Executive Turntable
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Rich Paul, founder and CEO of Klutch Sports Group and United Talent Agency board member and head of sports, has joined the board of directors at Live Nation. Paul, who is longtime partner of pop superstar Adele, boasts a client list that includes LeBron James, John Wall, Anthony Davis and Draymond Green and “brings a valuable perspective from sports, business, entertainment and more,” said Greg Maffei, chairman of the Live Nation board of directors. “We’re fortunate to welcome him as a new addition to our board.”
Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino noted that “Rich understands what it takes to help talent develop a long and successful career. His input will be a great addition as we continue driving more value for artists and their fans through live shows.”
Paul, who has regularly been named one of the most powerful agents in sports by Forbes, ESPN and Sports Illustrated — which crowned him “The King Maker” on a 2019 cover — got his start working with James in 2003. He later joined CAA and went on to launch his sports agency Klutch in 2012. In 2020, he became the first African American to sit on the board of UTA, which made a significant investment in his company Klutch the year prior. Last year, he inked a deal with New Balance for the launch of the Klutch Athletics clothing line.
“Live Nation’s artist-centric approach to business makes this a really natural fit for me,” said Paul in a statment. “Going to an event live is one of the most powerful ways to experience sports and music, and I look forward to contributing to the company and the industry in this new way.”
TJ Landig was promoted to senior vp of marketing at Warner Records. Based in Los Angeles, he reports to executive vp of marketing & artist development Dionnee Harper. Among other duties, Landig manages the labels’ partnership with 88rising. He can be reached at tj.landig@warnerrecords.com.
Pete Nash joined Primary Talent International as a partner, effective immediately. Nash is the eighth partner to join the company since it regained its independence from CAA in March via a management-led buyout. Nash joined ICM in 2020 and worked closely with the Primary Talent team until CAA’s acquisition of ICM in June 2022. Nash brings clients Kings of Leon, Pet Shop Boys, Regina Spektor, Steve Winwood and Travis to the agency.
Roberto Neri joined Believe as CEO of Believe Publishing following the company’s acquisition of Sentric Music Group in March. Along with Sentric founder/CEO Chris Meehan, Neri will “build a service for songwriters and publishers, in a way that is both innovative and complementary with Believe’s core recorded music offering,” according to Neri’s post on LinkedIn announcing his hire. He was most recently CEO at Utopia Music Services, Sentric’s former parent company.
Elsewhere at Believe, the company’s U.K. office announced several promotions. They include Malena Wolfer, upped from head of artist services to director of artist services; Ben Rimmer, elevated from label & artist solutions director, Believe UK to regional director label & artist solutions, Believe UK & Northern Europe; and Panos Polimatidis, promoted from head of artist relations to head of label & artist solutions. Wolfer will focus on high-profile signings and partnerships and explore joint venture opportunities, Rimmer will help grow Believe’s operations in Benelux and Scandinavia, and Polimatidis will be responsible for business development across both the label and artist distribution divisions while also overseeing the client relationship management team. Wolfer and Rimmer will report to Believe UK managing director Alex Kennedy while Polimatidis will report to Rimmer.
Leslie Rosales joined Rostrum Records as head of marketing. In the role, she will develop and lead marketing plans for the independent label — creating marketing opportunities across all digital service providers, securing brand partnerships and partnering with creative teams to develop content that supports artist and label goals. Rosales, who will report to Rostrum Records president Erika Montes, joins Rostrum from High Standardz, where she will continue as a consultant for the label’s emerging artists, including Coco Jones and Lady London. She can be reached at leslie@rostrumrecords.com.
Sofia Ilyas was named chief community officer at The Beatport Group, where she will oversee the company’s diversity, inclusion and social action efforts. She will also lead corporate communications, spearhead the strategy for emerging growth markets and manage Beatport’s partnerships with DJ and product community organizations globally. She most recently served as a director at headphone company Nura. Ilyas will be based out of Beatport’s London office and can be reached at sofia.ilyas@beatport.com.
Mark Collen has departed his role as executive vp of international operations at Sony Music to launch a new consultancy firm called Night Manager Entertainment. The new firm will offer strategic leadership and international marketing consulting to clients across the music industry. Collen can be reached at mark@nightmanager-entertainment.com.
