Management
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Triple 8 Management has added Aaron Sawyer as an artist manager. He brings with him longtime colleague and associate manager Hannah Boren.
Prior to joining Triple 8, Sawyer spent seven years at Red Light Management. With his hire, he expands the Triple 8 Management roster to include Madison Cunningham, I’m With Her, Julian Lage, and Melt, as well as Sean and Sara Watkins and Watkins Family Hour.
“We’re really proud that Triple 8 is known for being a collaborative and creative environment where everyone in the company is willing to raise a hand and help across teams and departments,” said Triple 8 Management founding partner George Couri in a statement. “Aaron and Hannah embody those qualities and compliment the team perfectly. We are thrilled to welcome them to our organization. We are lucky to have them.”
“Aaron Sawyer has been a trusted friend for at least 15 years, and Hannah and I have known each other since her time at Noisetrade in 2014,” added Triple 8 partner Paul Steele. “I can not say enough kind things about these people and am honored they have decided Triple 8 is the right place for them to be. I have never been more excited about our future than I am today, and Aaron and Hannah are a big part of that.”
Sawyer added, “I’ve long admired the company George and Paul have built over the years, as well as their all-hands approach to management and ability to look at every minute detail to foster enduring artist growth and development. Paul and I nearly joined forces in 2015, so when the opportunity to join him arose again, it felt kismet.”
Cunningham currently boasts two Grammy nominations leading into next month’s ceremony, with nods for best folk album (for Revealer) and best American roots performance (for her song “Life According to Raechel”). Lage sold out concerts across Europe and North America last year following the release of View With a Room, his second album for Blue Note Records. Meanwhile, Sean and Sara Watkins continued their longstanding Watkins Family Hour project, releasing their record Vol. II and celebrating their 20th year in residence at Los Angeles club Largo. They are also gearing up for a big year with their group Nickel Creek, with the band slated to tour in Europe for the first time in nearly two decades.
Brazilian powerhouse singer-songwriter Ludmilla has inked a new management deal with WK Entertainment and Central Sonora. The alliance arrives after she won a 2022 Latin Grammy for her album Numanice #2, and after making history as the first Afro-Latina artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
“[This deal] is a very important step in my career,” Ludmilla tells Billboard Español. “WK Entertainment/Central Sonora, together with my company Sem Querer Produções, will add structure and they will assist in enhancing my musical work, which is my focus. I am very happy and excited about this partnership and I am sure it will yield many results.”
Together, the teams will work to further amplify Ludmilla’s global artistic development. Central to this growth is Central Sonora’s CEO Cesar Figueiredo, who is leading this new stage in the artist’s career. He will oversee all management functions of the project. Walter Kolm, who is the founder and CEO of WK Entertainment and WK Records, will also provide support while helping develop key relations for Ludmilla’s continued growth.
“Ludmilla reflects the true sonority that exists in Brazil today. She is ready to conquer the world by exploring our Brazilian culture,” Figueiredo said in a statement shared with Billboard Español. “Our alliance began a few years ago as a friendship and has since blossomed, giving us the opportunity to finally work together professionally. It is truly an honor for me as a manager to represent a highly regarded and iconic artist such as Ludmilla.”
“This is a phase in my career that is very diverse and different from anything I’ve ever done, a phase that accompanies my current state and the work I propose, which has 100 per cent my truth and [aligned with] my artistic vein,” the artist adds.
With her propulsive pop and funk formula, Ludmilla has become a force to be reckoned with in her native Brazil and beyond. And her ever-expanding fan base further testifies her rise to prominence — she currently has 28.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.5 million on Twitter. The singer-songwriter navigates stylistic configurations with ease, whether she’s soulfully singing an R&B ballad (“Quem é Você”), spitting some funky carioca bars (“Tic Tac”) or charming listeners with sweet samba songs (“Maldivas”). Her gritty trap features equally intrigue, like on “Tanto Faz.”
“I think of funk as an agent of change, especially in the lives of so many peripheral people who don’t have opportunities,” she says. “Funk embraces and elevates, it makes is claim our place in the world.”
