Record Labels
HYBE America has partnered with Alan Chikin Chow, creator of the scripted YouTube series Alan’s Universe, to form a new pop group that will be introduced to audiences through a streaming series, it was announced on Thursday (April 3).
The partnership, dubbed HYBE AMERICA X AU, will kick off with a global talent search to form the group, which will be composed of three women and three men. Those chosen will undergo HYBE’s rigorous K-pop development system in Los Angeles. The resulting series, which will be executive produced by Chow alongside HYBE America president James Shin and CEO Scooter Braun, “will follow a group of aspiring pop idol rejects enrolled at an arts academy who decide to form their own band, fusing the worlds of drama, acting, and musical performance with concurrent releases of original music and choreography,” according to a press release.
The multi-faceted project will live on Chow’s YouTube channel (which boasts more than 88 million subscribers) and “across multiple platforms that include music, merchandise, live touring, and more,” with the goal to “reimagine the fictional musical act turned real-life global popstar pathway for today’s generation,” as stated in the release.
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“The passionate global fanbase of Alan’s Universe partnered with the premier music prowess of HYBE AMERICA creates an unstoppable force,” said Chow in a statement. “Together, we stand to create a next-generation franchise with one purpose: to serve our fans with inspiring, impactful stories.”
“This partnership represents entertainment’s future—where content and music enhance each other rather than simply coexist,” added Shin. “We’re building a franchise with Alan that establishes a new model for artist development in the digital age.”
Braun added, “Alan’s extraordinary connection with global audiences makes him and this partnership unique. Together we are not only reimagining the star-making process but will help to create once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for exceptional storytelling and development.”
To apply, male and female candidates between the ages of 18 and 28 anywhere in the world can upload a singing or dancing clip to YouTube Shorts along with the hashtag #HYBEAMERICAxAU. More details can be found here.
A mammoth first quarter of 2025 saw Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) surge into first place in the current market share rankings of U.S. record labels so far this year.
Big records from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Gracie Abrams, Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga propelled IGA to a 12.67% current share, up from 9.10% over the same period in 2024. That’s just enough to edge out longtime leader REPUBLIC, which rode a wave of releases by The Weeknd and Morgan Wallen and continued success from Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan to a 12.52% current share of the market through March 27, 2025, down slightly from the industry-leading 12.84% it held after the first three months of 2024.
Those two labels — IGA’s share also includes Verve Label Group, while REPUBLIC’s includes Island, Mercury, Big Loud and indie distributor Imperial — helped parent company the Universal Music Group (UMG) boost its year over year market share by nearly three percentage points, to a 36.82% current share so far in 2025 from 2024’s 33.90%. In doing so, UMG widened its lead over No. 2 label group Sony Music Group, which increased its own share year over year to 27.37%, up from 26.91% this time last year. That growth from those two companies largely came at the expense of the indie sector, which fell to a 19.92% current share by distribution ownership this year, down from 23.21% in 2024. (By label ownership, the indies are the biggest sector; see below.) Meanwhile, the third major label group, the Warner Music Group (WMG), largely remained static at 15.89% current share this year, down slightly from 15.98% last year.
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Given the reorganization of UMG last year — in which Capitol Music Group also reports through IGA’s chairman/CEO John Janick, while Def Jam reports through REPUBLIC CEO Monte Lipman — Interscope Capitol’s combined share would grow even further, to 17.23%, which would best WMG’s mark for the quarter. REPUBLIC’s share, in addition to Def Jam, would be 13.07%. Most notable among the labels under the REPUBLIC umbrella is Island’s continued growth. After a year in which Carpenter and Roan broke out as superstars, the likes of Lola Young and Gigi Perez are helping Island to continue to bloom: At 2.94% current share this year, Island would have been the eighth-biggest label if broken out on its own, and its share is up significantly from the 0.71% it posted in the first three months of 2024, when it would have ranked 20th.