The Country Music Association (CMA) promoted four employees: Tiffany Kerns to senior vp of industry relations & philanthropy, Catharine McNelly to vp of communications, Ben Balch to senior director of accounting & financial planning, and Michael Farris to senior director of business strategy & insights. Among other duties, Kerns will continue overseeing the direction and management of CMA membership including operations, programming, events and the organization’s newly launched membership structure; McNelly will take on a greater strategic role with communications and talent relations efforts across all of CMA’s events, programs and initiatives; Balch will continue to oversee reporting and financial standing for both CMA and the CMA Foundation; and Farris will lead the ticketing, data architecture and insights teams and serve as the lead ticketing strategist for all CMA events. Kerns can be reached at tkerns@cmaworld.com, McNelly can be reached at cmcnelly@cmaworld.com, Balch can be reached at bbalch@cmaworld.com and Farris can be reached at mfarris@cmaworld.com.
Anna Pittman was hired as vp of artist development at Warner Music Nashville. Pittman previously served as an artist development and marketing consultant for Warner Music Group and, prior to that, worked at Q Prime Artist Management for over 14 years.
FreshTracks Music UK, a new MCPS Production Music publisher, launched with John Clifford — former global head of BMG Production Music and managing director U.K. at Universal Music Publishing — serving as managing director. In the role, Clifford will be responsible for building the Martin Nedved-founded company’s U.K. team and label partners while continuing to run his consultancy business, True Road Music. Along with its own repertoire, FreshTracks Music UK will sub-publish select production music from international labels, expanding the wider FreshTracks Music network that currently operates in 10 European countries. Clifford can be reached at john.clifford@freshtracksmusic.co.uk.
Oak View Group (OVG) promoted Drew Gershenson to vp of content for Greater Palm Springs’ Acrisure Arena and vp of OVG’s Southwest division. Gershenson joined OVG in December 2021 and previously served as director of booking for Acrisure Arena. He will report to John Page, senior vp of Acrisure Arena, the Coachella Valley Firebirds and OVG360 Facilities. In his new role, Gershenson will continue to lead the day-to-day programming for the Acrisure Arena and support other OVG-managed properties including Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, Mullett Arena in Tempe and Tahoe Blue Arena, which is scheduled to open this summer in South Lake Tahoe.
Mike Reynolds and Norman Jacob launched MNJR, a new full-service artist and label management group based in Nashville where they will both serve as managing partners. The firm launches with a roster that includes The Mavericks and the solo career of the group’s frontman, Raul Malo, as well as their label imprint Mono Mundo Recordings; alt-country group 49 Winchester; and emerging artist McKinley James. The MNJR team at launch also includes Rudy Newman, who will serve as operations manager. Reynolds can be reached at mreynolds@mnjr.co, Jacob can be reached at norman@mnjr.co and Newman can be reached at rudy@mnjr.co.
Marni Greenberg joined Sofar Sounds as vp of communications. She was most recently head of music communications at YouTube, where she worked for six years.
Amy Van-Baaren was promoted to the newly-created role of chief impact and culture officer at Resident Advisor; her previous title was head of community. In her new role, Van-Baaren will continue overseeing the company’s philanthropic initiatives while overseeing the internal company culture, community partnerships and Resident Advisor’s non-profit jobs board, Doors Open. She can be reached at avb@ra.co.
Josh Miely was promoted to vp of content design and development at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), effective April 27. In his new role, Miely will lead the design, development and delivery of content programming for NAB Show events, while also supporting content and program development efforts for virtual events on NAB Amplify, as well as regional and community-based events for the organization. He’ll report to NAB executive vp/managing director, global connections and events Chris Brown. Miely was previously director of member experience, industry affairs.
Leading livestreaming firm Bulldog DM hired Gilad Gershoni as its new chief strategy officer. Prior to joining Bulldog DM, Gershoni served as Twitter’s live video specialist and as senior live streaming producer at MLB Advanced Media. Gershoni will work closely with Bulldog DM’s founder/CEO John Petrocelli, COO Simon Rust Lamb and chief technology officer Peter Kahn to deliver cutting-edge solutions that meet the needs of Bulldog DM’s clients. He can be reached at gilad@bulldogdm.com.
