Management
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Sports and music company The Familie has expanded to Nashville, and is set to make Music City the company’s national headquarters.
“Nashville is a city that is inspired by culture, diversity, arts and entertainment, and – from a business perspective – encourages entrepreneurship and growth with no state-income tax and a low barrier to entry for real estate, including commercial real estate,” The Familie founder/CEO Steve Astephen tells Billboard via email.
The Familie’s roster includes Machine Gun Kelly, Avril Lavigne, Jaden Hossler, Games We Play and sombr.
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Former Universal Music Group Nashville executive vp of promotion Royce Risser will lead the company’s new country music division and oversee the Nashville office’s operations. Chase Berlin has been hired as the company’s first artist manager in Nashville.
Risser has more than three decades of music industry experience, starting at MCA Records as an intern in 1991 before being hired as a promotion assistant. Risser rose through the ranks at UMGN, leading promotion efforts and rising to executive vp of promotion. Along the way, Risser worked with artists including George Strait, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, Sam Hunt, Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi and Brothers Osborne.
Berlin will work under Risser to sign and develop country artists and build out the genre’s division for The Familie. A University of Florida graduate, Berlin previously worked at management company The AMG and at WME.
“It’s been immediately clear to me that The Familie does things differently,” said Risser in a statement. “I appreciate the team’s non-transactional approach to management, thoughtfully building artist brands and legacies through collaboration and a vast network of cross-industry alliances. Steve Astephen could easily be the smartest, most connected person I’ve ever met and can’t wait to work alongside him in this role. I know this team will be a refreshing addition to the Nashville scene while also integrating with and honoring the history and pedigree of Music Row. I’m absolutely fired up and honored to be at the helm of The Familie’s arrival in Nashville.”
Astephen tells Billboard, “Diversity of thought and experience is what helped us transform sports representation in the 2000s and it’s what will help us do the same in music — which is essentially to not just think outside the box, but to create the box…I entered sports representation from a brand and retail perspective, then music management from a sports agency perspective. Royce has been in radio, which, of course, drives country music. He’s been in marketing and promotions. These are the types of things that add additional opportunities for an artist who signs with us. If you sign with The Familie as a musical artist, we’re looking at: How do we bring you into the sports world? How do we bring you into radio marketing? We’re not just managing an artist’s career, we’re expanding it.”
The first artist signed to the company’s country division is singer-songwriter Evanthia Theodorou.
“She’s the perfect example of the type of artist we look for, which is someone with a 360 degree brand, who is highly marketable, personable, has good values, and appeals to a wide audience through various channels of promotion,” Astephen says, estimating that the country music division could represent up to seven artists.
Astephen launched The Familie in 1998; the company also works with sports figures including football player Daniel Carlson, surfer Eli Hanneman, rally driver Oliver Solberg and tennis player Cooper Williams.
Looking ahead, Astephen says The Familie is making its move into Nashville at the perfect time. “I see the industry shifting to show how marketable the country music genre is globally,” he says. “Obviously, we have to respect what Nashville is to country music, but country artists are global superstars and only growing. So with us coming in–along with other companies–I think you’ll see more brand partnerships, more national television commercials. I’m really excited for us to be part of this and to help challenge the industry to do more than just traditional music management.”
Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi has filed a lawsuit against her former manager and music producer Sergio Andrade, claiming he was a “true predator” who subjected Trevi and other girls to “total control and sadistic abuse” in the late 1980s and 1990s.
The filing also serves as a counter-lawsuit to the complaint filed Dec. 30, 2022, by two Jane Does who sued Trevi and Andrade for “grooming” and “exploiting” them when they were between the ages of 13 and 15 in the early 1990s.
Now, Trevi — who has for many years categorically denied such claims — alleges in the lawsuit, filed Dec. 27 in Los Angeles, that she is also one of Andrade’s victims. According to Trevi’s suit, Andrade took advantage of his position as a successful music executive often called “Mr. Midas” for being able to recognize and promote young, female artists promising them to turn them into stars.