Below the top two labels come a pair of WMG companies in Warner Records (6.17%, which includes Warner Nashville, Warner Latin and Rhino) and Atlantic Records (5.58%, inclusive of 300 Elektra Entertainment and 10K Projects). Warner’s mark is down from the 6.41% it enjoyed in Q1 2024, when it kicked off the year with breakout singles from Benson Boone and Teddy Swims; while Atlantic’s number is up from last year’s 5.14%, as it shifts into a new era following a leadership shakeup last September.
In fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, are a trio of labels separated by just over a half a percentage in market share: RCA (4.83%, down from 5.13% last year), Capitol (4.56%, down from last year’s 4.71%) and Columbia (4.25%, up big from last year’s 3.71%). Capitol’s market share includes Virgin Music, Motown/Quality Control, Capitol Christian Music Group, Astralwerks and Blue Note; Columbia’s includes some labels from indie distributor RED.
Following Columbia, in eighth place, is the other big story of the year so far: Alamo Records, which posted a 2.91% current share, up significantly from its 2024 mark of 1.53%, driven by the success of Drake and PartyNextDoor’s Some Sexy Songs 4 You album, among other releases. (Alamo also operates an indie distributor, Santa Anna.) Another trio of Sony labels follows: Sony Latin in ninth (1.89%, down from 2.38%), Sony Nashville in 10th (1.83%, down from 2.08%) and Epic Records just outside the top 10 (1.56%, down from 2.99%).
In overall market share — which combines all of a label’s output in the marketplace, whereas current refers to music from the most recent 18 months — Interscope’s deep catalog and current surge sees it secure first place, at 10.81%, up from last year’s 9.84%. REPUBLIC slipped to second, despite slightly increasing its overall market share to 9.95% from last year’s 9.94%, while Atlantic’s formidable catalog sees it leapfrog Warner Records up to third in overall share, at 7.67%, relatively steady from last year’s 7.65%. Warner, similarly, is almost the same as last year, as its fourth place showing of 6.73% is in line with last year’s 6.72%; Capitol and Columbia, in fifth and sixth, are down a small amount year over year (6.05% from 6.14% for Capitol; 5.38% from 5.79% for Columba), while RCA in seventh is also essentially static, at 5.19% from 5.20%. Epic, meanwhile, jumps to eighth (2.42%, down from 2.81%), while Sony Nashville (1.95%, down from 1.97%) and Def Jam (1.80%, down from 1.97%) round out the top 10.
In terms of catalog — all titles older than 18 months, which generally favors labels with a lengthy history of hits — the top eight are the same as in overall market share, with IGA, REPUBLIC and Atlantic leading the way. In ninth, Def Jam’s 2.19% sees it move up, while Concord’s 2.05% moves it into the top 10, with Sony Nashville (1.98%) dropping down to 11th. Concord and Sony Nashville grew their shares year over year, while Def Jam’s is down slightly.
Those figures are all by distribution ownership, whereby Universal, Sony and Warner also receive market share credit from their owned independent label distributors. By label ownership, however, the independent community is by far the largest sector of the business, racking up a 37.87% current market share so far this year, down from 38.25% in 2024; and a 36.03% overall market share this year, down from 36.82% last year.
Country music label Monument Records, home to artists including Walker Hayes and Tigirlily Gold, is folding, with some aspects of the label to be overseen by Sony Music Nashville, Billboard can confirm. No reason was given for the label’s shuttering. Country Aircheck first reported the news. Sony Music songwriter/producer Shane McAnally and manager Jason Owen […]
Julie Greenwald was in Los Angeles, on the set of the video shoot for Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga‘s “Die With a Smile,” when she found out her life was about to look very different. “All of a sudden, I get told, ‘Hey, we’re gonna change your role,’” she recalled. “It was wild. I’ve been on this run for 35 years. But listen: shit happens. And there’s a lot of stuff that’s not in your control, especially when you work for someone else.”