Megan Kleinschmidt was hired as director of regional promotion at Monument Records. She joins the company from Universal Music Group, where she worked on the Capitol Nashville promotion team. In her new role, she will be responsible for the West Coast, where she’ll represent the full Monument roster.
Southern California music festival Desert Daze launched the record label Desert Daze Sound in partnership with Partisan Records, which will distribute releases on the imprint; Desert Daze’s Phil Pirrone will lead the label’s curation. The first release on the label will be Zango, the first album in nearly 40 years from “Zamrock” legends (and Desert Daze veterans) WITCH, which is set for release on June 2. The label will additionally put out a vinyl compilation series titled LIVE @ Desert Daze!
Three top Universal Music Group Nashville executives have exited their roles: executive vp of promotion Royce Risser, evp of A&R Brian Wright and senior vp of A&R Stephanie Wright, according to Country Aircheck. Representatives at UMG Nashville did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Risser was promoted to evp in 2018. He began his career as an intern at MCA Records in 1991 and climbed the ranks as director, NE regional promotion, then director of national promotion and vp of promotion before assuming the role of svp of promotion for UMG Nashville in 2007.
Stephanie Wright joined UMGN more than two decades ago and previously served as vp of A&R. During her tenure with the label, Wright worked with artists including Kacey Musgraves, Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt, and was instrumental in albums including Musgraves’ Same Trailer Different Park and Hunt’s Montevallo.
Brian Wright also joined UMGN over two decades ago and was promoted to his evp role in 2018 and worked closely on albums including Jamey Johnson’s Lonesome Song, George Strait’s Troubadour and Chris Stapleton’s Traveller and From A Room Vols. 1 and 2.
The exits of the Wrights — who are married — and Risser come as Cindy Mabe officially began her role as UMG Nashville chairman/CEO on April 1, following former UMGN chairman/CEO Mike Dungan‘s retirement. Mabe was named president of UMGN in 2014 and with her rise to chairman/CEO, she becomes the first woman to serve as chairman/CEO of a Nashville-based major label group.
Earlier this year, Katie Dean left UMG after a two-decade tenure with the company; Dean had led MCA Nashville’s promotion team since 2015. In 2022, UMG Nashville’s Rachel Fontenot exited her role as vp of marketing and artist development, while vp of marketing Brad Turcotte left UMG Nashville to become partner at 615 Leverage + Strategy.
Meanwhile, former Arista Nashville artist Brad Paisley recently signed a deal with UMG’s EMI Nashville imprint.
Satellite radio company SiriusXM Holdings said on Tuesday (April 4) that Thomas Barry will take over as chief financial officer later this month, according to a company statement.
Barry succeeds Sean Sullivan, who is leaving Sirius on April 28 for an opportunity at another publicly traded company “outside the industry,” according to the statement.
Barry, a 14-year veteran of SiriusXM, takes on the job of head of finances amid a company-wide reorganization that involved eliminating 475 jobs in March, as SiriusXM shifts resources into technology initiatives.
Barry has experience in “organizational transformation,” the company said, having played a key role in the integration of Sirius and XM after its 2008 merger, including as it relates to Pandora and the connected vehicle business. Barry previously served as senior vice president and controller and as chief accounting officer at the company.
“Tom is an experienced leader who has played a key role on SiriusXM’s finance team for the last fourteen years and … (who) has deep insight into our business and SiriusXM’s strategic, operating and financial priorities,” Jennifer Witz, SiriusXM’s chief executive officer said in the statement.
SiriusXM will report its first quarter 20203 financial results on April 27.
WWE and the company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship will combine to create a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company.
A new publicly traded company will house the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment brands, with Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. taking a 51% controlling interest in the new company. Existing WWE shareholders will hold a 49% stake.
The companies put the enterprise value of UFC at $12.1 billion and WWE’s value at $9.3 billion.
The new business, which does not yet have a name, will be lead by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. Vince McMahon, executive chairman at WWE, will serve in the same role at the new company. Dana White will continue as president of UFC and Nick Khan will be president at WWE.
“Together, we will be a $21+ billion live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” McMahon said in a prepared statement Monday.
