Executive Turntable
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Sophie Jones was promoted from director of public affairs to chief strategy officer at BPI; she will also serve as interim chief executive until a permanent appointment is made following the recent exit of Geoff Taylor. Coinciding with Jones’ elevation, the communications, independent member services and research & insight department heads will now report directly to Jones alongside the public affairs team.
The Orchard promoted Mary Ashley Johnson to executive vp of sales and artist & label management, U.S. and Canada. The company also named Katie Studley as vp, Nashville. Johnson will continue driving revenue and market share for The Orchard while managing teams responsible for client relationships and high-level strategy on key releases across the U.S. and Canada. Studley will oversee the Nashville office’s day-to-day operations while developing new business relationships and further expanding The Orchard’s presence in Nashville. Based in New York and Nashville, respectively, Johnson and Studley report to COO Colleen Theis.
Longtime senior executive, editor and music historian Jay Orr retired from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum after more than 26 years. He most recently served as executive senior director for research, editorial and content; he also led the museum’s editorial team, overseeing the development of exhibits, publications and more. Orr can now be reached at jayorr@comcast.net.
Web3 company Yuga Labs (Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, Meebits) appointed Daniel Alegre as CEO, effective the first half of 2023. He succeeds Nicole Muniz, who will stay on as a partner and strategic advisor to the company. Alegre will work closely with Yuga Labs founders Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano to continue growing the business. Alegre most recently served as president and COO of Activision Blizzard.
Roy Hennis was promoted to senior vp of sales and Nik McLeod was named vp of publishing at LyricFind. Hennis will continue to lead his team in LyricFind’s core markets as well as emerging products including Lyric Videos and LyricIQ, while McLeod will oversee the publishing department’s international licensing efforts in key territories and markets.
The Copyright Alliance announced two at-large board members whose terms commenced on Sunday (Jan. 1): Todd Dupler of The Recording Academy, who will serve on the board for a second consecutive term, and Jeff Sedlik of American Photographic Artists. Both will serve two-year terms at the organization.
Kevin Hart‘s multi-platform media company Hartbeat hired Sara Abdulahi as senior vp of people & culture, Annie Ballot as senior vp of global media, Neil Wright as vp of live & experiential and Namon Jones as vp of brand partnerships. The company also promoted Tina Maher to senior vp of brand & franchise management. Abdulahi, who comes from ATTN:, will oversee talent management, compensation and benefits, training and development and employee relations; Balagot, who comes from NBCUniversal, will oversee strategy and distribution of Hartbeat media, including expanding distribution for LOL! Network across all platforms; Wright, who comes from Complex Networks, will oversee live events and experiences; Jones, who arrives with more than 20 years of experience running digital sales, will develop and expand on Hartbeat’s East Coast brand partnerships; and Maher, who joined the company in 2017, will oversee and execute monetization, growth and partnerships strategies for Hartbeat’s owned and operated brands and franchises.
Deezer appointed Ingrid Bojner (Storytel) and Mark Simonian (retired chairman of global TMT investment banking at Credit Suisse) as independent board directors. They were co-opted by the board to replace Alban Gréget and Jeronimo Folgueira, who resigned from their director positions last month. Folgueira will continue as Deezer CEO and work closely with the board of directors on all relevant business matters. Bojner and Simonian’s mandates will extend through the remaining term of their predecessors — or until the annual general meeting is called to approve the financial statements for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2024, and the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2023, respectively.
Artist and music management company UROK hired Tayla Dhyll as head of audience, a newly created role, and Sophie Lane as senior artist manager. Dhyll will be tasked with developing, implementing and managing digital strategies for artists, while Lanez will work on two of UROK’s new management signings. The company also promoted Chris Kasa to senior vp of artist management, making him responsible for new signings and managing the careers of Jade Bird, Lucky Kilmartin and Jo Hill; Afoma Ojukwu to artist relations manager; Steve Sasse to artist and repertoire director across records, publishing and producer management for the entire UROK roster; and Annabelle Scott-Curry to creative director on a consultancy basis, working alongside UROK on Plan B and Jess Glynne.
Beasley Media Group hired Ariana Sheehan as director of digital content strategy. Based in Albany, New York, Sheehan will work closely with vp of digital content Erika Beasley and vp of digital marketing Jennifer Williams to help drive the company’s digital content strategy and grow its audience. She joins from product review and marketing company BestReviews.
The Country Music Association (CMA) has elected its board of directors for 2023, with new board members including songwriter Rhett Akins, Onsite Entertainment executive Debbie Carroll, Pink Dog Entertainment leader Curt Jenkins, Warner Music Nashville co-head Ben Kline, CCLD LLC’s Chris Lisle, BMG Nashville/BBR Music Group leader Jon Loba, Monument Records general manager Katie McCartney, Maverick’s Chris Parr, Grand Ole Opry vp/executive producer Dan Rogers, Sony Music Publishing Nashville executive vp of creative Josh Van Valkenburg, Press On Publicity founder Wes Vause and singer/songwriter/musician Charlie Worsham.
The board officers for 2023 will be chairman Charlie Morgan of Apple Music; president Kella Farris of Farris, Self & Moore; president-elect Jennie Smythe of Girlilla Marketing; and secretary/treasurer Virginia Bunetta of G Major Management.