“That position allowed him to draw many young girls into his sphere of influence, who gathered around him in the hopes that he would guide, mentor, and launch their careers in entertainment, as he had previously done for others,” the lawsuit reads. “But once these young girls and women had been drawn into his sphere by dreams of stardom, he subjected them to total control and sadistic abuse – mental, financial, physical, and sexual. Ms. Trevi was one of those young women.”
According to Trevi’s lawsuit, the “Todos Me Miran” singer met Andrade as a child just as she was gaining recognition in Mexico as a singer, and soon he took over her career. “But Andrade also recognized Ms. Trevi as an isolated and vulnerable girl who was easy prey to his manipulation, control, and abuse,” Trevi’s lawsuit claims. “He took full advantage, subjecting the rising child superstar that he had taken on to grotesque abuse calculated to break her spirit.”
The filing includes graphic allegations, such as Trevi being “brutally beaten” by Andrade, at times to the point of unconsciousness, that she was sexually assaulted by him and raped repeatedly. The abuse inflicted by Andrade “eventually drove Ms. Trevi to attempt suicide,” the suit states.
Trevi, who is being represented by Johnny Depp’s former attorney Camille M. Vásquez, explained in a statement to Billboard that she chose to take legal action to fight for justice. “No one should have to go through what I experienced and I am determined to hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions,” she expressed.
Vásquez added, “Our client, Gloria Trevi, has shown great strength and courage in stepping forward and filing this counterclaim. We are fully prepared to present our case and seek justice on her behalf.”
Trevi’s legal woes resurface more than 20 years after Trevi, Andrade and backup singer María Raquenel Portillo, also known as Mary Boquitas, were arrested in January 2000 in Rio de Janeiro for allegedly luring young girls into a cult-like pornographic ring. Former vocalist Karina Yapor, who filed criminal charges against the so-called “Trevi-Andrade clan,” alleged that backup recruits wanting to join the band were forced to have sexual relations with Andrade.
In 2004, Trevi was acquitted by a judge and found not guilty on charges of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors. This resulted in Trevi’s immediate release from prison in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Trevi’s new lawsuit comes six days after a judge dismissed Portillo’s defamation claims against the two Jane Does after she was sued alongside Trevi and Andrade.
Read Gloria Trevi’s counterclaim below:
Santa Fe Klan has signed a management deal with Prajin Parlay Inc., effective immediately, Billboard has learned today (Dec. 22). The indie record label is also home to música Mexicana phenomenon, Peso Pluma.
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“Santa Fe Klan has accomplished an incredible amount for música Mexicana and his community over the last few years,” CEO and manager of Peso, George Prajin, said in a press statement. “He is an impressive young man and we are looking forward to helping him continue cultivating his skills as both a musician and businessman.”
“As I enter this next chapter in my career I’m excited to join the Prajin Parlay roster and I’m excited for my fans to see everything we have planned for 2024,” added the renowned Mexican rapper born Ángel Quezada.
Additionally, Prajin is a partner in Doble P Records alongside Peso, who expressed “I’ve always admired Santa Fe Klan and I know he’s going to make a great addition to our family.”
On the 2023 Billboard Year-End charts, Prajin Parlay Inc.—also home to Jasiel Nuñez, Tito Doble P, and more—landed No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs Publisher chart. The label, next to Doble P Records, had a breakthrough year ranking high on many of the year-end Billboard charts including Hot Latin Songs Imprint, Regional Mexican Albums Labels, and Independent Labels, to name a few.
Born in Guanajato, Mexico, Santa Fe Klan (his artistic name is an ode to his barrio) recorded and uploaded his own music to YouTube and SoundCloud when he was a teenager. His love for rap and hip-hop music was inspired by artists such as Cartel de Santa and MC Davo, and his ultra-personal and raw lyricism ultimately landed him collaborations with artists such as Snoop Dogg, Lupillo Rivera, and Calibre 50.