He also provided some idea of where the focus of the new company will be, saying that it will look to maximize the value of combined media rights, enhance sponsorship monetization, develop new forms of content and pursue other strategic mergers and acquisitions to further bolster their brands.
Ties already exists talent wise between WWE and UFC, with stars such as Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey crossing over between the two businesses.
The deal between Endeavor and WWE catapults WWE into a new era, after functioning as a family-run business for decades. McMahon purchased Capitol Wrestling from his father in 1982, and took the regional wrestling business to a national audience with the likes of wrestling stars such as Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The company, which changed its name to World Wrestling Federation and later World Wrestling Entertainment, hosted its first WrestleMania in 1985.
McMahon, in an interview with CNBC, addressed the notion that there was doubt among some WWE fans and industry experts that he would ever make a deal for the business. “It’s the right time to do the right thing. And it’s the next evolution of WWE,” he said.
The announcement of the WWE sale arrives after McMahon, the founder and majority shareholder of WWE, returned to the company in January and said that it could be up for sale.
Rumors swirled about who would possibly be interested in buying WWE, with Endeavor, Disney, Fox, Comcast, Amazon and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund all in the mix.
McMahon acknowledged to CNBC that there were several suitors for WWE, but that combining with Endeavor is the right move.
“It makes all the sense in the world for all these synergies that we have to extract all of the value that we can out of the marketplace,” he explained.
Media industry analysts viewed WWE as an attractive target given its global reach and loyal fanbase, which includes everyone from minors to seniors and a wide range of incomes.
The company held its marquee event, WrestleMania, over the weekend. Last year, WWE booked revenue of $1.3 billion.
The company is also a social media powerhouse. It surpassed 16 billion social video views in the final quarter of last year. It has nearly 94 million YouTube subscribers and has more than 20 million followers on TikTok. Its female wrestlers comprise five out of the top 15 most followed female athletes in the world, across Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, led by Ronda Rousey with 36.1 million followers.
WWE had more than 7.5 billion digital and social media views in January and February of this year, up 15% from the same time frame a year ago.
The new company plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the “TKO” ticker symbol. Its board will have 11 members, with six being appointed by Endeavor and five being appointed by WWE.
“We like the assets of UFC and also WWE in a world where linear TV is losing market share to streaming, thus live sport content is in high demand,” wrote Jeffries analyst Randal Konik said in a note to clients.
The transaction, which was approved by the boards of Endeavor and WWE, is targeted to close in the second half of the year. It still needs regulatory approval.
Shares of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., based in Stamford, Connecticut, are up 33% this year, but fell 5% at the opening bell Monday. Shares of Endeavor, based in Beverly Hills, California, slipped less than 1%.
Downtown Music continues to reconfigure its business with the appointment of Emily Stephenson as its new president of publishing and Jedd Katrancha as chief commercial officer. Along with the new leaders, global president of Downtown Music Services, Mike Smith, has stepped down “to pursue several personal projects and to focus on his ongoing charitable work,” according to a press release. News of the leadership shuffle arrives just over a week after the company’s CEO, Andrew Bergman, wrote a letter to Downtown staff announcing a second round of layoffs, citing the “reorganization” of the company. Stephenson, who most recently served as the division’s vp of business operations, will now oversee all publishing efforts at Downtown Music, including client acquisition and business development, A&R, rights management and client services for the group’s publishing companies: Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust and Sheer. She will be joined in these efforts by Jedd Katrancha, who was promoted to chief commercial officer of publishing. Katrancha will oversee business development, A&R and synch for Downtown’s publishing companies. – Kristin Robinson
ASCAP announced the 12 writer and 12 publisher members elected to serve on its board of directors for a two-year term beginning Saturday (April 1). In addition to ASCAP president/chairman of the board Paul Williams, writer members re-elected in the at-large field include composer/songwriter Jon Batiste; composer Richard Bellis; composer Bruce Broughton; songwriter/producer Desmond Child; composer Sharon Farber; writer vice chair composer Dan Foliart; songwriter/composer Michelle Lewis; composer/producer Marcus Miller; songwriter Jimmy Webb; and composer Doug Wood. Composer Alex Shapiro was re-elected in the symphonic and concert field. Meanwhile, the newly elected publisher director is Jon Singer (Spirit Music), while the publisher directors re-elected in the at-large field are Peter Brodsky (Sony Music Publishing); Bob Bruderman (Kobalt); Marti Cuevas (Mayimba Music); Keith Hauprich (BMG US); Dean Kay (Lichelle Music Company); Evan Lamberg (Universal Music Publishing Group); Leeds Levy (Leeds Music); Carianne Marshall (Warner Chappell Music); Mary Megan Peer (peermusic); and publisher vice chair Irwin Z. Robinson (Cromwell Music). James M. Kendrick of European American Music was re-elected in the symphonic and concert field.
