Pop

On Christmas Eve in 2019 — while most music business executives were headed out to holiday parties or completing last-minute shopping — Warner Records quietly finalized a label deal with Jaten Dimsdale, a former member of a hair metal cover band outside of Atlanta who had also tried his hand at hardcore and hip-hop.
Dimsdale had posted a handful of viral YouTube covers: In his version of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” uploaded earlier in 2019 on the 10th anniversary of the artist’s death, his buttery tone contrasted shockingly with his grizzled beard, gauge earrings and the hourglass tattoo stamped on the side of his head. Aaron Bay-Schuck and Tom Corson, Warner Records’ then-recently appointed co-chairmen, had been scavenging for stars to revitalize the faded label — so as the rest of the world hunkered down for the night and wrapped gifts, they inked a deal with Dimsdale, who had started performing under a different name: Teddy Swims.

Fast-forward four Christmases. At the end of 2023, Teddy Swims still lacked a signature hit, but Bay-Schuck spotted some encouraging data surrounding the singer’s single that had been hovering in the middle of the Billboard Hot 100. “I remember over the holiday break, ‘Lose Control’ was taking a positive turn,” he recalls of the singer’s single released in June 2023, “so we knew that was going to be a key song for us going into ’24.”

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During that same holiday downtime, Bay-Schuck also noted some positive numbers on TikTok for another relatively new Warner signing, singer-songwriter Benson Boone: The teasers for his unreleased “Beautiful Things” were gaining traction, so the label posted more snippets before the end of the year to further fuel its growth. “And also,” Corson adds of that particularly busy December, “our A&R team had identified [country singer] Dasha and [folk artist] Michael Marcagi, who were trending [on social media] significantly. We closed those deals, essentially, over Christmas.”

With that hectic holiday season, Warner set the stage for what would become an enormous 2024. In January, “Beautiful Things” rocketed to a startling No. 15 debut on the Hot 100 upon its official release. Dasha’s country clap-along “Austin” started morphing into a viral hit following its late-2023 arrival, and Marcagi’s wistful anthem “Scared To Start” gained immediate traction when unveiled in mid-January. As for “Lose Control,” Teddy Swims’ first Hot 100 hit has become a year-defining smash: It reached the chart’s top 10 during the week of Jan. 20, went to No. 1 the week of March 30 and now, in its 64th week on the Hot 100, remains in its upper reaches — and will likely finish quite high on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 chart. Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” which eventually peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 and logged 27 weeks in the chart’s top 10, likely won’t be far behind “Lose Control” on the year-end list. And as the year drew to a close, Boone and Teddy Swims both notched best new artist Grammy nominations in November.

Going into 2024, Bay-Schuck and Corson had recognized it would be a pivotal year for their regime at Warner Records, even if they might not have predicted the exact way it would unfold. After all, Zach Bryan and Dua Lipa, two of the label’s flagship artists, were expected to release new music — but Teddy Swims’ raspily belted soul-revival pop anthem and Boone’s existential ballad with its out-of-nowhere wailed chorus out-charting any new song by those superstars was less expected.

When reflecting on Warner’s surprising year, Corson offers some wisdom from the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The startling triumph of relative unknowns like Teddy Swims and Boone, along with strong performances from the label’s A-list roster of talent, has made Warner much healthier than its fallow period in the mid-2010s.

Neither Corson nor Bay-Schuck expected this resurgence would sound like “Lose Control” or “Beautiful Things,” but when the moment arrived, they had already been working overtime to meet it. Unabashed music geeks with complementary talents — Corson the master marketer, Bay-Schuck the A&R whiz — the two label leaders can easily rattle off empirical and emotional takeaways from even their roster’s tiniest artists, and they’re hustling both on and off the clock, studying market inefficiencies and, as Seneca may have wanted, placing the label in a position to scoop up potential wins. “These songs didn’t sound like anything else that you were hearing on top 40 [radio],” Bay-Schuck points out. “That’s a big part of our brand at Warner Records. We aren’t trying to do what everybody else is doing — we’re trying to take risks and stand out.”

From left: Dasha, Dua Lipa, Zach Bryan, Benson Boone, Mike Shinoda and Billy Strings.