Ludmilla is poised to drop her next singles “Sou Má,” featuring funk MCs Tasha and Tracie, as well as “Nasci Pra Vencer” on Feb. 2. “The lyrics [to the latter trap song] tell my story, which is similar to the story of those who come from a place without [economic] gains, but with talent and hard work, we can reach places we never thought possible. It’s about me, but it’s also about others who I hope feel represented,” she says.
Last week, Billboard Español exclusively announced WK Record’s Brazilian operational expansion, which began quietly running last year. It will function to develop the careers of local talent with global appeal, while creating international opportunities for them.
“I am delighted to welcome Ludmilla to our family of artists and join her in this exciting new journey, in partnership with Central Sonora,” Kolm stated. “Our companies look forward to amplifying Ludmilla’s career around the world and to consolidate [her] position as one of Brazil’s top artists.”
Ludmilla is currently working on an eclectic album which, she mentions, will span genres like pop, R&B, funk, trap and more.
BRISBANE, Australia – Look Out Kid, the independent Australian artist management business, is joining forces with Monster Artist Management to form one of the market’s power centers, with a footprint on both sides of the Pacific.
The enlarged business operates as Look Out Kid, Billboard can exclusively reveal, and guides a 13-strong roster, uniting some of the top exports from Australia and New Zealand with a string of hot acts.
Through the new arrangement, Monster’s Jacob Snell and Alexandra “Apple” Bagios will join the company, and they’re bringing their roster of international clients, which includes Methyl Ethel and Hatchie (Australia); The Beths (New Zealand); plus U.S. acts Cloud Nothings, Sweeping Promises, and Palehound.
At Look Out Kid, they’ll join a stable that includes Courtney Barnett, Middle Kids, Sarah Blasko, U.S. artist Faye Webster and Canadian Beverly Glenn-Copeland.
By joining forces, the team has the opportunity to be in multiple markets at once. The move is “designed so that we can better support” the roster in their “artistic and career goals,” Nick O’Byrne, Look Out Kid’s owner/director and artist manager, tells Billboard.
“We’re trying to pull the smart management minds out of the nitty gritty, everyday stuff that takes so much time, that the artist doesn’t see, and give them more time talking to artists about music, strategy and achieving their goals, whether its financial, career, artistry.”
Snell, who serves as director of strategy and artist manager, and Bagios, as artist manager, are based in Los Angeles, and the Look Out Kid team continues to operate out of its Melbourne headquarters. Owner/director Katie Besgrove is shifting from day-to-day artist management to the general manager position.
Meanwhile, a new hire will oversee the roster’s live and touring activities for the first time, lifting the company’s headcount to seven.
Concerts specialist Emma Hawkes joins the team as touring and operations manager, a new role. Hawkes was recently production manager of Courtney Barnett‘s U.S.-based touring festival Here And There, which debuted in 2022 and returns this year.
“We love their roster, we share similar tastes and we care about the same things when it comes to the business of music,” Look Out Kid says of Monster in a statement. “It’s important to take notice when you find a kindred spirit in this crazy business so this feels like a natural step for us.”
The conversation to come together was a natural one. “We talked about it for about six months. Just trying to work out when it would work,” O’Byrne notes. “We finally got there towards the end of last year.”
Monster was established in Perth, Western Australia, in 2010. O’Byrne formed Look Out Kid in 2011 as a vehicle to manage Barnett. Using the know-how he’d accumulated as general manager of trade association Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), and as executive programmer of the Bigsound conference and showcase event, O’Byrne’s business quietly flourished, and Barnett emerged as one of Australia’s most successful artists of her generation.
The singer-songwriter’s debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit peaked at No. 4 in Australia, No. 16 in the U.K. and No. 20 in the U.S., and won the Australian Music Prize, a trio of ARIAs and a nomination for best international female at the BRIT Awards. Her solo followup cracked the top 10 in the U.K, led several Billboard charts, and peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200. A third solo set, Things Take Time, Take Time, dropped in 2021.