Katie Soo was named chief business officer at live event ticketing platform DICE; she joins from educational subscription platform KiwiCo, where she served as chief marketing officer and remains as an advisor. In her role, Soo will oversee DICE’s consumer marketing, business-to-business marketing, fan experience, brand and creative, new growth initiatives and social and communications teams.
[PIAS] appointed Tom Keil as global head of dance and electronic/executive vp of A&R. Based in London, Keil joins the company from Ultra Music in Europe, where he served as general manager/vp of A&R. He can be reached at tom.keil@pias.com.
Business-to-business music and streaming solutions provider Tuned Global announced the hire and promotion of six team members to “supercharge” its business in Europe, according to a press release. Jonas Norberg, founder of DJ artificial intelligence company Pacemaker, was named the company’s head of AI and brings two members of his Pacemaker team with him: co-founder/chief technology officer Daniel Wallner and product development director Victor Garcia. Also hired were Daniel Kirby (as presales technical consultant) and Mateus Moura (as customer success manager), who will both work with Tuned Global’s senior vp/head of EMEA Rick Gleave to provide customers with technical support and insights. Lastly, Virginie Chelles was promoted to vp/head of marketing & communications; now located in France, she will work to boost the company’s growth in the territory.
Sounds and samples marketplace Splice hired Kevin Stewart as senior vp of engineering and David Ericksen as senior vp of product. Both will report to Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava. Stewart joins from Harvest and Ericksen joins from Adobe.
Good Company Entertainment — the firm that manages Jake Owen and Daves Highway and also boasts the independent label GCE Records — added Anna Schaeffer, Amy Jackson, Parker Fowler and Liz Sledge to the team. Schaeffer joins as manager of art direction and social media strategies, Jackson (formerly at UMG) joins as manager of marketing & consumer strategies, Fowler (formerly at Triple Tigers) joins as associate manager and Sledge joins as executive director of the Jake Owen Foundation. Schaeffer can be reached at anna@goodcompanyent.com, Jackson can be reached at amy@goodcompanyent.com, Fowler can be reached at parker@goodcompanyent.com and Sledge can be reached at liz@jakeowenfoundation.org.
Charlotte Bwana was promoted to vp of marketing and brand strategy at Audiomack, where she will lead the execution of brand strategies and oversee promotional initiatives across Africa. She can be reached at charlotte@audiomack.com.
The Alliance for Women Film Composers elected new leadership and a new board, with Heather McIntosh and Allyson Newman elected co-presidents of the organization. They succeed Catherine Joy, who has served as president since 2021. Elsewhere, Esin Aydingoz was elected secretary and Thomas Mikusz was elected treasurer. The remainder of the board is comprised of Joy, Alexandra Petkovski, Chanda Dancy, Connor Cook, Daisy Coole, Ghiya Rushidat, Jenna Fentimen, Laura Karpman, Lili Haydn, Lolita Ritmanis, Mandy Hoffman, Nami Melumad, Starr Parodi and Stephanie Economou. The executive director is Raashi Kulkarni. The alliance also created the position of vp of outreach and inclusion and appointed Sharon Farber to fill the role.
Entertainment business management firm FBMM promoted Regina A. Bassett, Fred Ford, Jeff Jones and Emily Walker to associate business managers.
Shore Fire Media promoted four across the public relations agency’s New York-based teams. Ailie Orzak and Victorie Selce have each been elevated to account executive positions, while Mary Claire “MC” Miskell and Rachel Jacobs were upped to junior account executives.