Illustration by Israel Vargas

As slow-burning smashes with 10-figure streaming numbers, “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things” headline a year for Warner that has also included country-rock virtuoso Bryan graduating to stadiums and scoring another hit album with The Great American Bar Scene, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200; Lipa earning her highest-charting album and best sales week yet with her third full-length, Radical Optimism; and eclectic acts like Linkin Park, Warren Zeiders, Billy Strings and Rüfüs Du Sol yielding success stories in rock, country, bluegrass and dance, respectively. As a result, Warner Records’ market share soared to third among individual labels (behind Republic and Interscope Geffen A&M) in Billboard’s 2024 midyear report, its highest ranking since Bay-Schuck and Corson were named CEO and COO of Warner, respectively, in 2018.

“Aaron, Tom and the team focus on signing and carefully nurturing original artists, and the result is a diverse roster of established superstars and emerging talent,” says Robert Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group. “At the same time, they’ve pioneered new ways of breaking through the clutter and grown their market share in an ultra-competitive environment.”

When Max Lousada, former WMG CEO of recorded music, recruited Corson from RCA Records and Bay-Schuck from Interscope to run Warner Records, both executives understood they had their work cut out for them. Outside of Lipa, who took home the best new artist Grammy Award in 2019, Warner ended the 2010s with an aging, rock-focused roster and a severe lack of new star power. “I’m going to quote Lyor [Cohen], a mentor of mine over the years,” Bay-Schuck says. “When we got this opportunity, he was like, ‘You better make sure they’re giving you five to seven years. That’s how long it takes.’ And I think he was spot-on, when you’re taking on a challenge like we did. We had a really unhealthy company that we inherited, and so the first couple of years were about the culture and getting the right people working here.”

In addition to bringing in deputies like executive vp/head of A&R Karen Kwak, senior vp of digital marketing Dalia Ganz and CFO Michele Nadelman, Corson and Bay-Schuck took a divide-and-conquer rebuilding approach that incorporated their personal expertise. Corson, a former president/COO of RCA Records, was tasked with maximizing the potential of Warner’s existing roster and catalog upon arrival, allowing Bay-Schuck, who previously ran A&R at Interscope, the necessary time to discover and develop new artists.

For Corson, the situation “was a combination of understanding roster catalog and needing to find revenue to buy us enough time.” Fortunately, the Warner catalog was filled with legendary artists — from Prince to Tom Petty to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna — even if, Corson says in disbelief, “there wasn’t anything strategic being done with them by the label.”

Short term, there was plenty of new revenue to uncover. Initiatives included responding to significant album anniversaries with glossy vinyl box sets for classics like Green Day’s Nimrod and Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, strengthening relationships with the estates of artists like the Ramones and Mac Miller for special releases and also prioritizing new material from still-viable veterans like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gorillaz. “Developing a high standard helped create a higher flow of product coming out of the catalog department,” Warner executive vp of promotion and commerce Mike Chester says. “And it really carried us. It allowed us to sign and develop Benson Boone and many others, because you need time to do that.”

With the exception of Lipa — whose 2020 album, Future Nostalgia, yielded hit after hit and also bought the new Warner regime more time to retool its roster — the label’s biggest new names are long-term development projects. Boone, a former American Idol contestant with a strong TikTok following but no original songs, signed with Warner in 2021; Bryan joined the same year, while he was still serving in the Navy and had yet to perform a proper concert. As Teddy Swims puts it nearly a half-decade removed from his own signing, “I speak for more than myself when I say just how thankful we are to [Bay-Schuck and Corson] for having the grace and patience to give artists like me the time and space to develop into what we are meant to be.”

Bay-Schuck points out that “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things” first became hits outside of the United States, dominating parts of Europe and the United Kingdom before igniting on the Billboard charts this year — but that similarity aside, they required wholly different strategies. “ ‘Beautiful Things’ was viral as f–k — I think that’s an industry term,” Corson says with a laugh, nodding to the dedicated social following and streaming activity that helped unlock radio and tidily set up Boone’s April album, Fireworks & Rollerblades.

On the other hand, Warner had to grind out “Lose Control” with old-school radio promotion, then harness digital marketing to widen its footprint. “It’s one of the most interesting records I’ve ever worked because it’s an eight-format record,” Corson says of the single, which has, in fact, charted on eight different genre-based charts, from Adult Pop Airplay to Rock Airplay to R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, and has topped three of them in addition to the Hot 100.