The CMA’s elected and appointed board members include artist managers, songwriters, radio executives, publicists, music publishers, record label executives and touring/live entertainment executives. See the full list of 2023 CMA Board of Directors at cmaworld.com.
Recently, the CMA revealed the nominees for the upcoming CMA Touring Awards, which will be held Jan. 30 at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works. CMA members in the following membership groups are eligible to vote on the 15 categories up for awards: advertising/public relations/media, affiliated, artist, entertainment services, marketing/digital, musician, personal manager, record label, talent agent, talent buyer/promoter, touring and venue.
During the recent CMA Awards held in November in Nashville, Luke Combs continued his reign as CMA entertainer of the year, while his album Growin’ Up earned album of the year honors (Combs earned two trophies for this win, as both artist and producer on the project). Combs is the first person to win entertainer of the year and album of the year on the same night since Taylor Swift did so in 2009.
Elsewhere, Chris Stapleton became the first six-time male vocalist of the year winner, surpassing Vince Gill, George Strait and Blake Shelton, each of whom is a five-time winner in the category. Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde also won musical event of the year for “Never Wanted to Be That Girl.” Their win marks the first all-female collaboration to win in 28 years — since Reba McEntire and Linda Davis’ “Does He Love You” in 1994.
Spotify has promoted longtime employee John Stein to head of North America, editorial, the company announced on Tuesday (Dec. 20). He reports directly to Sulinna Ong, global head of editorial at the streaming service.
Stein joined Spotify in 2013 after the streamer acquired his previous company, the playlisting firm Tunigo. Prior to his promotion, he worked as lead of music culture and editorial, overseeing strategy and curation for Spotify’s U.S. editorial playlists and becoming a strong voice on the company’s editorial team and the music team as a whole.
In 2018, Stein co-created Spotify’s successful genre-less playlist Pollen, which today boasts more than 1.3 million likes on the platform. Due to Pollen’s phenomenal success, the streaming service began leaning into the concept of playlist-as-brand and eventually introduced other similar playlists, including the pop-leaning Lorem (more than 969,000 likes) and the Nordic region-focused Oyster (more than 102,000 likes).
With his promotion, Stein has three new direct reports on his team. They include Rachel Whitney, head of Nashville, editorial; Antonio Vasquez, head of U.S. Latin, editorial; and Ronny Ho, head of dance and electronic development, editorial. The trio joins Stein’s existing team, which includes Ehis Osifo, editor, editorial partnerships; Jess Huddleston, editorial lead, Canada with her direct reports Marc Matar, junior editor, Canada and Karla Moy, editor, Canada; Talia Kraines, senior editor, United States with her direct reports Fredrik Fencke, editor and Lulu Largent, junior editor; and Elizabeth Szabo, senior editor, along with her direct report William Nellis, junior editor, North America.
Sameen Singh was named chief strategy officer & chief digital officer at 88rising, reporting to CEO and founder Sean Miyashiro out of Los Angeles. Singh will lead global strategy, negotiate partnerships, further digital business development and shepherd inorganic growth in the role. He will also lead the development and implementation of strategic initiatives and commercial innovation. Singh comes to 88rising from Create Music Group, where he served as chief strategy officer for two years. He can be reached at sameen@88rising.com.
Capitol Music Group (CMG) has promoted six employees in its marketing departments. They are: Jessica Eason to vp of marketing for Capitol Records; Zoe Gillespie to vp of brand partnerships and strategy for CMG; Kate Haffenden to vp of international marketing for CMG; Chris Kershaw to vp of marketing for Capitol Records; Byron Miller to vp of commercial marketing, streaming strategy (urban) for CMG; and Alex Williams to vp of gaming strategy & business development for CMG. Eason can be reached at jessica.eason@umusic.com, Gillespie can be reached at zoe.gillespie@umusic.com, Haffenden can be reached at kate.haffenden@umusic.com, Kershaw can be reached at chris.kershaw@umusic.com, Miller can be reached at byron.miller@umusic.com and Williams can be reached at alex.williams5@umusic.com.
Kurt Deutsch was named senior vp at Warner Music Entertainment & Theatrical Ventures, a newly created role. Deutsch will oversee the development of new theatrical productions and investments while continuing to be a connector with songwriters, artists and catalogs via collaborations with Warner Chappell Music and the various Warner Music Group (WMG) labels. He will continue to work closely with songwriters he has signed or re-signed to Warner Chappell, including Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Joe Iconis, Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, Alan Menken, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Eddie Perfect and Shaina Taub. Deutsch, who has been with WMG since 2017, will continue to be based in New York and report to Warner Music Entertainment (WME) president Charles Cohen. The theatrical music label he founded, Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight, will continue as part of WMG’s portfolio of labels.
Universal Music Group (UMG) hired Alvaro Galbete-Velilla as senior vp of new business, a new role that will see him develop opportunities in the Web3 and metaverse sectors as well as other emerging areas of digital development for the label. He joins the company from SoundCloud, where he was director of business development. UMG also promoted Kristen Bender to senior vp of digital innovation strategy & business development; she will continue to play an important role in implementing digital business partnerships with UMG operating units and directing UMG’s engagement with entrepreneurs worldwide. Her previous title was senior vp of business development & strategy. Both executives are based in Los Angeles.