Maureen Loughran was named director/curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings — the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian — effective Monday (March 27). Loughran, who is currently senior producer of the nationally distributed public radio series American Routes, will also oversee the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. She succeeds Daniel Sheehy, the former director of Smithsonian Folkways, who had come out of retirement to serve as interim director for the past two years. Loughran can be reached at LoughranME@si.edu.
Better Noise Music promoted senior label manager Trish Sterling to vp of marketing; UK & Europe promotions manager Claudia Mancino to international director of press & promotion; senior vp of finance Harris Masood to CFO; and director of financial operations Chekesha McCalla to vp of finance. Also promoted was Dan Sears to director of production and Michael Filippone to finance manager. Additionally, the company hired Michael Lombardi as head of production and development; Paolo Bettaglio as senior director of digital marketing & audience growth; Elisa Nye — hired by Bettaglio — as senior manager of digital marketing & audience growth; Chandler Booth as marketing manager; and Liam Kay as production coordinator. Mancino can be reached at claudia@betternoise.com.
Kobalt named Lindsey Lanier as vp of creative and Desi O’Meara as director of creative. The Los Angeles-based Lanier most recently served as vp of A&R at Motown Records and the New York-based O’Meara was most recently director of A&R at Columbia Records.
Various Artists Management appointed Joe Etchells as head of A&R and artist development, effective April 2. Etchells will be based between the company’s London and Los Angeles offices, reporting to CEO David Bianchi and U.K. managing director John Dawkins. He will work across the company’s artist management, music publishing and label operations. Etchells joins from EMI, where he served as A&R director. He can be reached at joe@variousartistsmanagement.com.
Jon “Ando” Andolina launched The Francis June Group for management, bringing with him flagship client, Big Loud Records artist Larry Fleet (“Where I Find God”). Andolina was previously co-founder/partner at Good Company Entertainment alongside Jake Owen and Keith Gale. Andolina can be reached at ando@thefrancisjunegroup.com.
Jammcard — styled as a LinkedIn for the music industry — announced the launch of Jammcard Films. Filmmaker Jack Piatt, who was originally director of operations for Jammcard, will serve as president of the new division, while Caroline Hoste — a partner at Piatt’s Highway West Entertainment as well as a Jammcard advisor — will serve as vp. Meanwhile, Jammcard founder Elmo Lovano will fill the role of executive producer. Forthcoming Jammcard Film releases include the feature-length documentaries Immediate Family directed by Denny Tedesco and Trap Jazz directed by Sadé Clacken Joseph. Piatt can be reached at Jack@highwaywestent.com, Hoste can be reached at Caroline@highwaywestent.com and Lovano can be reached at elmo@jammcard.com.
On-air personality/podcaster/producer Ashley Eicher launched her own media company, AE Entertainment, which will provide story consulting, media coaching and content creation for clients. She can be reached at ashley@aeentertainment.co.
Nashville Notes:
International Bluegrass Music Association executive director Pat Morris resigned from his post effective March 24, allowing him to move out of state to address family medical issues. Former executive director Paul Schiminger will handle the role on an interim basis … T.J. Dula joined iHeartMedia/Raleigh-Durham, N.C., as senior vp of sales. She was previously Disney ABC Television Group digital sales director. The five-station Raleigh cluster includes country WNCB … Pandora senior director of country programming Johnny Chiang added SiriusXM country programming to his job description … Subscribe to our weekly Country Update newsletter for more Music City news.
Jonas Wikström was promoted to managing director of the Nordics at Universal Music Publishing Scandinavia, succeeding Martin Ingeström, who will remain with the company as chairman of UMP Nordics until his retirement in June. Reporting to UMPG COO Marc Cimino, Wikström is responsible for UMPG’s creative and business operations in the Nordics; he was most recently executive vp of A&R/creative.
Veronica Sanjines was named general manager at Arista Records. The New York-based executive will report to Arista president/CEO David Massey as she oversees general operations for the label and collaborates with the entire roster. She was most recently vp of marketing at Warner Records.
Arica Ng was named president of Asia Pacific at Warner Chappell Music. She joins the company from Meta, where she served as head of music business development in the Asia Pacific.