As for Bryan, whose singular mix of country and rock has also transcended genre lines, the label’s executives say that his sound, release rate and social media presence all come straight from the singer-songwriter, and they just fill in any of the necessary details. “It is entirely Zach’s vision,” Bay-Schuck says. “And the legacy of this label is exactly that. No one was telling Prince what to do, no one was telling Madonna what to do. You give them advice, you challenge them, you insert your opinions where you can. But ultimately, those artists thrive because the label understood how to let them grow and mature and take swings on their own.”

As they’ve settled into their respective roles, Bay-Schuck and Corson have also clicked personally. They didn’t know each other prior to working together at Warner, but in conversation now, they often finish each other’s thoughts, thank each other for specific achievements and describe developing a friendship “off the field” while sharing a philosophy in the office. “Tom is this masterful operator, and Aaron is serious but in a very nuanced way,” Chester explains. “You have two people working full tilt to keep everything aligned, and the more wins, the greater proof of concept, just doubles down on the relationship.”

The dynamic has impressed the roster’s newer additions. Dasha, whose “Austin” peaked at No. 18 on the Hot 100, remembers meeting with Warner prior to other labels and feeling like her mind was made up before any further conversations. “Tom has been such an angel since day one. He is like my dad — he’s so funny and so kind,” she says. “Aaron, the same thing. He has so much passion for what he does and so much drive that it makes me want to work harder.”

And the label’s veteran artists, too, have met Warner’s efforts to revitalize catalogs and mine new opportunities with open arms. After working with Bay-Schuck and Corson on multiple anniversary reissues, Linkin Park set up its next chapter with new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong under cover of darkness, working with Warner to plan a global livestream, arena tour dates and the Nov. 15 release of its latest album, From Zero. “The Emptiness Machine,” the lead single from the album, debuted at No. 21 on the Hot 100 — Linkin Park’s biggest hit in 15 years and one of fall’s hottest new rock singles. The band’s Mike Shinoda says that Bay-Schuck and Corson were “instrumental” in Linkin Park’s comeback. “They helped us choose ‘The Emptiness Machine’ as a first single before it was completed,” he says.

Next, Bay-Schuck and Corson are focused on building the profiles of Warner’s new stars beyond their breakthrough hits. Teddy Swims’ uptempo follow-up single, “The Door,” has peaked at No. 24 on the Hot 100, and a new album — billed as a “second part” of his debut, I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy — is slated for a January 2025 release. Meanwhile, Boone’s “Slow It Down” reached No. 32, and he spent the year touring the globe (including a few dates opening for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour).

The executives also rattle off a dozen rising prospects on their roster — from pop singer CIL to viral country artist Maddox Batson to drum’n’bass revivalist Kenya Grace — and stress a greater focus on hip-hop and R&B in 2025, including with the impending arrival of a new head of its urban A&R division.

Meanwhile, Bay-Schuck and Corson have recently begun overseeing Warner Music Nashville, taking a more hands-on approach with artists like Bailey Zimmerman, Gabby Barrett and Cole Swindell and providing Warner Records’ global resources to help broaden those artists’ international footprints. The move was part of the summertime shake-up at WMG that resulted in Lousada’s departure, as well as the installation of a new regime at Atlantic Music Group, with Julie Greenwald departing as chairman/CEO and 10K Projects founder and CEO Elliot Grainge taking her place.

“We’re getting to know Elliot and [new COO] Zach [Friedman] and [new GM] Tony [Talamo] in real time — so far, great experience,” Bay-Schuck says. “They’re young, they’re energetic, they’re fearless. They’re going to come up with some new ways of doing business that I’m sure will prove to be really great for Warner Music Group.”

Another more subtle change followed the WMG restructuring: Bay-Schuck and Corson now report directly to Kyncl, after previously reporting to Lousada. While both executives say that Lousada’s leadership proved invaluable to their current run of success, they’re happy to be ending a momentous 2024 with a bigger seat at the table.

“We now have visibility into things that we didn’t before,” Bay-Schuck says. “With the greatest respect to those who came before us.”

Corson adds, “We’ve earned this.”

This story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.