Rachel Chernoff was named senior vp of data science & analytics at Sony Music Entertainment (SME), a newly created role; she was previously senior vp of partner development at the company. Based in New York, Chernoff will lead a newly formed team that brings together the global digital business (GDB) group’s strategic analytics and data science functions to continue growing SME’s data capabilities across the globe. Chernoff will work in partnership with the SME partner development, global product and sales & analytics teams to enhance and develop analytic- and science-based tools, techniques and expertise supporting the needs of Sony Music’s labels and businesses around the world. She will also lead the evolution of SME’s data capabilities with external partners globally. She reports to Dennis Kooker, president of global digital business at SME.
BMG appointed Pierrot Raschdorff as senior director of global diversity, equity and inclusion out of Berlin. In the role, Raschdorff will be responsible for developing and accelerating BMG’s global DE&I goals, working with international teams across the company’s 12 core music markets. He joins from Penguin Random House — also a division of BMG’s parent company Bertelsmann — in Germany.
Beau Benton was promoted to senior vp of media & operations at Republic Records. Benton, who will oversee operations for Republic in Los Angeles in the new role alongside co-president Wendy Goldstein, will continue handling media strategy and orchestrating campaigns for Republic artists. He will also serve as the liaison for internal Los Angeles team communication overall.
Karl Skoog joined Amuse as CMO, tasking him with leading the Swedish music company’s marketing and communications teams with a focus on global growth. Skoog was previously CMO at both Fotografiska and NGO The Swedish Brain Foundation. He has also worked at Tele2 and EMI Music Publishing. Skoog can be reached at karl@amuse.io.
Range Media Partners hired Jared Cotter as vp of A&R and Federico Morris as director of A&R. Both will join vp of A&R Sam Drake in supporting Range Music’s management talent, label joint venture with Capitol Music Group/Virgin Music & Artist Label Services and Range Music Publishing. Colter arrives from his multi-faceted entertainment company The Heavy Group. He will continue to manage Bazzi and co-manage clients Rose Betts, Ben Kessler, Boston & Pat, Veyah and Jay Sean with Jeremy Skaller while working to expand Range’s roster of artists on the label side. Morris most recently served as publishing A&R and manager at Electric Feel Entertainment. Cotter can be reached at jcotter@rangemp.com and Morris can be reached at fmorris@rangemp.com.
PPL named Titania Altius as head of member services and Dan Millington as senior vp/head of client services. Altius will oversee the delivery of the member services team’s operational activity and build and foster productive working relationships with PPL’s key stakeholders and industry partners around the world to develop the organization’s neighboring rights collections and distribution service. Millington will lead PPL’s member relationship management and recruitment to its international collections service. Both Altius and Millington will report to chief membership & people officer Kate Reilly. Altius can be reached at titania.altius@ppluk.com and Millington can be reached at daniel.millington@ppluk.com.
Naomi Asher was named vp of songwriter services and neighbouring rights at Sony Music Publishing UK. In her new role, Asher will be the go-to contact for SMP UK’s catalog songwriters and clients and will be tasked with expanding opportunities and driving success for their songs both locally and internationally. She will also continue overseeing the company’s neighbouring rights division. She will remain in the company’s London office, reporting to SMP UK co-managing directors David Ventura and Tim Major.
Rhea Ghosh was promoted to chief marketing officer at copyright protection service Cosynd, where she will lead all marketing and communications initiatives and consumer brand strategy. She will also head up Cosynd’s advocacy efforts with its partner network, which includes CD Baby, A2IM, the Mechanical Licensing Collective, Repost by SoundCloud, Symphonic Distribution, BookBaby, DiscMakers, AdRev, Soundrop and BeatStars. She joined the company in 2020. Ghosh can be reached at rhea.ghosh@cosynd.com.
Artist manager Keith Hagan joined MNRK Music Group, bringing his clients The Afghan Whigs, Robert Finley, Cymande, Ondara, The Whitmore Sisters and The Mastersons to the company. Hagan will be based in New York, reporting to MNRK president & CEO Chris Taylor. He most recently founded and led Skylark Artist Management. Hagan can be reached at khagan@mnrk.com.
Kate Loesch was named senior director of creative at Kobalt. The Los Angeles-based executive will sign artists and writers and with the global creative roster at Kobalt. She arrives at the company from Capitol Records, where she served as director of A&R.
CAA promoted Kate Arenson and Ron Jordan to agents in the music touring department. Jordan will continue working with ARDN, Jean Deaux and tobi lou, among others. (via THR)
Glenn Briffa was named CFO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, effective immediately; he’s served as interim CFO since July. His responsibilities include overseeing the organization’s financial, information technology and office administration functions.
Arno Van Berkel was appointed managing director at Fruits Music, a music and tech company specializing in music playlist promotion. He started his new role on Jan. 23. Van Berkel — who joins Fruits Music from Warner Chappell Music, Benelux, where he served as managing director for 15 years — will be based at the company’s headquarters in Oosterhout, Netherlands and report to Fruits Music founder & CEO Stef Van Vugt.
Centricity Music hired three new employees: Tyler Osswald as digital marketing manager, Sarah Shinn as marketing manager of radio and Camy McCardle as senior manager of finance/business affairs.