FUGA appointed Dorothée Imhoff as chief commercial officer, Liz Northeast as senior vp of EMEA and Sven Zeevalk as global head of operations. Meanwhile, former chief commercial officer David Driessen will move to the new position as chief business officer of FUGA’s parent company, Downtown Music, while Darren Owen has been promoted to COO at FUGA. Imhoff has been with FUGA since 2014 when he joined as a business development consultant. Northeast, who was previously FUGA’s GM, U.K., will be responsible for the company’s commercial strategy and business within the wider U.K. and EMEA markets. Zeevalk, who was previously regional head of operations at FUGA, will be responsible for the company’s global operations, including overseeing the regional heads of APAC, EMEA and Americas as well as all client integrations and the global support team. He’s been with FUGA since 2017 when he joined as content manager. Erica De Marchi will take on the role of regional head of operations following Zeevalk’s promotion.
John Coletta was promoted to senior vp & managing director of international at BMI; he was previously vp of international legal & business affairs. Based in New York, Coletta will report to BMI executive vp of licensing & creative Mike Steinberg while overseeing the company’s international department, working closely with foreign performing rights societies to improve business practices and identify growth opportunities. He will additionally work to modernize BMI’s reciprocal agreements and oversee global copyright initiatives. He succeeds BMI vp of international society relations Karen Buse in the role; Buse helped manage the international team on a temporary basis.
Songwriter-producer Bloodpop founded and launched game development studio Genpop Interactive alongside former DeNA and BANDAI NAMCO executive Aubrey Tennant; he will serve as CEO and game director. The studio’s focus is on “building original AAA games that will drive forward the next-gen of music, fashion and gaming culture,” with its first project described as “an ambitious third person shooter with novel movement and combat mechanics.” The company recently raised $6.5 million in seed funding. In a statement, Bloodpop said: “At a time when low risk tolerance among established studios has resulted in predictable re-releases capitalizing on millennial nostalgia, Gen-Z is eager for new IP that speaks to them, and has a long legacy that defines their generation. Major studios have become complacent, relying on giving the Weekend at Bernie’s treatment to their old IP with their publicly traded necromancy. We aren’t just on a mission to create the next great game, but nurture the next generation of popular culture.”
300 Entertainment promoted three executives: Ryan MacTaggart to senior vp of artist development & lifestyle marketing, Gary “Bolo” Sargeant to vp of urban & rhythm promotion and Michael McArthur to vp of A&R. MacTaggart will continue to focus on immersive marketing and artist development, Sargeant will lead promotion at the urban and rhythm formats and McArthur will sign and develop new talent. All three are based in New York.
Shawna Spears was named vp of brand marketing at Venice Music. Joining from TikTok, where she led artist and manager partnerships in hip-hop and R&B, Spears will build and lead the company’s brand marketing team, develop and execute the marketing roadmap across distribution channels and more. She reports to Venice Music executive vp and GM Fadia Kader and can be reached at shawna@venicemusic.co.
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) promoted Evan Plake to director of partnerships and Chirag Patel to associate of membership. Additionally, Greyson Zeng was hired as community manager and Nicolle Gutierrez Ospina was hired as executive assistant and accounts administrator. Plake oversees brand partnerships and creative collaborations across the organization’s membership, Patel will continue connecting and supporting indie labels and Zeng will help grow and curate A2IM’s digital and in-person community. Gutierrez Ospina joins from Gold Business Management. Plake can be reached at evan@a2im.org, Patel can be reached at chirag@a2im.org, Zeng can be reached at greyson@a2im.org and Gutierrez Ospina can be reached at nicolle@a2im.org.
Michelle Teh was named senior vp of global classics & jazz at Universal Music Group. She assumes the role after serving on UMG’s global priorities team.
Jesus Trivino is taking on an expanded role at TIDAL; he will continue to lead the company’s Latin team but will now also serve as head of TIDAL’s industry relations (for general market) team.
Vanessa Kanapin was named director of A&R for Germany, Switzerland and Austria at Ultra International Music Publishing. The Berlin-based executive will report to company founder/CEO Patrick Moxey. She joins Ultra from German independent publisher Budde Music, where she was A&R and song plugging manager. Kanapin can be reached at vanessa.kanapin@ultrapublishing.com.