Greenwald was one of several high-ranking veterans who exited Atlantic Music Group last year during a broader restructuring at both Atlantic and its parent company, Warner Music Group. She spoke about the experience briefly Tuesday night (April 1) during a conversation with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, where she is serving as the program’s Executive In Residence this month.
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The post-Atlantic period has “been a huge pivot for me,” Greenwald said. “I went out on a high in terms of setting up my records. But there’s nothing more brutal than, all of a sudden, the consolidation.”
The talk at the Clive Davis Institute marked some of Greenwald’s first comments since splitting from her old gig, and a rare chance to see a music industry luminary speak off the cuff — about Atlantic’s decision to drop Chappell Roan in 2020, her frustration with data-driven A&R, and the challenge of working with young artist managers who rarely understand the music business.
Lowe steered the conversation to Roan almost by accident; he appeared not to know that Atlantic had initially signed the star back in 2015. The singer released her debut EP through the label in 2017, and followed it with “Pink Pony Club” in April 2020, just as COVID-19 was tearing through the U.S. “The pandemic was the craziest time to be running a record company,” Greenwald said.
Labels were forced to try to sign artists over Zoom, which she called “disgusting” — “I never signed an act [before] if we didn’t break bread.” And amid fears that Covid-19 would have a lasting negative impact on the labels’ bottom line, Greenwald was instructed to “trim down the record company.”
Although she needed to cut costs, she was reluctant to fire staff during the pandemic. Instead, she went to her A&R department with a question: “Are there [artists] that we no longer should be in business with?” “Let’s make some tough decisions,” she remembered saying. “Because I always believed that if we couldn’t stand and believe in and back you 1,000%, we shouldn’t hold people just to hold people.”
“Pink Pony Club” wasn’t taking off at the time, and Roan was among the acts that Atlantic dropped. She was subsequently picked up by Island Records and became one of the breakout stars of 2024, winning best new artist at the Grammy Awards in February. (This trajectory is more common than labels would like: Mars, for example, was dropped by Motown before he signed to Atlantic.)
What Greenwald called the “stand and believe” impulse has largely vanished from the major labels. “The last two years of my Atlantic run, I kept yelling at my A&R staff,” she said cheerfully. She described them as “under siege by data … Everybody wants to hedge,” Greenwald added. “Nobody wants to just find something with one stream that’s brand spanking new and say, ‘I believe this is going to be somebody amazing.’”
She contrasted this approach with the behavior of young managers. Even though — or perhaps because — most of them have next to no experience in the music industry, Greenwald said, they find artists they like, long before their listening data is showing signs of exponential growth. Then they do something daring: “Call them up and say, ‘I believe.’”
By the time those managers are across the table from Greenwald, their risky bet is about to pay off. “I’m sitting in a room talking to somebody who has no experience, and they’re going to decide whether or not this artist signs [to] Atlantic or RCA,” she continued. “I’m looking at my A&R people going, ‘How did this woman who was a telemarketer from Kentucky get to that act before you?’”
While Greenwald admired managers’ willingness to throw caution to the winds and commit fully to artists they love, she was less enamored with some of the management contracts she saw young acts signing. “I had to clean up a million contracts for some of my artists,” she said. “I was just paying advances to managers to get them out of these artists’ lives with the artists’ future money.”
“It’s easy to say the label is the big bad guy,” she added later. “I always used to say, when I write my book, it’s going to be [called] ‘Why managers messed up the industry.’”
Major labels currently face a tough climate. That’s not because of TikTok’s outsized role in music discovery, or the threat of artificial intelligence, according to Greenwald. “People are not growing up anymore going, ‘I want to sign to Atlantic or Def Jam or Columbia or Interscope,’” she explained, hitting her palm for emphasis. “People are saying, ‘I want to make this shit on my own and I want to be independent.’”
Now that Greenwald has some free time — a first after more than three decades in the music business — she has been asking herself, “What kind of company do I want to build now?”