Veteran manager/label executive Greg Ham has launched artist development company one:eight entertainment, with Christian music icon Steven Curtis Chapman as his first signing.
Ham was previously a partner in the MWS Group, and the clients he shepherded there — Michael W. Smith, reigning Gospel Music Association artist of the year CeCe Winans, Gotee Records newcomer Joseph O’Brien and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton — will move to one:eight entertainment. Producer Robert Deaton, who was previously managed by Ham outside the MWS Group, will also be under the one:eight umbrella, as will worship leader Charity Gayle.
The idea for the new company began percolating when MWS partner Chaz Corzine exited early last year to become the founding executive director of the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Nashville’s Belmont University. Corzine co-founded the MWS Group in 2009 and had served as Smith’s manager for 38 years.
“Chaz left a year ago now and it was Michael and me,” says Ham, a veteran executive whose extensive resume includes serving as former president/CEO of ForeFront Records. “As we were going through the year, we were saying, ‘I think there’s an opportunity to grow this thing more, but we’ve got to retool it a little bit.’”
The result is one:eight entertainment and the new business association with Chapman. “I’ve been a friend and a huge fan of Greg Ham for many years,” says Chapman, whose current single, “Don’t Lose Heart,” is currently No. 9 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart. “There’s nobody smarter or more full of integrity and I’m very blessed and honored to be a part of this exciting new season for Greg and the awesome team at one:eight entertainment.”
Chapman was previously managed by the Stable Collective, a company he launched in 2017 with artist manager Mark Mattingly. Mattingly joined radio station K-LOVE and Air1 Media Networks last October as executive director of live events and sponsorships.
Ham says the name one:eight entertainment was inspired by the Jan. 8 birthday he shares with Elvis Presley and David Bowie and also his favorite scriptures. “Three of my favorite verses that are foundational to me are 1:8 verses,” he shares. “That’s Daniel 1:8, which is ‘Daniel purposed in his heart’ and it’s a cool story. I consider that foundation[al]. And then Joshua 1:8, which is ‘Be strong and courageous,’ and Acts 1:8, which is ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you’ — so to me power from above to bring hope to the world. We are an artist/creative development company with global perspective and those three verses are at the very core.”
Though Chapman and Smith are two of the Christian industry’s all-time most successful male artists, Ham doesn’t see representing both as a conflict. “Maybe 20 years ago yes, but today it makes sense because to me it’s more complementary than competitive,” he says. “Steven and Michael being under the same umbrella says something very special to me to the younger generation that this is something to aspire to where two competitors can be served under one entity and the unifying nature that it shows.”
After managing the late Jeff Beck for more than five years (not to mention decades spent promoting him), Harvey Goldsmith will be the first to tell you the revered guitarist was “always difficult.” But that’s also what Goldsmith feels made Beck so special.
“He was different from the rest,” the veteran British music impresario tells Billboard about Beck, who passed away Tuesday (Jan. 9) at the age of 78, shortly after contracting bacterial meningitis. “He wanted to do things differently. He was never quite satisfied with what he was doing. He was always looking to better himself. He never though he was at his best; he always thought he could do better whilst everybody else was sitting there with their mouths open, blown away [by Beck’s playing].”
Goldsmith managed Beck’s career from late 2008 until 2013, but he began working with him during the late 1960s, promoting shows by the original Jeff Beck Group fronted by Rod Stewart. He brought Beck into projects such as the Secret Policeman’s Other Ball for Amnesty International during 1981 and the ARMS Charity Concerts to combat multiple sclerosis two years later. Goldsmith also worked with Mick Jagger on his late ‘80s solo tour, with Beck — who’d played guitar on both of Jagger’s albums up to that point — initially being part of the band.
“Mick one evening phoned up Jeff and started to go through the set,” Goldsmith says. “Jeff said, ‘I’m not gonna play Keith Richards’ parts on Stones numbers. I don’t care what we play, but I’m not doing that.’ Mick was a bit taken aback by it, and Jeff just pulled out. That was the nature of the beast; he was a perfectionist. He wanted to do it his way.”