Violinist/composer Curtis Stewart has been named artistic director at the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), effective immediately. Stewart will overlap with outgoing artistic director Derek Bermel, who is concluding his 10-year tenure but will remain on ACO’s board of directors. In the position, Stewart will be tasked with conceiving, curating, selecting and programming ACO performances, readings, recordings and other programs. He is also responsible for creating programming that expresses the ACO vision, developing and maintaining relationships with individual and institutional artistic partners and setting the artistic strategy for the organization in partnership with ACO president Melissa Ngan. He will additionally work with ACO director of artist equity Garrett McQueen to offer artistic oversight to the organization’s EarShot composer advancement initiatives. Stewart can be reached at curtis@americancomposers.org.
Full Coverage Communications named Melissa O’Toole as director and Avery Robinson as senior publicist in Los Angeles. O’Toole has worked at companies including 42West, Scoop Marketing and ID PR along with several talent agencies and record labels. Robinson joins from BECK Media & Marketing. The company also announced the signing of several new clients, including Adam Lambert, Alicia Keys, Kid Harpoon, The Kid LAROI, Little big Town, Michael Buble, Ozuna and TXT.
JKBX, a start-up offering retail investors fractional shares in thousands of hit songs, said Friday (Dec. 16) it has hired executives from Spotify, NTWRK, Comcast and others as it builds out its executive team and aims for a mid-2023 launch.
Pronounced “jukebox,” the new investment platform founded and led by former Warner Music Group chief innovation officer Scott Cohen hired Whitney-Gayle Benta to be its chief music officer from Spotify, where she was global head of artist & talent relations, and Jason Brown as chief marketing officer from the livestream commerce platform NTWRK. Brown previously held top marketing roles at Foot Locker and PepsiCo.
JKBX is part Robinhood, the popular online brokerage, and part Spotify. Cohen says it will offer bite-sized investment stakes in hundreds of thousands of No. 1 songs by current artists and back catalogs belonging to rock legends for a price starting at around $10.
While several start-ups offering fractional share investing in music copyrights have launched in recent years, JKBX aims to differentiate itself with its scale, as well as by packaging the investments in SEC-registered entities and creating a platform welcoming of investors confused by blockchain and NFT jargon, says Cohen.
“This is about the interest in owning a real asset that is something you love, a piece of music,” he says. “This is a wide-open market now because retail investors have never had an opportunity to get involved. We’re creating a new asset class, building something at scale and … I think it’s going to explode.”
Cohen declined to name any of the artists or songs to which JKBX has acquired rights. But Benta, who was featured on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list this year, brings numerous artist relationships with her. In her previous role, Benta curated events including Spotify’s presence at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, which featured Kendrick Lamar, Dua Lipa and Post Malone.
Building out the technology supporting the platform will be Matt Brown, JKBX’s new chief technology officer, who previously co-founded the web3 startup Arthur, and worked at the hedge fund Citadel and the Blockchain company Ripple; and Madhav Gopal, who worked in cybersecurity operations at Comcast Cable and now serves as JKBX’s chief information security officer. Jacqueline Ortiz Ramsay joins JKBX as its chief communications and public affairs officer, having previously helmed public policy communications at Robinhood.
JKBX is structuring its offerings by putting the rights it buys into special purpose vehicles — such as an LLC — and registering them with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a step that adds an extra layer of protection for rights holders, investors and the company.
Investors can then buy and trade stakes in those entities, with the share price being determined by the song’s valuation. The entities will gain value as they are streamed, synched and played, with that revenue being paid out intermittently to investors and other JKBX partners.
JKBX is still hammering out the technology and mechanisms that will be used for its public offerings, but the company is following all existing securities laws, Cohen says.
“We believe that everything should have this regulatory wrapper because this isn’t the first time for me,” says Cohen, who founded The Orchard with Richard Gottehrer in 1997, just a few years before the dotcom bubble burst in early 2000. “There were a lot of companies that IPO’d with these silly business models and they all disappeared. But what remained was people doing business by the fundamentals leveraging the technology of the day.”
“We will use blockchain technology, but as far as the consumer knows you want to buy royalty streams, click buy, enter how much and it goes into your account,” Cohen adds.
The company has not yet picked a date for its 2023 launch, but it is “fully capitalized,” says Cohen, who is bullish about the promise of the fractional shares market.
“This is the only area where I see explosive growth. I don’t see explosive growth from VR, AR, blockchain and NFTs, gaming,” Cohen says. “We’re not substituting anything the way albums replaced singles, or cassettes replaced albums. We’re not replacing anything. We are building an entire asset on top of it. We [fractional shares investing platforms] can add billions and billions of dollars to the ecosystem.”
Jaylin Hawkins was working as a court reporter in Washington, D.C. when the pandemic hit. “Suddenly all my work froze,” they say. So the then-25-year-old did what many young adults did at the time: moved back in with their parents. Cooped up in West Palm Beach, Florida, Hawkins recalls friends urging them to get on TikTok. “At the time I thought TikTok was just for kids doing dance moves,” Hawkins admits. But without much else to do, they gave it a try by uploading videos that offered new music suggestions and entertainment news recaps.