“To cut through and have a career, I think it’s about collaboration and having the right team,” she added. “Do you need 500 million people to do it? Not anymore.”
Tim Pithouse has been named general manager at Def Jam Recordings. Most recently president of the international management and entertainment company Three Six Zero, Pithouse will oversee the venerable label and its diverse roster.
In announcing Pithouse’s appointment, Def Jam chairman/CEO Tunji Balogun stated in the news release, “I’ve known Tim Pithouse for almost a decade, going back to our days at Sony Music where we worked closely together to develop and break several new artists. Not only is Tim a world-class executive, he’s also the rare person in our business who understands how culture moves and always has his finger on the pulse of what’s next. His breadth of knowledge and instinctive ability to interact with artists and their teams will be integral in helping to carry out our overall vision for the label. I’m thrilled to welcome Tim to the family at Def Jam.”
Currently based at Def Jam’s New York headquarters, Pithouse said, “Def Jam has long stood at the creative intersection of artistry, success and culture. Having the opportunity to be part of this dynamic team and again work with Tunji Balogun and his unrivalled style and taste is a privilege. I’m thrilled to be here and honored to help write the next chapter of this iconic label.”
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During his two-year tenure as president at Three Six Zero, U.K.-born Pithouse supervised various departments including management and representation, recordings and publishing, film, television and recording studios. He also assisted in launching global campaigns for artists such as Calvin Harris, WILLOW, FKA Twigs, Skepta and Kid Cudi, among others.
Before joining Three Six Zero, Pithouse created The Orchard’s global artist & label services division. In addition to signing Baby Keem, Tems, Daniel Caesar and Jack White there, Pithouse established stragegic partnerships with Human Re Sources, Nvak and Terrible Records.
Prior to that, Pithouse spent 12 yeas at Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Sydney, Australia, he held several posts including account manager and general manager, marketing & artist development. Pithouse is also an active advisor for the Metallic Creative Agency and the Creative Futures Collective charity.
TAMLA Records, the Nashville-based reprise of the storied label founded by Motown Records icon Berry Gordy, is announcing its official re-launch. Having set the goal “to redefine the Christian music landscape,” TAMLA operates under the Motown Gospel/Capitol Christian Music Group banner and is helmed by Walter Thomas, senior vp for Motown Gospel & TAMLA.
“Our mission is to champion, uplift and inspire new generation cutting-edge artists,” Thomas tells Billboard, “by providing a platform to connect their music with fans around the world through innovation and culture. TAMLA is the new home of positive music.”
It was initially announced in 2023 that TAMLA — Gordy’s late ‘50s precursor to Motown — would be revamped as a “mainstream imprint specializing in positive R&B and hip-hop music.” The first partner signed then to the reimagined TAMLA was Thomas “Tillie” Mann and his label Encouragement Music. However, the early 2024 reorganization of Universal Music Group delayed TAMLA’s formal relaunch.
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Also working alongside Thomas at TAMLA will be Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. The Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer has partnered with TAMLA to sign and develop emerging talent under his imprint, EVOLVE Music Group.
Rodney Jerkins / Credit: Andre St. Louis
“The history of TAMLA is very important,” Jerkins tells Billboard. “People need to know what TAMLA meant then but more importantly what it will mean now. To have the chance to help continue the legacy of what the great Berry Gordy started is what really prompted my decision to partner with TAMLA. We have a great opportunity to find new artists that can help continue its rich legacy.”
“I want to help bring to the world some cutting-edge Christian and gospel music,” added Jerkins. “I’ve always felt it should co-exist with mainstream. So my goal with Walter and Brad [O’Donnell, president of Capitol Christian Music Group] is to discover talent that we feel could do just that.”
In addition to the aforementioned Encouragement Music and its artist EmanuelDaProphet, TAMLA’s current roster now includes Childlike CiCi, Jordan L’Oreal and Lee Vasi. The label has also entered into a partnership with AMG Music Group (Anderson Music Group). Thomas’ label team at TAMLA includes senior director of A&R Alex Dollar, senior director of marketing Justin Tomlinson, director of A&R Justin Pearson and project manager, marketing Brianna Dowd.