His first entry on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs arrived in April 2022 with “Mar y Tierra,” part of his fifth studio album Mundo, which debuted at No. 4 on Latin Pop Albums and No. 11 on Latin Rhythms Albums.
Earlier this year, Santa Fe earned his first career No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart with the Los Ángeles Azules and Cazzu-assisted “Tú y Tú.”
Rauw Alejandro and his longtime manager, Eric Duars, have officially parted ways, sources tell Billboard. For the past several months, lawyers for the Puerto Rican superstar and the Puerto Rican impresario have engaged in conversations to wind down a relationship that began in 2017 when Alejandro (born Raul Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz) was 23 years old and Duars signed him as an emerging talent
Aside from being managed by Duars, an experienced promoter, Alejandro was also signed to his independent label, Duars Entertainment, with his music released via a licensing agreement with Sony Music Latin. Duars also promoted many of Alejandro’s tour dates via the tour promotion arm of his company, Duars Live.
In a crowded world of new reggaetón acts who came up in the mid and late 2010s, Alejandro stood out as an artist who also performed dazzling choreography and who was willing to experiment with genres like dance. That mix has continued to yield hits; to date, Alejandro has placed 47 songs on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, including two top 10s, as well as seven hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
On the touring front, 2023 was the year Alejandro consolidated as a major touring act. His Saturno tour, produced by Duars Live in partnership with Outback Presents, sold 551,000 tickets across 36 shows reported to Billboard Boxscore, grossing $50.1 million. It landed as the sixth highest-grossing tour on Billboard’s year-end Latin tally and at No. 46 overall, breaking 15,000 tickets in Miami, New York and San Jose, Calif., among many others. It also sold 58,000 tickets in Mexico City’s Foro Sol.
Duars will no longer promote Alejandro’s tours.
Several sources say there are active conversations regarding new management for Alejandro with an established Latin manager, but nothing has yet been announced or confirmed to Billboard.
Duars will continue to manage a roster that includes Baby Rasta & Gringo, Cauty, Sie7e, Eix and Sanchz.
Neither Alejandro’s attorneys nor Duars’ attorneys replied to requests for comment.
Joaquina has signed a management deal with Global Talent Services (GTS), Billboard can exclusively announce today (Dec. 11). The new partnership will strengthen the Venezuelan singer-songwriter’s growth and amplify her artistic potential, and she will be overseen by manager Paula Kaminsky and co-manager Camila Canabal.
“I’m very grateful to count on a team that believes in me and my project, but most importantly, for believing in my songs and what I have to say in them,” the 19-year-old newcomer (born Joaquina Blavia Canabal) said in a press statement. “I’m very excited for this next stage of my career.”
Kaminsky added: “We are very happy and grateful that Joaquina, who is a talented singer-songwriter and performer and someone who holistically embodies the feelings of her generation, has placed her trust in GTS to further develop her career, and together, guide her in achieving her dreams of taking her art to the whole world.”
The exclusive news comes on the heels of Joaquina winning the coveted best new artist award at the 2023 Latin Grammys in Seville, Spain, where she was also nominated for best singer-songwriter album for her debut EP, Los Mejores Años.
Joaquina poses with the award for Best New Artist in the media center for The 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on Nov. 16, 2023 in Seville, Spain.
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Born in Caracas but raised in Miami, the well-rounded rising star—who took music, theater, and ballet lessons—is inspired by artists such as Avril Lavigne, and pens songs about teenage angst as heard in her notable track “Los Mejores Años.”
“Although I am very extroverted and I love to socialize, I am also very private and it’s difficult for me to talk about my fears, my thoughts, and ‘Los Mejores Años’ was a big relief song for me,” she previously told Billboard. “It helped me a lot to understand many things I was feeling in a time of normal transition in everyone’s life. It’s a bit that concept of feeling the fear of growing up for the first time in your life.”