Meanwhile in San Luis Obisbo, California, then-college senior Max Motely was also starting to share self-taped videos, highlighting his favorite emerging artists on TikTok. He says he had spent the whole spring relentlessly applying for music business jobs, hoping his summer internship at Paradigm would at least help him land a mail room gig, but with live music shuttered and increased competition for remaining music jobs, Motely found himself 20 applications deep and with no offer letter in sight.
After researching how other people found their first gigs in music, Motely became inspired by the do-it-yourself nature of starting a blog like Jacob Moore’s Pigeons and Planes or a YouTube channel like Anthony Fantano’s The Needle Drop. He thought, since no one was hiring anyway, he might as well spend his quarantine building a TikTok account to recommend music instead, giving the blog and YouTube critic a Gen-Z twist. “I thought this would make sense as the next format for a music blog,” he says, noting the app’s fast-paced nature and its already solid usership of young people.
For many of TikTok’s most successful music curators, the pandemic acted as a catalyst for getting on the app to share recommendations of new songs, and now, about two years later, these videos made in their childhood bedrooms are responsible for launching successful careers in the music business. Plenty of headlines have espoused the merits of using TikTok to promote new artists and songs, but less has been said about the new class of music business executives beginning to break on the app too, circumventing the notoriously exclusive path into the industry usually required.
On TikTok, there seems to be a place for anyone with passion to find an audience, due to algorithms that can quickly connect niche creators with niche audiences. Instead of the traditional model of social media, dependent on following friends to build out news feeds, TikTok serves up content based on shared interests. Because of this, if TikTok thinks a user is a fan of bedroom pop, often that user will be shown Motely’s latest video about the subgenre, even if they don’t follow him.
This constant creator discovery allows fledgling music curators to build a quick, loyal audience on TikTok, perhaps easier than any other app. That’s what happened for Motely’s account “Mostley Music” which swelled to 231K followers for recommending “everything from indie pop to hip-hop,” as he says in his characteristic tagline. Hawkins’ account, called “Pablo the Don,” also quickly amassed a following. Now at 222.5K followers, Hawkins’ is known for telling it to you straight, whether that’s offering their opinion on music news or sharing songs from overlooked artists, often from marginalized communities.
Other curators who started building their accounts at the same time as Motely and Hawkins have come to own other niches as music curators. Jesea Lee, for example, gained a presence sharing his favorite rock, alt, and metal picks to the millennial and older Gen Z set, Carla Turi of “Carla’s Infinite Playlist” built her following by sharing her thoughtful playlists of indie rock, folk and acoustic songs to an audience of mostly women and LGBTQ+ viewers. Ari Elkins went for the everyman by suggesting tracks to fit relatable situations, rather than genres – like driving in the car with the windows down.
“It’s crazy how you can build something yourself and leapfrog these [early steps] in the music business,” Elkins says of building his TikTok account. “Now you don’t have to wait on anyone.” When he started out, he was a student at University of Michigan, working part time as a college rep for Warner. After focusing on widening his TikTok presence during quarantine, he’s now perhaps the biggest music curator on the app with 1.9 million followers and counting and has leveraged that following into a successful hosting career, including Spotify Live’s Soundtrack Your Day, Simon Cowell and TikTok’s Stem Drop, and various Live Nation events. Long term, he says he wants to be thought of as Gen Z’s Zane Lowe.
To William Gruger, global music programs for TikTok, these kinds of music curators are already this generation’s “new media personalities,” pointing out the similarities in cultural taste making between these creators on TikTok and VJs at the height of MTV’s reign.
Within a year of posting as Mostley Music, Motely found himself suddenly able to break into the industry which felt impenetrable to him just months earlier. Atlantic and Interscope/ Darkroom offered him A&R consultant gigs and Spotify tapped him as co-host of their Spotify Live show Lorem Life. And just a few months ago, Motely co-founded a label of his own. Called Music Soup, the record label provides expertise in digital marketing and was the first to use TikTok Sound On as a distributor. Motely says if it hadn’t been for building out Mostley Music during quarantine, he’d probably be working his way up slowly in the ranks from the assistant level of a record label – not founding his own at age 24.
Hawkins is still focusing on building their numbers on TikTok with the long term goal of being a major personality rather than an executive, but in 2021, their account led them to a full time gig on the social media team at United Masters which allows them better access to the industry and the ability to earn a steady wage from content creation.
Turi says curating Carla’s Infinite Playlist proved to be “absolutely instrumental” in landing her “dream” job as folk and acoustic curator at Spotify. “It gave me the credibility to have the position I’m in,” she says. Lee, who is now a DJ for SiriusXM Octane and works with events like Lollapalooza and When We Were Young, goes further to call building his TikTok music curation account “life changing.”
Some curators have slowed their use of the app – like Turi and Motely – after earning the highly-coveted industry roles, but others still make posting on TikTok to be a major priority. For those curators interested in more public-facing roles in music, maintaining their account can be instrumental to landing brand partnerships and paid hosting gigs off-platform.
No matter what they are doing with the app now, their ability to use TikTok as a career launchpad has proven that the app has further democratized not only which artists can succeed but also who can become an industry tastemaker.
“I wasn’t born into this business,” Hawkins says. “So I had to find my own way in. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, but now I have even bigger goals for the future.”
AEG Presents UK has appointed Chris Wareing to senior vp of global touring and hired Paris Harding as a promoter, the company announced on Thursday (Dec. 8).