It was during late 2008 that Beck approached Goldsmith about managing him, through a mutual friend. “Jeff said, ‘I feel that I’m kind of underrated and not really recognized the way I feel I should be,’” Goldsmith recalls. The promoter knew part of the solution right away. “I said, ‘Listen, I’m happy to help you, but you’re not exactly over-prolific in [touring]. If you’re prepared to get out there, I can help you…not only play but in this day and age but do some promotion as well, talk about it.’ He said, ‘yeah, I’m ready for it,’ and that’s how it started.”
One of Goldsmith’s first orders of business was Live at Ronnie Scott’s, an album and DVD recorded during November at the famed London club. Neither he nor Beck were happy with the sound on the project so Goldsmith put a hold on its release until Beck could remix it to his satisfaction.
“He spent the whole of Christmas into the new year and completely remixed it,” Goldsmith says. “When it was done, I said, ‘Are you happy now?’ He said, ‘yes’ and we put it out and [people] were completely blown away that he was gonna do promotion, ’cause he just didn’t talk to anybody — certainly not the press.
“But that was Jeff. He was a lone wolf in what he wanted and often they didn’t listen to him, and he got very upset about it. So we started this pathway of him working, doing shows, doing promotions, doing radio, starting to build him up again.”
Not surprisingly, Goldsmith amassed memories during his tenure managing Beck, among them the all-star tribute concert for Les Paul during June 2010 at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York, which was preserved as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Party live album the following year. “David (Bowie) and I were friends, and he came to the show and sat down with myself and my wife and said to me, ‘I’ve always wanted to write with Jeff,’” Goldsmith recalls. “I said, ‘Well, now’s the time.’ They corresponded a bit but then Bowie went on to something else and then got sick, so it never happened.”
During 2010 Goldsmith also proposed that Beck play some tour dates with Eric Clapton, his predecessor in The Yardbirds and a friendly rival among the guitar-playing elite. “I said, ‘You’d have to open ’cause Eric’s got a much bigger stature, but you’ve got the room to deliver what you want to deliver,’” Goldsmith says. “We didn’t do many [shows] but they really were a highlight. They were fantastic. Every night Eric would stand on the side of the stage and just say, ‘I can’t beat this. I can’t beat this. I can’t beat this.’ It was really funny. That’s who [Beck] was. He was the guitarist’s guitarist. Every guitarist on the planet loved him.”
Prince was among them, apparently. At the 2011 MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Barbra Streisand, where Beck performed with LeAnn Rimes, Goldsmith found himself brokering a conversation — of sorts — between Beck and Prince, who was seated at the same table along with Lea Michele and Misty Copeland. “[Beck and Prince] were looking at each other and nodded,” Goldsmith says. “I went over and introduced myself to [Prince] and said, ‘I did some show for you in London. Say hello to Jeff.’ He said, ‘hello’ and they sat opposite each other at the table, not saying a single word.
“Jeff said, ‘What do I do,’ and I said, ‘Someone’s got to break the ice here. Maybe you should sit next to him and see where you get to. Jeff sat down and Prince said, ‘I love your music and I’d like to do some tracks with you.’ Jeff said, ‘That’d be great.’ Then [Prince] said, ‘I’d love to do some tracks with you,’ and Jeff said, ‘OK, great.’ Then [Prince] said, ‘I’d love to do some tracks with you,’ a third time.’ Very bizarre. And that was the whole conversation. I tried really hard to get the chat going, and all I got out of him was he’d like to do some tracks with him. It was hysterical.”
Toward the end of his managing tenure, Goldsmith was negotiating for Beck and Stewart to reunite for another album after a friendly meeting before a Beck performance at the El Dorado Night Club in Los Angeles. “Rod’s people were closing a deal with Universal to do a series of solo albums. I said to Rod, ‘You’ve done enough of this with orchestras — to get together and do something really down and dirty with Jeff would be fantastic.’ [Stewart] agreed with me,” Goldsmith says. “We spent a good six months planning to do an album together in 2013 and Rod was really up for it, his voice was really strong. The next thing I know I got a call from Universal: ‘We’d rather not do this album.’ I was personally gutted by that, and Jeff was extremely pissed off, as you can imagine.”
