Record Labels
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After LANY completed its four-album deal with Interscope early last year, the Los Angeles pop-rock duo decided to be an independent act.
“You’ve built your career on a major [label] model, and you’re like, ‘We’ve got what we’re going to get out of the system – let’s get back some control,’” says Rupert Lincoln, the band’s manager.
LANY had a big following, and multiple streaming hits, including 2018’s “Malibu Nights,” which has more than 403 million Spotify plays, and the 2020 album mama’s boy, which hit No. 7 on the Billboard 200. But without a label, the band needed help – and money – to market music and shows to its fanbase.
So Lincoln and the band talked with some of the many distribution companies now vying for independent artists’ business with advances and marketing services. They selected Stem Disintermedia, founded nine years ago by United Talent Agency veteran Milana Rabkin Lewis and which a year ago secured $250 million in credit for artist advances from Victory Park Capital.
LANY self-financed a new album, last year’s a beautiful blur, with help from Stem and Virgin Records, its label for international territories. The band made a deal with Stem to handle marketing and promotion. “Stem made an investment,” says Seth Faber, the distributor’s general manager, adding that LANY took “a few advances along the way to fund different aspects of the project.” Stem set up a TikTok marketing campaign, taking advantage of the social-media giant’s commercial music library, which allows new and indie artists to make their tracks available for brands to use in video clips. Then Stem and Lincoln pooled their radio connections and pushed “XXL” onto iHeartMedia and SiriusXM playlists.
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Stem launched a TikTok campaign, and fans shared footage from the band’s fall tour in Asia, helping “XXL” hit No. 46 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 last September. Then the company took the track to radio — “shook hands, kissed babies,” according to Faber — and peaked at No. 26 on Pop Airplay in February. “Considering what we were going up against, major labels and their pockets, it’s a pretty good magic trick to pull off,” Faber says. The band performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Today in the fall, and its U.S. spring tour was in clubs and theaters. “XXL” has 14 million Spotify plays and more than 3 million YouTube views.
“The splits are very favorable with Stem,” says Lincoln. “We felt incredible support from the top down.”
Stem began as a typical indie distributor, helping artists to put out physical and digital music and seeing to it they received their streaming revenue. After working with top indie artists and labels, from Frank Ocean for his Blonde album to Big Loud Records, home of Morgan Wallen, Stem pivoted to a new model in 2020, emphasizing advance artist payments; last year, it spun off a new company, Tone, to “modernize the music industry’s financial infrastructure,” as Lewis said earlier this year.
Stem is one of many indie distributors that does not require artists to give up long-term rights to their master recordings in exchange for advance payments — DistroKid, CD Baby, Create Music Group and Secretly Distribution operate a similar way, simplifying the process of putting artists’ music out and helping to arrange timely royalty payments. But what distinguishes Stem, according to Faber, is the ability to “add value” to artist deals by emphasizing major-label-style promotion and marketing campaigns. Instead of distributing numerous artists, Stem selects acts, like LANY, who have track records of sales success and potential for high-quality new material.
Using this model, Stem works with indie labels such as Quality Control and artists such as R&B singer Brent Faiyaz, who received eight advance Stem checks to make his album Wasteland. Artists signed to Stem borrow what they need for music videos or digital-marketing campaigns, negotiating terms as they go along. “Now that we have the bandwidth to focus on a lower volume of more meaningful acts, all these acts get the human touch,” Faber says. “Our approach requires artists that see the big picture and are not just chasing the largest check that they could find — and are looking to make smart and calculated investments in themselves.”
Jim Caparro, a former Warner and Island Def Jam CEO who ran Polygram Group Distribution in the ’80s, says most artists don’t need a major label or even a major distributor, such as Warner Music-owned ADA or Universal Music-owned Virgin Music Group, to serve their fanbase with new music and social-media marketing. Artists like LANY, who’ve established themselves on major labels, simply need up-front money for recording projects and radio connections.
“It’s a matter of advances: Who can write the biggest check?” Caparro says. “Artists can do it themselves. They really don’t need all those partners to share their royalties with.”
Lincoln, who runs Hills Artists in Los Angeles and London, praises Stem for giving LANY a pathway to radio connections, including top execs at iHeartMedia and SiriusXM, which will undoubtedly be useful for future single releases. He also emphasizes that Stem’s success with LANY is due to a collaboration between the distributor and the management company. “It’s been a really great partnership so far,” he says. “Autonomy is the future of the business.”
LaTrice Burnette has been appointed to the newly created post of executive vp/head of music at UnitedMasters. In this role, Burnette will helm the artist services division for the software and services platform’s global roster of independent artists.
In announcing the appointment, UnitedMasters founder and CEO Steve Stoute said, “LaTrice brings with her a wealth of experience by having played every single position inside a record company, from assistant to president. Every artist that I’ve spoken to that she has worked with has had nothing but great things to say about her keen understanding of the industry, of marketing and helping them grow their careers. With our artist services business at UnitedMasters, having somebody like LaTrice on board, with her level of experience, is going to do nothing but help make our artists go further in their careers. This is another big move for us and our commitment to independent artists.”