Wareing — a leading hip-hop, rap and R&B promoter as well as the founder of the annual Gods of Rap tour — joins AEG with the view of expanding the company’s hip-hop and rap presence across the globe. Wareing joins AEG from SJM Concerts, where he served for the last 10 years as a promoter. Harding brings with him a wealth of skills and experience in the rap space and also served as a promoter at SJM Concerts.
“Having worked alongside Chris for a number of years and admired his presence from afar, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have him join our team,” said AEG Presents UK CEO Steve Homer in a statement announcing the hires. “He’ll be working closely with myself and my colleague Gary Gersh [president of global touring and talent, AEG Presents] at an international level, to drive our footprint in these important genres forward. It’s rare to come across talent at the level he and Paris exhibit and I couldn’t think of a better way to close out a stellar year.”
In his own statement, Wareing added, “I’m excited to kick off the New Year with a new challenge booking globally with AEG. I admire the vision and work of the company and I’m looking forward to further driving their presence in the hip hop and rap space.”
LONDON — Less than a year after being appointed chief executive of the Association for Electronic Music, Silvia Montello is exiting the global trade body to become CEO of AIM, the London-based Association of Independent Music.
Montello takes up the new post on Jan. 31. She will succeed Paul Pacifico, who leaves AIM later this month to head up the Saudi Music Commission, where he will be responsible for developing and championing the music sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In April, the London-based Montello was appointed the first female CEO of the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM). The New York-headquartered non-profit organization, founded in 2013, represents the interests of over 250 electronic music companies across 25 countries.
Montello’s appointment as CEO of AIM — which represents more than 1,000 U.K. indie labels, artists and music companies, including Beggars Group, Domino, Warp and Ninja Tune — comes on the back of another strong year for independent labels and artists in the United Kingdom. According to labels trade body BPI, independently released music made up 29% of the U.K.’s recorded music market in the first 10 months of 2022, up from 27% for the whole of 2021 — when total recorded music sales reached £1.3 billion ($1.6 million) in the U.K. — and an increase of 30% from 2017, when independents claimed a 22% share.
Independently released albums that have topped the U.K. albums chart this year include Arctic Monkeys’ The Car, Wet Leg’s self-titled debut, Fontaines D.C.’s Skinty Fia and rapper Central Cee’s 23.
“The growth of the indie sector has been fantastic to see and what’s really exciting about it is the rise in grass roots independent artists who are self-releasing and creating their own teams and finding ways of being able to build their own fanbase,” Montello tells Billboard.
Despite the growth, it remains difficult for many DIY and independent artists to make a decent living from streaming alone, she says, echoing well-publicized discontent from the creator community over low returns from music streams.
In her new role as CEO of AIM, Montello — who has been an active member of the U.K. trade body for several years — says she will continue the organization’s push for an “equitable and fair” split of streaming revenues but will also focus on educating and training independent artists and businesses about how they can monetize their art in the fast-changing music ecosystem.
“Looking outside of the reliance on just the major streaming platforms is going to be more of a significant conversation and trend going forward,” she says, citing the metaverse, Web3 and growth of neighboring rights revenues as potential avenues for artists to maximize their future earning potential.
“We always need to be looking forward and making sure that we’re trying to anticipate where there may be new opportunities for our members, but also anticipate where there may be challenges arising and making sure that we’re up to speed with everything,” says Montello.
Prior to heading AFEM, Montello held senior executive roles at the U.K. arm of Universal Music Group, where she worked as director of catalog marketing between 2006 and 2010, and BMG, where, according to her LinkedIn profile, she served as group senior vp of recordings operations and integrations from 2014 to 2016. She was subsequently appointed senior vp of operations at the then-Kobalt-owned artist services company AWAL, a post she held from 2017 to 2020.
More recently, Montello held senior posts at music rights data platform Blokur and Audio Network, a U.K.-based creator and publisher of music for film, television and digital content. Since 2011, she has also acted as CEO of Voicebox Consulting, which has worked with music companies and charities that include BMG, PIAS and the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Montello co-founded and is director of #remarQabl, an electronic music label services and publishing company that champions female, LGBTQ+ and underrepresented artists, and is a trustee for U.K. charity Help Musicians.
In a press release announcing Montello’s appointment, AIM chair Nadia Khan called the executive a “fantastic leader” whose “extensive industry background, contact base, business development skills, passion for diversity and inclusion, and vision for the future bring renewed leadership to AIM.”
Association for Electronic Music co-founders Ben Turner and Kurosh Nasseri congratulated Montello on what they called a “landmark appointment” for both her and the genre of electronic music.
“It is amazing to see an organization as influential as AIM looking to our sector and actually to our own trade body AFEM for their next leader,” Turner and Nasseri say in a statement. They thanked Montello for “her valuable input into AFEM in her short time with us” and said the organization has begun the process of recruiting a new CEO to succeed her.
Montello says she looks forward to “really getting under the skin of AIM” and doing all that she can to make the independent music business flourish, help artists avoid burnout and add to the “richness and diversity” of music coming out of the United Kingdom.
“Because if we don’t have that from the independent sector, where a lot of the creativity comes from the grass roots, the margins and underrepresented groups who have got something to say,” she says, “then all music lovers are going to miss out.”