Before winning best new artist, Joaquina formed part of the first class of graduates from producer Julio Reyes Copello’s Art House Academy, signed a record deal with Universal Music Latin, and was the opening act for artists such as Alejandro Sanz and Fonseca. She was also spotlighted as Billboard’s Latin Artist on the Rise in November.
Ariana Grande has a new manager in Brandon Creed. The superstar has signed with his newly-launched Good World Management firm, sources tell Billboard.
Grande made major headlines in August when she split with longtime manager Scooter Braun‘s SB Projects. Grande had been with the company since 2013, the year she released her breakthrough debut album, Yours Truly.
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“[Ariana] likes that he understands her on a different level and between acting and music, she has a lot coming up and is excited to have found a new support system to help her execute her plans,” says a source close to the situation.
“She wants the focus to be her art and he puts her artistry and vision before anything else,” adds another source. “He is the perfect person to help her execute her visions for this next chapter of her life and career.”
In 2017, Creed — a longtime manager whose previous clients have included Bruno Mars and Lizzo — merged his own The Creed Company with Irving and Jeffrey Azoff‘s firm to form Full Stop Management. He split with the Azoffs in July, announcing the launch of Good World Management, bringing his clients Mark Ronson, Troye Sivan and Charli XCX along with him. Grande marks his third major signing since then.
In early August, Creed and Lydia Asrat announced they had signed Normani to a co-management deal through Good World and Asrat’s Q10. Then, in September, he signed Demi Lovato — another former Braun client.
Grande has had eight charting albums on the Billboard 200, six of them hit the top 10, with five topping the list. Her last release, Positions, debuted atop the chart in 2020 and spent two weeks at No. 1.On the Hot 100, she’s logged 73 entries — including 20 top 10s, seven of which hit No. 1. She most recently led the tally with her remix collab on “Die for You” with The Weeknd in March 2023.
Across her catalog of songs, she’s generated 23.5 billion on-demand official streams in the U.S., according to Luminate. Her albums have earned 22.4 million equivalent album units in the U.S, of which traditional album sales equal 3.3 million.
Grande recently teased her forthcoming seventh studio album with a series of photos posted to Instagram back in the studio. Artists including Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish and SZA expressed excitement in the comments for the pop star’s anticipated return.
On Saturday (Dec. 9), Grande performed “Oh Santa!” alongside Mariah Carey in New York. Next year, she will star as Glinda alongside Cynthia Erivo in the long-awaited Wicked film.
Channel Tres, Lizzy McAlpine and SG Lewis have all left their manager, Talya Elitzer, and Godmode, the boutique firm she co-founded, sources tell Billboard.
Channel Tres is now co-managed by William Robillard-Cole (Kaytranada) and Jerry Edouard (Saint Mino), sources tell Billboard. McAlpine has found a new manager in Molly Clark, who was formerly her day-to-day manager at Godmode and has now left the company as well, sources also say.
Elitzer declined to comment on the departures. The artists and their new managers also declined to comment.
Elitzer co-founded the independent firm in the early 2010s with producer Nick Sylvester. Prior, she worked as an A&R at Capitol Records. Channel Tres signed with Godmode for management in 2018. Last September, Godmode partnered with RCA to sign the artist to a major label deal. Since then, he has released one EP, this year’s Real Cultural Shit. His new single, “Walked In The Room,” arrives Thursday (Dec. 7).
Lewis and McAlpine both signed on as management clients this year, in April and May, respectively, on the heels of major successes. SG Lewis released his second album AudioLust & HigherLove in January, which featured Channel Tres, Tove Lo and others. It peaked at No. 13 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
As for McAlpine, her breakout hit, “Ceilings,” marked her Hot 100 debut in February. By March, it became her first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, summiting Alternative Streaming Songs. This September, she collaborated with Noah Kahan on a duet rendition of his song “Call Your Mom,” while in October she joined Reneé Rapp on stage to perform “For Good” from Wicked.
