beyond boosting individual artists and songs but also includes growing the genre’s footprint at streaming — which will be helped by Apple Music Classical, but also Deutsche Grammophon’s own streaming service, Stage+, that it launched last November to showcase DG and Decca’s roster of artists. And the growth of classical streaming is becoming apparent in the numbers: on-demand audio streaming of classical music has grown by double-digit percentages in each of the past three years, and outpaced the growth of the on-demand audio streaming business at large in 2022, according to Luminate.
“There is a massive population of people who listen to instrumental and classical music during activities like meditation, yoga, cooking dinner, studying and so much more,” Oerke says. “We’ve intensely focused on these spaces and created opportunities to highlight the genre.”
This week, Decca has nine of the top 10 on-demand streaming audio songs in the U.S., according to Luminate, the first time in the label’s history it has achieved that feat. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
It is quite an exciting week for us. There is an amazing team here at Decca Records US and across the larger Verve Label Group, led by President/CEO Dickon Stainer. This is a tribute to each department. While we always study the charts, our focus remains on artist development and bringing classical music to the widest audience possible. Each track had its own journey to the chart including TikTok virality, the undeniable talent of the artist, the perfect alignment of music and function and so much more. There is no one plan that works for every track, so we constantly analyze audience and streaming data to inform how we tailor each approach. For example, prolific pianist-composer Chad Lawson embraces the healing power of music and writes works that are not only beautiful to listen to but also can inspire mindful moments. We’ve worked with Chad to not only position his music as classical but also as music that can serve a purpose.
Additionally, we’ve released alternate versions of key tracks including sleep re-works that have helped expand the audience. Working with such a collaborative and flexible artist as Chad has increased the opportunities we have for success. We’ve also fully embraced a global outlook and these nine tracks represent artists from the U.S., Iceland, U.K., Italy and China which gives us even more music to work with and broaden our overall appeal. We have the honor to represent classical labels including Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, ECM New Series and Mercury KX as well as working with artists locally signed around the world. This industry-leading wealth of artists and music is a key to our success.
With streaming’s dominance, many people have lamented the struggles that genres like classical and jazz have had in breaking through such a crowded and pop-heavy marketplace structure. How have you guys positioned yourselves to succeed at streaming in particular?
Rather than lament I’ve always chosen to fully embrace how listening habits have evolved over the years and find every possible outlet and platform for classical music. With instrumental music we work with both artist-forward listening as well as more passive forms of consumption. It’s this combination of listening styles that has helped us to grow our market share consistently over the last few years. One approach is to create moments or events that draw attention to our artists and music, with one example being World Sleep Day. We partnered with the World Sleep Society and curated a selection of new music from a range of artists around the world. We then worked with our commercial partners to drive overall awareness for the genre, which many people consume as part of their daily lives, which then drives increased consumption. There is a massive population of people who listen to instrumental and classical music during activities like meditation, yoga, cooking dinner, studying and so much more. We’ve intensely focused on these spaces and created opportunities to highlight the genre.
Deutsche Grammophon also launched its new streaming service, Stage+, in November. How has that service fared so far and what has it allowed you to do with the catalog?
Stage+ is a beautiful platform where you can enjoy some of the greatest musical performances from around the world. I’ve always been a fan of classical music and I attend operas and concerts in New York weekly, but I almost never get to see the Vienna Philharmonic at home, and I’ve only been to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam once in my life. There is so much amazing work being done in concert halls around the world and now classical audience members everywhere can enjoy performances that we might only ever hear about. We are working hand in hand with Deutsche Grammophon to continue growing the audience for Stage+ and look forward to bringing these performances to many more fans in the years to come.
There seems to be more and more interest in classical-specific streaming lately, not only with Stage+ but with the official launch this week of Apple Music Classical. How do you leverage these types of platforms, and how does that help you break through with your fan base?