Despite Beck’s famed truculence, Goldsmith says there was also a tremendous warmth and empathy that’s been seldom revealed. “He was an amazingly good-natured soul who was a magnet for people in trouble,” Goldsmith says. “He was a good listener and was always helping people. For some reason, people he knew, when they got themselves in a mess — they didn’t know what to do with their music or their career or things in their lives — they would go see Jeff and he’d chat with them. They came away like they’d just been to see the guru.”
And Goldsmith was privy to Beck’s almost equal passion for vintage cars, which he calls the guitarist’s “real love.” “Nothing intrigued him more than tinkering about with oil on all of his fingers and a spanner, trying to put together another classic car,” Goldsmith says. “He literally could take a car and break it down into nuts and bolts and screws and pieces of metal, laid out on the floor, and build a car from scratch. That’s special.”
Goldsmith and Beck had their own falling shortly after that, over a variety of business, creative and philosophical differences. He nevertheless says his time managing the guitarist was “an amazing experience,” and when the two last saw each other during early 2020, “we chatted, hugged, so on and so forth.” He learned about Beck’s death shortly after it happened but was asked not to say anything until after the family made the announcement.
“He was a lovely, lovely guy — just a special character who had the most unbelievable talent,” Goldsmith says. “He really will be…well, he is sorely missed by everybody, already.”
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Rap superstar Nicki Minaj is shopping for new management. The hit-maker left Irving Azoff’s Full Stop Management in 2019 and joined SalXCo, which handles the Weeknd, Doja Cat, French Montana, Ty Dolla $ign and others.
However, she is currently looking for new representation ahead of her highly-anticipated fifth studio album, according to Variety. It has been rumored that Minaj is planning to sign with Range Media Partners. The company manages Jack Harlow, Cordae, Wale, and others–including Mariah Carey.
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Range partner Melissa Ruderman, who handles Carey, told Variety in a statement: “I have not partnered with Nicki Minaj.” Her label rep noted: “Nicki is currently in discussions with management companies and has not yet partnered with anyone.”
Early in her career, Minaj was repped by Gee Roberson and Cortez Bryant via Blueprint/Maverick Management. The management shakeup comes at a precarious time for the self-proclaimed Queen of Hip-Hop. She recently railed on social media about the Grammy’s putting her single “Super Freaky Girl” in the rap category for the 2023 Awards. Minaj has racked up 10 nominations but has never taken home the statuette.
Still, 2023 is expected to be a big year for the Queen Radio star. She is fresh off being honored by the MTV Video Music Awards and will reportedly release a six-part docuseries, Nicki, this year. She announced the production last summer.
Produced by the Canadian company Bron Studios, Minaj said when she released the trailer that the series was still looking for a “home,” according to Variety.
In sharing the documentary trailer on Instagram, Minaj wrote, “Coming out SOONER THANK YOU THINK. I took some time to perfect this very intimate, delicate, electrifying, inspiring body of work. As I decide on a home for this project, I can’t help but reflect on what I’m including in this doc. Some things are so personal, it’s scary. It’s like NOTHING you’ve seen before & I need it to be handled with care. Love you so much. Thank you for the continued support.”
Nicki Minaj has signed a management deal with Range Media Partners, according to sources close to the situation. Managing partner Melissa Ruderman will oversee her career.
Ruderman joined Range Media Partners as a partner in the music division at the top of 2021. She is no stranger to working with superstars, having a yearslong partnership with Mariah Carey, including previously at Roc Nation (their relationship spans back to 2005, when Ruderman handled Carey’s day-to-day under veteran manager Benny Medina).