It’s been more than 27 years since Sublime performed its final show with Bradley Nowell, but recent moves by the late frontman’s family have paved the way for the band’s possible return with Nowell’s son Jakob Nowell as the famed Long Beach punk-ska-reggae trio’s next generation singer.
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Jakob Nowell — who was 11 months old when his father died in 1996 — has been performing and touring for more than a decade, and this year signed a record deal with Epitaph Records for his group Jakob’s Castle and made a surprise appearance with Stick Figure at Coachella. On Dec. 11, he will perform at a benefit concert for Bad Brains frontman H.R. at the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles alongside Sublime’s original members, bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, for the first time ever. The trio are not calling themselves Sublime for the benefit show, but Jakob’s manager Kevin Zinger with Regime Music Group and musician-turned-executive Joe Escalante have already been selected by the original band members, along with Bradley Nowell’s wife (and Jakob’s mom) Troy Dendekker Nowell, to manage the rights and intellectual property for Sublime.
Kevin Zinger
Fabrice Henssens
Zinger and Escalante have been hired to manage the “legacy assets, the licensing and all the business in Sublime going forward for Jake, Troy, Bud and Eric,” Escalante tells Billboard. “The guys plan to jam together in support of H.R. at the Teragram Ballroom on Dec. 11. Beyond that we’re not prepared to make any announcements.”
Zinger is a veteran music executive and documentary filmmaker whose clients include House of Pain, Tower of Power, Everlast and Steele Pulse. Escalante is bassist for the famed Orange County punk band The Vandals, as well as a music executive and Hollywood showrunner.
News of a relaunched Sublime has generated significant interest from festival talent buyers who have already begun submitting offers for festival bookings, Zinger tells Billboard. But for now, he says, the three men remain focused on rehearsing for the Dec. 11 show.
Joe Escalante
Aki Yamazaki
“We’re patiently waiting and doing the right thing,” says Zinger. “If the vibe’s there, the vibe’s there.”
Wilson is also a member of Sublime with Rome, a popular touring outfit led by singer Rome Ramirez that plays songs from Sublime’s catalog as well as Ramirez’s originals. The name Sublime with Rome was created as legal a compromise between Ramirez, Wilson and Troy Dendekker Nowell in 2010 after Nowell sued to stop the men from touring under the name Sublime.
Further complicating matters for Sublime relaunch with Jakob Nowell is that Sublime With Rome have a New Zealand tour and a number of big festivals booked in 2024;, as does Jakob’s Castle, who’s opening for G Love & Special Sauce on a tour running through the end of March.
Tickets are still available for Positive Mental Attitude: A Benefit For HR of Bad Brains at the Teragram Ballroom on Dec. 11, priced at $30 apiece. There is also a GoFundMe set up to benefit H.R. here.
Edgar Cutino, manager for Grammy-nominated R&B singer Fridayy, has launched a new management company called To The World Soon. In addition to Fridayy, Cutino’s new company is working with artists Rome Flynn, Elliot Trent, BaeRose, June3rd, Fortune and Landon Moss.
Fridayy has been one of the breakout in-demand featured stars of the past year, making his chart debut in August 2022 as a featured guest on the DJ Khaled track “God Did” alongside JAY-Z, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and John Legend, which peaked at No. 17 on the Hot 100 and earned three Grammy nominations, for best rap song, best rap performance and a surprise Big Four nod for song of the year. In October 2022, he appeared on the Lil Baby song “Forever,” which reached No. 8 on the Hot 100. Fridayy has been working with Cutino for three years, after the two first connected over Instagram.
“[Cutino] introduced me to writing and a different way to get into the industry,” Fridayy said in a statement to Billboard. “We really built what we have from the ground up. We figured it out together and we both were hungry for success. I tell artists it’s never about the name; when two people come together who believe in each other and are hungry, there’s no telling what can happen.”