There has been, wrongly, a stigma that most streaming platforms only carry pop music but not classical or not all of classical music. That’s incorrect, but the perception remains. These classical-specific platforms highlight just how vast the available catalog is and can present recording information in a clean and easily understandable format. Personally, it makes me as a listener feel seen and heard which is not something classical music fans who grew up digging around CD bins in the back of a music store have enjoyed. I think part of our job now is to educate listeners that you can have the entire music store with one tap and find both popular and obscure recordings quickly and easily.
Several streaming services also have added additional data, such as performer, composer and conductor data. What else would you like to see added to better reflect the classical space?
One thing that was missing but now is less of a problem is improved sound quality. The dynamic range of classical music is so vast that higher quality audio was an issue in the past, but now most services offer it which is a huge benefit. While metadata display is an on-going conversation, I’d like to see more contextual information offered to listeners, such as a booklet or liner notes. Classical music has traditionally been about numerous artists recording the same piece — just imagine how many recordings of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony there are — and so each artist’s individual interpretation is the key and listeners are keen to know the back story and the artist’s thoughts on the repertoire. With opera, which is really a challenge at streaming, there is a need for a libretto to understand what is being sung. This extra material helps with a richer listening experience deepening a listener’s connection to the genre.
You guys have also had success leveraging TikTok, particularly with Ludovico Einaudi’s 2013 track “Experience,” which went viral on the platform last year and is still the No. 1 on-demand streaming audio track in the U.S. this week. What was the story there and how have you been able to utilize platforms like that to benefit your artists?
In November 2020 our vp of digital analytics and advertising spotted the increasing uses of “Experience” on TikTok and that it was driving more streaming. We quickly identified the video where the trend started, which was of a student listening to “Experience” which dramatically helped increase his focus while writing a paper. It clearly resonated with a large audience and we could see the potential. From there we quickly delivered the official audio to Einaudi’s TikTok profile, ran influencer campaigns to boost engagement, drove awareness for Einaudi’s own channels, and then encouraged him to deliver an alternate solo piano version of the song. We had already been planning a YouTube livestream for December and decided that a performance of “Experience” needed to be added ASAP. I think most importantly, we looked at how people were engaging with his music and the cultural conversation around it to tailor our approach at broadening and consistently growing the audience.
In general, we are constantly monitoring trends and daily activity on social platforms like TikTok, Reels and Shorts and with our deep understanding of fan behavior we can double down on our consumer-led marketing. Elevating UGC with initiatives like influencer campaigns and plugging our artists and music into relevant cultural trends are just a few ways we work to position our artists at the forefront of online culture to give their music a chance to stand out amongst the thousands of tracks released every day.
How do you keep growing the genre moving forward?
We need to make sure artists and their music are present where fans are and that means a lot of content both premium and casual. The decline of classical music has and always will be lamented but despite that it is still here, both in the concert hall and coming through our speakers. I attended the opera earlier this week and soprano Lise Davidsen gave one of the most thrilling performances I’ve heard and now my job is to make sure others know about her and excite their curiosity to seek her out. She’s but one example of the countless performing and recording artists today who are giving phenomenal performances night after night, and they are the catalyst for moving the genre forward while we are here to amplify their art.
Previous Executive of the Week: Mike G of UTA
So far this year, much of the discussion around the touring business has been about ticketing, with high-profile tours by the likes of Taylor Swift and Drake putting Live Nation and Ticketmaster in the spotlight. But underlining that throughline is one undeniable fact: three years on from the onset of the pandemic that shut down events across the world, the live music business is fully back, with the biggest stars in the world hitting the road for their first outings in years.
That has meant that all facets of the touring business are once again operating at full speed. Or, as UTA partner and music agent Mike G puts it, “Post-pandemic, the live business has been on fire.”