“Right now, more than ever, I think we all need hope,” says Thomas. “And this music gives a lot of hope and uplift. It isn’t front tier in a lot of people’s minds because it’s religion-based. But if they can get past religion-based and get caught up in the whole messages that this music gives, people will connect more.”
“The more opportunities and platforms that these artists get on, I think people will want to hear it,” continues Thomas. “They just don’t know that it’s out. The main goal right now is to position these artists to be front and center so they can work in general market settings as well.”
Fernando Cabral de Mello has been named CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Brazil, Sony Music Latin Iberia announced on Thursday (March 27). His appointment comes as part of a new organizational structure for Sony’s operations in the country. The “newly unified entity” will encompass Sony Music Brazil, Som Livre and also oversee the joint venture […]
In 2023, Grammy-winning producer Daniel Nigro founded his independently-funded Amusement Records primarily as a home for a then-independent Chappell Roan to release the album they made together, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
Roan at the time had been recently dropped by her former label, but as Nigro told Billboard when announcing Amusement: “I was so in love with everything that we were doing. I believe in [Chappell] so much that I was like, ‘Do I want this added stress in my life? Is it worth it? Yes.’”
And it sure was. Last August, almost one year after her debut album’s release, The Rise and Fall peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The following month, she scored her highest-charting Hot 100 hit with “Good Luck, Babe!” And this February, Roan won the Grammy for best new artist.
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Now, on Wednesday (March 26), Universal Music Group and Nigro announced an expanded partnership with Amusement following the knockout success of Roan and building on the producer’s long-term creative relationship with superstar Olivia Rodrigo (who is signed to UMG label Geffen/Interscope). Going forward, Amusement will operate as a label venture within UMG, allowing new signees to partner with any of UMG’s labels.
“Daniel embodies the type of creative brilliance and entrepreneurial spirit that is at the heart of UMG,” UMG chairman and CEO, Sir Lucian Grainge, said in a statement. “I can’t wait to hear the culture shaping music and artists [he] will bring next to our global family.”
Since Nigro founded Amusement, he and Roan have both celebrated new highs. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess spawned six Hot 100 hits, including the top 10 smash “Pink Pony Club.” Meanwhile, Nigro earned his second Grammy for producer of the year at the 2025 ceremony for his work with Roan, Rodrigo and the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. (His first win was for Rodrigo’s debut album Sour.)
“After 6 years of working almost exclusively with the various labels [and] artists under Universal, it made perfect sense to make the relationship more formal,” Nigro said in a statement. “I want Amusement Records to be a place where artists can feel comfortable growing and developing at their own pace but with all the real resources needed to thrive and succeed.”
“Also,” he added, “a place where I can have the freedom to help choose the right team each time for the artist. I know in my heart that the people at Universal understand this, and I am beyond excited about what’s to come.”
On Sunday (March 23), two days after a South Korean court ruled that ADOR, an imprint of K-pop giant HYBE, retains the right to manage the groundbreaking girl band NewJeans, the five-member act performed its first and possibly only concert in Hong Kong under a new moniker, NJZ — a result of its attempt to break free from the label. After debuting a new song, “Pit Stop,” the group announced to the sold-out crowd that it was going on hiatus “out of respect for the court’s decision.”
The pronouncement added another twist to a nearly year-long battle between HYBE-owned ADOR and its biggest act, who allege they were mistreated by the label. (ADOR disputes these claims.)
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It’s a fight that could have industry-wide ramifications. The country’s five largest pop music organizations argued at a press conference in February that if NewJeans/NJZ was allowed to break its contract with HYBE/ADOR, it could “break the K-pop industry from the inside,” according to Seoul newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily.