Getting his start as a party promoter, Cutino launched a collective of engineers, producers and photographers for local acts in the San Antonio area, helping establish artists in the local scene. In addition to Fridayy and his roster at TTWS, he’s worked on projects by Drake, Chris Brown, Lil Baby, Swedish House Mafia and more, according to a press release.
Fridayy himself got his start as a producer and songwriter, working on tracks by Rae Sremmurd, Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa, and also co-produced “God Did.” He signed a deal with Def Jam, which released his self-titled debut this past August.
“Edgar is the rare kind of young executive with the taste level, hunger, drive and vision needed to become one of the greats,” Def Jam CEO Tunji Balogun said in a statement. “As an A&R, Edgar has contributed across the entire roster at Def Jam, while also spearheading one of the most exciting new artist campaigns evolving in music right now. I’m excited and inspired to play a small role in their journey as it continues to blossom.”
Since Danny Nozell started managing Dolly Parton in 2005, her already legendary career has soared to new heights. But even Nozell, CEO of CTK Enterprises, couldn’t have predicted that Parton would be inducted into the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and, one year later, that her 30-track set, Rockstar — inspired by the honor — would become the highest-charting album of her nearly 60-year career.
Parton is joined by such artists as Elton John on “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on “Let It Be,” and John Fogerty on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Long As I Can See the Light,” among others, on the Nov. 17 release, which also contains six originals. Rockstar debuted at a career-high No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard 200, surpassing Parton’s previous high of No. 6 for 2014’s Blue Smoke. With 128,000 equivalent album units, Rockstar also blasted in at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Album Sales charts.
Parton recorded much of the album in secret, not even telling Nozell. “[She] did not tell me until she had finished it and called myself and my staff in to listen to the album,” he says. “I said, ‘What album?’ She said, ‘The rock album.’ She didn’t want to tell me because she was afraid I would start cutting deals before it was done. She knows me well.”
The high numbers are a result of Parton’s inimitable talent, but also, to Nozell’s point, a global marketing plan that began rolling out months before the album’s release and included debuting the first single, “World On Fire,” on the Academy of Country Music Awards, which she hosted with Garth Brooks. The voluminous marketing efforts also included making a music video for Queen‘s “We Are the Champions/We Will Rock You” that tied in with NBC’s promotion of the 2024 Olympics, a London press junket with journalists from all over the world, a SiriusXM interview with Howard Stern, an HSN merchandise drop and a slot on Robin Roberts’ ABC special. The promotional slate was an endurance marathon that the 77-year-old Parton ran like a gold medalist, and devising and executing it helps earn Nozell the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Nozell talks about the different facets of the campaign and how, even after almost 20 years together, Parton still managed to surprise him in a major way.
There were literally dozens of promotional efforts for Rockstar. Was there one single campaign or interview that you felt pushed the album over the edge?
[No.] It was the long setup time, the combination of the entire global marketing plan and the way we executed it like a military operation. We researched everything, we planned everything and we strategized everything. When we felt like we had the right game plan, we executed and followed through. We have been following this protocol for two decades and it has always served us well. There’s no “I” in team. We manifest our own success and my team — CTK Enterprises/Butterfly Records — deserves all the recognition in the world. Kyle McClain, Steve Ross, John Zarling, Kelly Ridgway, Olly Rowland, Marcel Pariseau and my entire staff, as well as Big Machine’s Scott Borchetta, Mike Rittberg and everyone at [the label] deserve enormous credit. Dolly delivered an incredible album that will go down in history as one of her greatest.
Rockstar tops Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart and, at 118,500 physical copies sold, she more than double her previous biggest week 30 years ago with 50,000 for Slow Dancing With the Moon. You did four different CD configurations and 10 vinyl variants. Like Taylor Swift, does she have fans who will collect every version?