The longtime agent would know. This year, he’s booked a series of major tours and shows for some of the biggest acts in multiple genres, including Lil Wayne, Romeo Santos, Wizkid and The Kid LAROI, each with some significance: Wayne’s charting an underplay in anticipation of a broader tour around his upcoming album Tha Carter VI; Santos is playing stadium dates in four cities, almost a decade after he became the first solo Latin artist to sell out Yankee Stadium; Wizkid has a headlining arena tour on the way, after he became just the second Nigerian artist to sell out Madison Square Garden in November; and The Kid LAROI kicked off a college tour of secondary and tertiary markets this week. And all that activity has helped earn Mike G the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, he talks about the strategy behind several of those outings, as well as the difficulties and opportunities that have arisen as the pandemic increasingly appears to be in the rear view mirror. “[The pandemic] created a demand,” he says, “and the live industry is healthy.”
This week, The Kid LAROI kicked off his college tour in Syracuse, New York, one of a number of big tours you’ve locked in in the last few months. What was the strategy behind this one in particular?
The strategy behind touring these college towns was to touch a significant fan base for LAROI in secondary and tertiary markets. The idea of going on a reputable college tour hasn’t been executed since Jay Z. So, we saw an opportunity to continue to build his live business with this run and market it in a specific way. The pop-up pep rallies on the day of the show have been a special touch by LAROI to connect with his fans on campus.
You also booked the upcoming Lil Wayne tour ahead of his next album, which sold out in presale and moved 70,000 tickets with a mix of theaters and arenas. What goes into the routing of a tour like this for a superstar like Wayne?
The idea behind Lil Wayne was to create an intimate touring experience for his fans by playing at venues like the Wiltern in Los Angeles and the iconic Apollo Theater in New York. The concept of playing these rooms was to leave tickets at the door for his more extensive run in the fall while pre-promoting Tha Carter VI with this tour as a marketing vehicle. It is an understatement to say this has played out the way we wanted it to. This tour will be such a great experience for the fans.
Last November, Wizkid became the second Nigerian artist to sell out Madison Square Garden, and now he’s set for an arena tour later this year. What do you see as the touring market and possibilities for afrobeats artists in the U.S.?
The possibilities will be arena and amphitheater tours with afrobeats artists as well as headlining crossover festivals. The potential is unlimited in the live space and we’ve seen such incredible success with WizKid being on the forefront and one of the very few artists leading the movement in the U.S.
In 2020, you guys signed Romeo Santos, his first time signing with a major agency. How did you convince him to come aboard?
The signing of Romeo Santos in 2020 was one of the most significant signings for our department. We presented the full-service models that we live by at the agency. Touring is an artist’s most important revenue generator, but in conjunction with live, the thought was, “Let’s build out other untapped business areas.” Film, TV, digital and brand opportunities should be part of those daily conversations. That generated Romeo’s interest and, ultimately, led him to signing with us. It’s about everything we can deliver, not just touring. He wanted to build out a 360 business in all areas of entertainment.
This year, he’s doing stadium shows in four U.S. cities, just shy of a decade after he became the first Latin artist to ever sell out Yankee Stadium. What continues to make him such a big draw?
His loyal fan base and consistency in delivering fantastic music and a spectacular live show. Romeo took Bachata music to new heights. He revolutionized and modernized the genre.
What goes into booking artists of all sizes in the right venues — especially those artists who may have emerged during the pandemic, and don’t have much of a touring history, if any?
We study and understand where that artist is in their career. For some acts, we can gauge and see if playing a 500-cap room is the right step to begin their touring career in the major markets. Finding the right support slot on tour for other acts can expose the artist to new fans and build a base. Each artist is different, but you must be strategically aggressive and not afraid to lose to make a live career.
How has the touring business changed as the world emerges from the pandemic? And how has it changed how you do business?
Post-pandemic, the live business has been on fire. It created a demand, and the live industry is healthy. The business will continue to thrive, but being conscious of ticket pricing will be instrumental in our current economy.
Previous Executive of the Week: Jesús López of Universal Music Latin America