Jeff Blackburn is retiring.
The head of Amazon’s Global Entertainment Group will sign off from the company in January after more than two decades with the retail giant and streaming platform. The moves were announced Friday via internal memos from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Blackburn himself.
The news comes a year and a half after Blackburn returned from a yearlong sabbatical in a new role as head of the company’s global entertainment group that included combined oversight of music, audio entertainment, games and video for the company.
Blackburn’s decision to retire comes after a busy week at Amazon. The e-commerce giant this week fully integrated MGM into its exec ranks after its $8.5 billion purchase of the storied studio closed in May. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke was given oversight of MGM’s film and TV divisions, while senior vp Mike Hopkins landed premium cable network Epix and unscripted content. With Blackburn’s exit, Hopkins will report directly to Jassy. Salke, who won MGM’s film oversight, reports to Hopkins.
Before his sabbatical, Blackburn had been a key intermediary between Amazon’s head office, Amazon Studios and head Jennifer Salke as Amazon Prime competes in an increasingly competitive streaming space with Netflix and new Hollywood studio entrants.
With Blackburn’s retirement, Jassy said Hopkins will continue to lead Prime Video, Amazon Studios and MGM and will report directly to the CEO. Steve Boom will now add Audible, Twitch and games on top of Amazon’s music and podcasting teams, also reporting to Jassy.
Here are memos from Jassy and Blackburn:
I wanted to share the news that Jeff Blackburn has decided to retire from Amazon.
Jeff joined Amazon in 1998 after helping guide the company through its IPO at Deutsche Bank. He’s done a lot of building over two-plus decades, including helping build our 3P marketplace, Advertising, Amazon Studios/Prime Video, and Music businesses, as well as leading our A9/Search and CorpDev & BusDev orgs.
As you know, Jeff returned to Amazon in May of last year to lead our media and entertainment businesses (Prime Video and Amazon Studios, Music, Podcasts/Wondery, Audible, Games, and Twitch). Over the past year and a half, he’s helped set us up for continued success in media and entertainment. Just to name a few successes, in its first season, Rings of Power broke all previous Prime Video records for the most viewers, and has driven more Prime sign-ups worldwide during its launch window than any other previous content; the first season of Thursday Night Football on Prime is driving higher viewership across the board than last year’s linear TV results for TNF, including with the important 18-34 age demographic where viewership has grown 20% over last season; and we recently closed and integrated the acquisition of MGM. Amazon wouldn’t be the same company without Jeff, and I’d like to thank him for his many contributions to the company’s success thus far and in the future.
We’re going to take this time to make some leadership changes. Mike Hopkins, who leads Prime Video, Amazon Studios, and MGM, will continue to lead these teams and report to me directly. Steve Boom, who has been leading our Music and Podcasting teams, will also now oversee our Audible, Twitch, and Games businesses — and report into me as well. Both Mike and Steve are excellent, deeply experienced leaders, and I look forward to working more with them both (and their teams).
This transition will happen effective January 1st, though Jeff will remain at Amazon through early 2023 to help ensure a smooth transition.
Please feel free to share the news with your teams as you wish.
Andy
Team, some news today:
I’m planning on retiring from Amazon in January, after more than 25 years and working closely with the company since its 1997 IPO. The last 18 months have been a thrill – working with all of you in GME and launching some of our biggest, boldest projects ever in entertainment and sports. But I’ve decided to spend 2023 differently, giving more time to family, and feel strongly this is the right decision for me. Andy & I have been working through a transition plan and he’ll be sharing those details soon, stay tuned.
Amazon’s opportunities in media, entertainment and sports have never been bigger. I see exciting times ahead for you all. Please know that I’ll remain close … as a fan, mentor, and ambassador for Amazon’s creative businesses – forever. I’m very grateful for all the close friendships, across all the 25 years, and all of the teams, studios, streaming services and businesses that we were able to build together.
Thank you, amazing Amazonians. –jblack
This story was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Michèle Hamelink was named managing director of Sony Music Publishing Benelux. In the role, Hamelink will oversee and implement creative strategy across Benelux, including building and strengthening relationships with clients, local societies and industry partners and expanding songwriter support and service offerings. Based in the company’s Benelux office, Hamelink will also continue in her existing role of senior A&R. She reports to Sony Music Publishing president of international Guy Henderson.
Layla Amjadi was hired as head of music expression at Spotify. In her new role, Amjadi will oversee a team that builds formats enabling “artists, aspiring creators and fans to creatively express themselves through and around music in new ways.” She arrives at the streaming service from Gemini, where she served as vp of product and general manager. Prior to that, she worked in various roles at Meta/Instagram for nearly a decade. She reports to Charlie Hellman, vp and global head of music product.
BMG announced a new A&R structure for its Madrid-based operation, with Marcos Fairweather leading on the recordings side and Javier Doria fronting the publishing side. Fairweather joins from Universal Music Spain, where he was A&R director. Doria has been with BMG since July 2020, when he joined the company to lead A&R across publishing and recordings. Both will report to Albert Slendebroek, who also oversees BMG in Scandinavia. Under their direction, the company will target growth in the Spanish language market, with a renewed focus on established artists.