Former Virgin EMI Records senior director Tony Barnes was announced as the co-founder of Karta, a metaverse studio established in 2021 that provides experiential marketing for musicians, brands and sports teams. He co-founded the company with CEO Erik Londré. “Since its launch, Karta has delivered successful projects across Roblox, Fortnite and Decentraland for the likes of Amazon Music, Fnatic, Unilever and Ronald McDonald House,” reads a press release, which notes the company also recently built a fan hub on Roblox for K-pop group TWICE. Barnes can be reached at tony@karta.game.
Jason Leiss was promoted to business manager at FBMM, where he will continue to lead a team of five and oversee all financial aspects for his clients in both business and personal finance.
Alex Coslov rises to executive vp of marketing strategy at Republic Records and head of marketing at Mercury Records, a dual role and a reward for leading the campaign for Morgan Wallen’s One Thing At A Time and other hits.
Based in Republic’s New York City headquarters, the marketing exec is a past 40 under 40 honoree in Billboard, and he’s had a hand in a growing list of wins. His professional highlights include Wallen’s blockbuster One Thing At A Time, which recently blasted to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with over 501,000 equivalent album units in its debut frame, this year’s best single-week tally; and Glass Animals’ slow-burning Billboard Hot 100 leader “Heat Waves.”
Coslov continues to lead marketing for frontline releases for Wallen, Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder, Greta Van Fleet, Florence + The Machine, Noah Kahan, James Blake and Yung Gravy, reads a statement issued today (March 16).
“Alex intimately understands his artists at a core level,” comments Republic co-president Jim Roppo. “He speaks their language and immerses himself in their respective worlds for every single release. This is his superpower. By doing so, he develops innovative campaigns that reflect their identities and, simultaneously, engage audiences from a fresh perspective. It’s an honor to announce his promotion.”
Adds Mercury president Tyler Arnold, “we are thrilled to officially welcome Alex to the Mercury family. He is one of the most innovative and forward-thinking executives in our industry and has already played an integral role in the success of our artists’ careers. We cannot wait to shape this next chapter of Mercury Records together.”
Coslov joined Republic Records in 2017 as vp of marketing strategy, and has served as senior vp of marketing strategy since 2021. That five-year run has yielded four CLIO Awards, the annual award program that celebrates excellence in advertising, design and communication. Prior to that, Coslov chalked up four years with dance music brand Ultra Music, where he led its marketing department. Earlier roles included internships with SESAC, Epic Records and Red Light Management.
Johnny Chiang, Pandora’s senior director of country programming, will expand his role to also oversee country music programming at SiriusXM, the company tells Billboard. Chiang will report to SiriusXM/Pandora’s GM and senior vp of music programming Steve Blatter.
Chiang’s new role fills duties previously held by JR Schumann, who exited SiriusXM in July 2022. Darrin Smith, SiriusXM’s vp of programming, oversaw the satellite broadcaster’s country channels on an interim basis.
Before joining Pandora in July 2022, Chiang served as vp of radio promotions and artist development at Red Street Records following the announcement that the label had launched a country division. Prior to his work with Red Street, Chiang spent 18 years at KKBQ in Houston and was also the Cox country format leader.
During Chiang’s time at KKBQ, the station was named the Country Music Association’s major market station of the year three times (in 2014, 2016 and 2018), as well as the Academy of Country Music’s major market station of the year in 2017. It also won the Marconi four times (in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018). In 2016, Billboard named him the most influential country program director in the United States.
During Nashville’s Country Radio Seminar earlier this week, Chiang led a panel during CRS’ Digital Music Summit titled “Sweet Streams (Are Made of These),” which provided an overview of music streaming services. The panel also included Spotify’s Rachel Whitney and Amazon Music’s Michelle Tigard Kammerer, as each music service detailed their respective platforms’ tools for independent artists and discussed the role of playlisting in music marketing, how DSPs use data to make decisions and more.
Chiang’s role expansion comes on the heels of SiriusXM’s announcement earlier this month that it would be laying off 475 employees, or 8% of its workforce. In a statement that followed, CEO Jennifer Witz called the job cuts difficult but “the right thing to do” as the business grapples with lower ad sales, a still-delayed recovery in the automotive subscription business and major investments in its technology.