Our original goal was to be in the top five of the Billboard 200 and to do 70,000 in the first week. We definitely crushed that. Dolly’s fans are extremely loyal and I’ve gotten to know many of them over the years. They definitely like to collect every single version of the vinyls, CDs and even cassette tapes. In true Dolly form, we defied the norm of the current marketplace and sold a lot of physical product. While we were still focused on streaming, we wanted to give Dolly’s fans and consumers a memorable product that you could see, feel and read, just like I, and many fans, grew up doing. With streaming, you leave out a lot of the artistic element of the product.
You also went into non-traditional retailers, including Cracker Barrel, Dollar General and HSN. Were any of those new for Dolly and how important is it for you to meet Dolly’s audiences where they are, which might not be the traditional music outlets?
Being that we’ve had so much success with Cracker Barrel and HSN [before], but had not tested out Dollar General, we decided to take a chance and [have] Dollar General be an official retailer for chart-eligible sales. I was also the one who did the same for Cracker Barrel when Dolly did her first project with them years ago. This was one of the deal points I made sure was included. We’re not afraid to take chances because Dolly doesn’t go on everyone’s highway, she creates her own path. We wanted to stick to that mentality. We made sure that wherever there was a Dolly fan, we needed to reach them.
The vast majority of her consumption came from sales as opposed to streaming. Were there efforts to up her streaming numbers from the past or was the plan to focus on album sales, given her older audience demographic?
We met with the DSPs early on and played them the entire album. They were just as blown away as we were and wanted to partner. We gave them exclusive content and time with Dolly.
We thought that out of the starting gates we should go for Dolly’s core fan base and deliver them a high-quality product. This is why we offered 10 different vinyl variants and did expensive photoshoots, with top pop photographers like Vijat Mohindra, who Miley Cyrus introduced to Dolly. (Parton is Cyrus’s godmother.) Dolly’s never been a huge streaming artist but we have continually increased her footprint year over year.
Dolly sang “Rocky Top” at the University of Tennessee’s football game the day after Rockstar’s release and then performed during halftime at the Dallas Cowboys’ game on Thanksgiving. You even created special CD packages for each team. How did those appearances bring in a different Dolly audience?
During the week of release, we wanted to create a marketing explosion. At the University of Tennessee, Dolly performed in front of 100,000 people and over 6 million TV viewers. Then the Dallas Cowboys on CBS had over 44 million TV viewers and 100,000 people live at the sold-out stadium. We could not have asked for a bigger look for the week of release. I can’t even put a price on this exposure.
However, there were a couple of caveats that I didn’t expect. The first was Dolly’s huge heart and generosity when she donated $1 million to the Red Kettle campaign with the Salvation Army, [which kicked off at the Cowboys’ halftime]. The second being that Dolly didn’t tell or show anyone that she was going to dress as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader until it was time to go to the stage. When she came out of the dressing room, myself, the security, and my staff fainted. I couldn’t tell the difference between Dolly and the cheerleaders. That is the genius of Dolly and people are still talking about it.
Rockstar is her highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200. How do you top this?
Even though we’re really proud of everything, we still fell short of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and we have our sights set on this goalpost for the future. We are highly competitive and just want to win for Dolly. She deserves the very best, always. We feel that this global push has raised Dolly’s profile and gained her a lot of new fans. She gained 500,000 new followers on social media in the past seven days alone. We’re excited for the future.
Dolly’s work ethic is second to none. What could younger artists learn from her?
Dolly’s 77 and I’ve been chasing her for the last 20 years. She has no plans of slowing down. A younger artist could definitely look at her work ethic and see that the hard work pays off. They can also look at her huge heart: the more you give, the more you receive, and that’s worked really well for Dolly. Also, she doesn’t judge anyone. She tries to find positivity in everybody. They can also learn that dreams really do come true. Dolly keeps on dreaming and we have to help her execute them.