As of last spring, Minaj was self-managing after a short stint working with Wassim “Sal” Slaiby‘s SALXCO — with whom she announced she was working in September 2021. From 2019-2021, Minaj was working with Irving Azoff at Full Stop Management, and then before that was repped by Gee Roberson and Cortez Bryant at Blueprint/Maverick Management.
Range Media launched in Sept. 2020 by former Entertainment One chief strategy officer Peter Micelli and a coalition of former CAA, WME and UTA agents. By July 2021, the company formed Range Music, a record label under the Range Media umbrella and a partnership with Capitol Music Group and Virgin Music & Artist Label Services.
Range clients include Jack Harlow, Justin Tranter, Cordae, Midland and many more.
As for Minaj, her solo catalog has logged 11.9 billion on-demand official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. Her albums have earned a combined 14.1 million equivalent album units, selling a combined total of 3.9 million copies across four full lengths.
Minaj has scored two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200: Pink Friday and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. On the Hot 100, she has three No. 1s: “Trollz,” “Kiss Me More,” and most recently “Super Freaky Girl.” She is signed to Republic Records.
Actress, singer, producer, entrepreneur and author Kate Hudson has signed with Jason Owen and Sandbox Entertainment Group for music management, the company announced Monday (Jan. 9).
Hudson is known for her work in films including Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, but has also showcased her vocal talent in films including Nine and Music (which earned Hudson a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a comedy or musical), as well as episodes of the hit television show Glee.
In signing with Sandbox, Hudson joins a talent roster that includes Kelsea Ballerini, Dan+Shay, Faith Hill, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town and the Johnny Cash estate.
“Music has always been my touchstone,” Hudson said in a statement. “To finally feel ready to share mine is deeply personal to me, almost like a musical memoir. Writing this album over the past year and a half has been the most gratifying and immersive experience and I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Jason to bring it into the world. I can’t wait to hit the ground running with him on this and other creative ventures.”
“Kate Hudson is a superstar of our generation,” Owen added. “Much like other icons in film and stage — from Judy Garland to Lady Gaga — Kate is a multifaceted entertainer who clearly has a deep connection to music. I could not be more honored and excited to help bring her brilliant music to the world and to work with such an incredible talent but mostly a such wonderful person. Big things are coming.”
Hudson will continue to be represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment, Full Coverage Communications and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.
During a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Hudson said that she’s been making an album for over a year, and revealed that she’s been writing music since age 19, though she had never publicly shared her own music.
“I have no expectations. I just want to put a record out,” she said during the interview. See the clip here:
Journey‘s new manager, Mike Kobayashi, confirmed late Tuesday he was “just hired,” taking over from player-managers Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain after a roller-coaster year.
The classic-rock fixture sold 296,000 tickets and grossed $31.9 million on its 2022 arena tour, according to Billboard Boxscore, doubling the revenue pace of its previous headlining tour, in 2017, which grossed $31.7 million over 67 shows.
But the band ended 2022 with an internal squabble over an American Express card: Lead guitarist Schon sued keyboardist Cain last month for refusing to give Cain access to an account representing “millions in Journey funds”; Cain responded that Schon was “running up enormous personal charges” on the account.
The lawsuit, pending in California Superior Court, is one of several legal disputes involving Cain and Schon, one of the band’s founders, and other Journey members in recent years. In 2020, the two musicians sued drummer Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory, accusing them of improperly trying to take control of the band name; Valory filed a counter-complaint, and the lawsuit ended with a 2021 settlement in which Smith and Valory left the band.
And after Schon and Cain trademarked names of many of the band’s hits, such as “Wheel In the Sky,” former frontman Steve Perry filed an action in U.S. Trademark Court in September to stop the process. Perry cited a long-running band partnership agreement that requires Schon and Cain to get his permission to make these kinds of trademark moves.
Kobayashi, who also manages fellow road warriors Def Leppard, did not respond to requests for further comment on his new position with Journey.
Journey hasn’t had a new hit in decades, but the band remains a top-tier touring act and occasionally scores high-profile synchs in shows like The Sopranos and, last spring, Stranger Things, the Netflix series that revived Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill” on the charts.
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.”