A separate lawsuit to determine if NewJeans/NJZ can legally terminate its contract with ADOR begins April 3, but if the court sides with HYBE/ADOR and the group refuses to make new music, industry insiders wonder whether a legal win would be a pyrrhic victory for HYBE.
HYBE/ADOR and NewJeans/NJZ declined to comment on the financial impacts of the disagreement. An ADOR spokesperson said only that its exclusive contract with NewJeans/NJZ is legally binding and called the group’s performance in Hong Kong as NJZ and its “unilateral announcement of a suspension of activities” regrettable. The members of NewJeans/NJZ filed an objection to the court ruling against its independent activities on Monday (March 24).
HYBE is the company behind one of the highest-selling K-pop acts of all time, BTS. When members of BTS took time away from the group for military service in recent years, the company sought to diversify beyond its tentpole artist with other acts — often through imprints like ADOR — and such acquisitions as Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, Atlanta hip-hop label Quality Control and Latin music company Exile Music Group.
In its fiscal 2024, HYBE reported its highest revenue-generating year in its nearly 20-year history, having generated revenue of 2.25 trillion Korean won ($1.58 billion). But operating profit, a financial metric that subtracts operating costs like legal fees from a company’s gross profit, fell 38% from the prior fiscal year to 184 billion won ($128.7 million), a decline the company attributed to BTS’ temporary break, a shift in sales mix due to new debuts, and strategic investments in infrastructure and new businesses.
The controversy with ADOR and NewJeans/NJZ coincided with a steep decline in HYBE’s share price in 2024. HYBE stock was priced at 230,500 won ($172.33) on April 19, the day HYBE launched an investigation into whether ex-ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin — who is a defendant in the lawsuit — usurped management of NewJeans/NJZ. Min was asked to resign, and in the weeks that followed, HYBE accused Min of trying to take ADOR independent and, with it, NewJeans/NJZ. On Sept. 23, after a YouTube video of the NewJeans/NJZ members demanding that Min be reinstated went viral, HYBE’s stock price plunged to a 52-week low of 158,000 Korean won ($112), down 31.5% from that April high.
While its share price has rebounded — on Tuesday (March 25), it was worth 240,000 Korean won ($163.49), 14.5% from a year ago — the dispute with NewJeans/NJZ may lead to sunk costs.
As with A&R across the music industry, the model for producing a K-pop supergroup is costly at the outset. It can cost between 1 billion Korean won ($681,000) to 10 billion won ($6.8 million) up front, according to a K-pop executive quoted in Korea JoongAng Daily. K-pop companies first pay off debt, then investors, before paying the artists. If the artists break their contract to go to another agency before ultimately turning a profit, the agency is left holding the bag, the executive told the paper. Bunnies, the official fan club of NewJeans/NJZ, criticized this statement, saying the group is seeking creative autonomy and a better deal.
NewJeans announced in February it wanted to go by a new name — NJZ — and member Pham Ngoc Han, who goes by Hanni, told CNN she hoped the new name would help the group turn “this rough period into something more exciting.” ADOR requested Billboard refer to the group as NewJeans, saying, “The Korean court … confirm[ed] ADOR’s status as the legitimate exclusive management agency of the NewJeans members and prevent the Artists from entering into advertising contracts independently without ADOR’s approval.”
The five women in the group — who perform as Minjin, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein and Hanni — formed NewJeans/NJZ in 2022, and they now range in age from 18 to 21. Several have said they are concerned the legal battle with ADOR would define their careers.
“We’ve known from the start that this journey wasn’t going to be easy and even though we accept the court’s ruling and this whole process, we had to speak up to protect the values that we believe in,” the members said at the end of their hour-long headlining performance in Hong Kong on Sunday, adding it’s a decision they “don’t regret at all.”
Indie digital rights organization Merlin has announced the participants for its third annual Merlin Engage program, which is designed to help promote and support female leaders in the independent music industry. Over a six-month period, the program connects young women aspiring to careers in the music business with senior leaders within it, and this year it will expand to include community building.