Dani Oliva was named vp of business and legal affairs at Suzy Ryoo and Troy Carter‘s Venice Music. Oliva, a transgender man, joins the company from Oliva Law Group, P.C., which he established in 2017. “We are beyond proud to welcome Dani to Venice,” said Ryoo in a statement. “With his legal expertise as well as the distance traveled in his personal & professional journey, he is an incredible addition to our team and community at Venice.” Oliva can be reached at dani@venicemusic.co.
The Association of Independent Music (AIM) appointed Nina Radojewski as head of membership, a newly created role that brings together AIM’s membership, events and marketing and communications functions under her leadership. Previously AIM’s professional development lead, Radojewski will oversee the creation and execution of the organization’s membership strategy while continuing to lead professional development initiatives for members, including the AIM Academy and the Associate Members’ Knowledge Base. AIM’s outgoing membership manager, Jude McArdle, is stepping down after more than five years in the role. Radojewski can be reached at nina@aim.org.uk.
Cameo Carlson was appointed CEO at mtheory, where she’s worked since 2017. Also promoted at the artist development and management services company are Michael Corcoran, upped to general manager; Carmela Frangella, formerly controller, elevated to CFO; Amy Davidson, promoted to executive vp; Vince Amoroso, named senior vp, head of marketing; Jonah Berry, upped to vp of marketing out of New York and Los Angeles; and Kaitlyn Moore, promoted to vp of marketing out of Nashville. The company also hired Ed Rivadavia as senior vp, head of digital. Carlson can be reached at cameo@mtheory.com, Corcoran can be reached at michaelc@mtheory.com, Frangella can be reached at carmela@mtheory.com, Davidson can be reached at amy@mtheory.com, Amoroso can be reached at vince@mtheory.com, Berry can be reached at jonah@mtheory.com and Moore can be reached at kaitlyn@mtheory.com.
On-demand vinyl platform elasticStage appointed Raoul Chatterjee as COO. He joins the company from SoundCloud, where he served as vp of content partnerships & operations. Based in London, the Billboard 2021 International Power Player will report to elasticStage founder and CEO Steve Rhodes. Chatterjee can be reached at raoul.chatterjee@elasticstage.com.
Megan Schultz was promoted to label manager at Riser House Entertainment. She will continue to oversee all label operations and scheduling for artists signed to the company’s Riser House Records label, along with label services clients. Schutz can be reached at Megan.Schultz@RiserHouse.com.
Chase Butters was named vp of sync at Concord Music Publishing out of Los Angeles. Butters will lead a team focused on increasing and enhancing Concord’s synch placements in advertising. He reports to senior vp of sync Brooke Primont and can be reached at chase.butters@concord.com.
ATC Management added a trio of new manager partners: Brandon Sanchez, Jordan Alper and Ben Rafson. All three will join manager partner Fabienne Leys and general manager Jessica Fekete at ATC’s newly opened New York office. Sanchez and Alper bring their joint management client Yaeji to the company, while Rafson brings artist clients Avalon Emerson and Jacques Greene. Sanchez joins from New York-based record label RVNG Intl. and also co-runs independent record labels SLINK and Human Pitch; Alper has worked as a talent buyer and producer for Red Bull Music Academy NY, Trevanna Entertainment and Does Festival; and Rafson, who has been in management for nearly 15 years with a focus on electronic musicians, recently founded and serves as executive director of The Rising Artist Foundation grant system. Rafson can be reached at ben@atcmanagement.com, Alper can be reached at jordan@atcmanagement.com and Sanchez can be reached at brandon@atcmanagement.com.
Melanie Seddon was promoted to vp of brand marketing at TuneCore. She will oversee all brand marketing efforts for the company as well as brand partnerships.
Elvin Sabla has been named creative brand director at Shore Fire Media, where he will oversee the PR firm’s branding and content strategy. Sabla most recently led editorial for Crypto.com’s NFT platform.
ASM Global named Kelvin D. Moore regional vp and general manager of McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Moore will focus on creating new programs and partnerships. Moore was previously regional vp and general manager for ASM Global at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. He succeeds David Causton, who has served as general manager of the venue since 2004. Moore can be reached at kmoore@asmglobal.com.
Jen Moss was hired as a senior synch executive at Bucks Music Group. Previously at Warner Music UK, she arrives at Bucks after several years away from the industry for personal reasons. She can be reached at jmoss@bucksmusicgroup.co.uk.
Rebecca Trujillo Vest, Carls Woolf and Jordan Stobbe launched Pandion Music Foundation (PMF), a nonprofit organization designed to help foster growth in the music creator community by providing the tools and networks needed to build careers “across all lines of diversity and inclusion,” according to a press release. Partners at launch include Earthstar Creation Center, 2indie.com and Sweetwater. PMF previously partnered with 2indie, a synch coaching agency, to hold a global 24-hour “Sync-O-Thon” on Sept. 28, 2022, which helped support emerging artists by bringing in music professionals to provide feedback on their songs. PMF subsequently offered workshops by Sam Knack, Nick Phelps and others. Trujillo Vest, Woolf and Stobbe first met through an online songwriting course during the pandemic. Trujillo Vest can be reached at rebecca@pandionmusicfoundation.org and Stobbe can be reached at jordan@pandionmusicfoundation.org.