The program, which began in 2023, saw a 70% increase in nominees for participation over last year. Mentees are offered one-on-one sessions with their mentors, receive peer support from other participants in the program and have the opportunity to go to skill-building workshops, according to a press release. Harvard Institute of Coaching fellow Miriam Meima will also return as program facilitator for a second year.
“The power of Merlin Engage goes beyond mentorship — it’s about building a community where women across the Merlin membership can find support, encouragement and guidance as they build their careers in the music industry,” Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota said in a statement. “I’m incredibly proud that we continue to expand this program, the commitment to mentor from our most senior leaders, and support from the entire Merlin Board in driving positive change within the industry.”
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This year, mentors will include executives from companies like Exceleration, EMPIRE, Secretly, Domino, Beggars, Ninja Tune, Epitaph, BMG and more; mentees hail from companies like IDOL, OneRPM, Hopeless Records, Stones Throw Records, Better Noise, Sub Pop and Nettwerk. (A full list of mentors and mentees is below.) Merlin consultant Dan Nevin is also returning to help support the program.
“It’s incredibly important to support, encourage and empower women to expand their career paths in the music industry,” said Liz Erman — managing director at Nettwerk Music Group and a former mentee who is returning to the program this year as a mentor — in a statement. “We have so much to contribute and can elevate the level of success of any company if we can access the right leadership opportunities. I hope that by sharing my experiences and guidance, I can help others reach their goals more easily.”
Another former mentee, Exceleration Music digital operations manager Larissa Woss, called the program “a transformative experience” in a statement. “My mentor truly listened to me, taking the time to understand my challenges and goals, which gave me the confidence to take the next step in my career,” Woss said. “Equally valuable was the incredible network of people I connected with. This program is not just about developing skills — it’s about fostering a supportive, empowered generation of female leaders in the independent music industry. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Below is the full list of participants this year.
Mentors: Amy Dietz (Partner, Exceleration), Anne Jenniskens (General Manager, Paradise), Bria Fisher (VP of Communications, EMPIRE), Chloé van Bergen (VP Operations, UK & EU, Secretly), Clare McKinney (Director, Commercial and Business Affairs, Domino), Dionna Johnson (VP of Marketing, EMPIRE), Emma Lomas (Head of Licensing & Creative, Beggars), Eniko Gallasz (Managing Director, WMMusicDistribution), Liz Erman (Managing Director, Nettwerk), Marie Clausen (Managing Director, US, Ninja Tune), Megan Jasper (CEO, Sub Pop), Narin Karadaghi (General Counsel, Amuse), Nitsa Kalispera (EVP Global Recorded Music Supply Chain Operations, BMG), Patra Sinner (General Counsel, Symphonic) and Sue Lucarelli (President, Epitaph).
Mentees: Allison Kleshefsky (DSP Editorial & Partnerships Lead – Americas, IDOL), Diana Schweinbeck (Senior Director, Artist & Label Services, Cinq Music, USA), Dominique de Solminihac (Artist Marketing Manager South Cone, ONErpm), Francesca Caldara (Vice President, Recorded Music, UNIFIED), Gianna Archetti (Head of Operations, iGroove), Jovana Medic (Director of IDJTV/Director, IDJDigital), Lexie Viklund (Director of A&R, Better Noise), Lisa Riepe (Head of Sales & Marketing, Zebralution), Maiko Okabe (Global Campaign Manager, Warp Records), Maya Kalev (Label Manager, UK & Europe, Stones Throw Records), Naomi Bressani (Head of Digital, Republic of Music), Nele Knueppel (Director, Digital Rights & Distribution, Nettwerk Music Group), Nicole Abea (Director of Influencer & UGC Promotions, Marketing/Promo, Hopeless Records), Phoebe Petridis (Senior Manager, Digital Operations and Technology, Domino Recording), and Rachel White (Director of Audience Development (Marketing), Sub Pop Records).