In addition to Stoute, Burnette will be working alongside vp of music/head of A&R Mike Weiss and vp of music & marketing David Melhado. “I’m beyond excited to join the UnitedMasters team to help drive the next phase of growth for their global independent artist community,” said Burnette. “Having worked with so many amazing artists throughout my career, I’ve seen firsthand the increasing desire for independence while still receiving top-level label services. UnitedMasters has pioneered a model that gives artists the best of both worlds. I’m looking forward to collaborating with the UnitedMasters team to elevate artist development to new heights and empower the next generation of artists to own their futures.”
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Burnette most recently served as executive vp at Def Jam Recordings before joining UnitedMasters. Her more than two decades of music industry experience also include senior executive posts at Island Records, Epic Records, Atlantic Records and Roc-A-Fella Records. During that time, she’s worked with a host of star talents such as Jay-Z, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, Yo Gotti, Travis Scott, Future, Muni Long and DJ Khaled. Burnette also brings marketing experience to her new role, having contributed to strategic partnerships and campaigns with brands like Diageo and the WNBPA (Women’s National Basketball Players Association).
Over the last three years, UnitedMasters has signed partnerships with Brent Faiyaz and Earthgang, among others. It has also expanded internationally through foundational partnerships with artists such as Davido and Sarz in Nigeria; Veigh, Nagalli, and Supernova in Brazil and FloyyMenor and Nickoog in Chile. With over 2 million artists on its platform, UnitedMasters also has brand partnerships with Diageo, Ally and ESPN.
Louis Posen launched a label on a dare. It was 1993 and he was directing a music video for Guttermouth when the band threw down the gauntlet, challenging him to put out a 7″ single. Posen cheerfully admits he had no business plan and zero funding. The guiding principle, he says, was “surround ourselves with good people, and we’ll be fine.”
More than fine, in fact: That label, Hopeless Records, has gone on to work with more than 200 artists — including Avenged Sevenfold, All Time Low, The Wonder Years, Taking Back Sunday and Yellowcard — that span from punk to ska, metal to emo. All told, the roster has sold more than 15 million albums. And now, Posen is celebrating the label’s 30th anniversary at A2IM’s Indie Week in New York (June 10-13), where he will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award Monday (June 10) at the organization’s 2024 Libera Awards.
While Posen’s decision to cannonball into the deep end of the label world might seem recklessly spur-of-the-moment, he now believes it was almost preordained. “We have all these moments in our lives that lead us to something,” he explains. One came in the fifth grade when a friend’s mom’s boyfriend took Posen and others to see the L.A. punk group X at the Reseda Country Club. “That was the first time I saw mohawks, stage diving, slam dancing,” Posen remembers. “And I was like, ‘Wow, this is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.’”
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To celebrate Hopeless Records’ 30th anniversary, the label put together a traveling exhibit full of memorabilia commemorating key moments in its history. It will be open during Indie Week this week, before heading on to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. Posen and Ian Harrison, the label’s GM, spoke about Hopeless Records’ origins, the challenges of condensing 30 years of activity into a single exhibit and the value of the independent sector.
Hopeless Records
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What led you to start a label?
Posen: I was in film school at Cal State Northridge and I directed a music video for NOFX. The opener for the show we shot at was Guttermouth, who asked me to do a music video for them. And then while shooting that video, the band dared me to put out a 7″ record for them.
I went out and bought a book on how to run an independent record label. I tried to follow what it said, along with calling Fat Mike from NOFX because he had a record label. The first 7″ came out in December 1993, with the first song being called “Hopeless.” And that was where the name of the label was born.
I was still in college directing music videos at the time. It was really a one-off dare. Another group that I was doing a music video for was Schlong — a band with the drummer from Operation Ivy. While we were filming that video, the guys said, “Hey, we want to cover the whole West Side Story soundtrack and call it Punk Side Story. Would you put it out on this new label you started?” I said, “Let’s do it.” Things were so spontaneous back then.
What was the response to those early releases?
Posen: Guttermouth had a following. I was able to sell that first pressing of 500 or 1,000 records fairly quickly. The book also had distributors and their phone numbers so I called all of them. Some were willing to take the 7″, and then the rest I would sell at local Southern California retail stores. I would go drop them off on consignment and then come back a week later, see what sold and get paid.
The third release was all the music videos that I had directed along with videos from some of my friends who were directors. We put it on a VHS cassette and called that Cinema Beer-té, a play on “cinéma vérité.” After that, I decided to do the label full-time.
So you got the hang of things pretty quickly.
Posen: We’re still getting the hang of it; 30 years later, the best part about this industry is that it’s always changing and you always have to be learning. Those who feel like they know it usually get stuck and hit a ceiling. We need to be humble enough to learn from our successes, but more so learn from our mistakes and keep getting better every day. That’s been our philosophy and hopefully has been a part of why we’ve been able to survive for 30 years.
Hopeless Records
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How did you approach distilling three decades of history into a single exhibit?
Harrison: We’re pretty fortunate to have too much stuff — we could do two or three more exhibits if anyone was interested in that level of detail. We took a lot of inspiration from the Punk Rock Museum in Vegas, how they displayed the history of our world. We put our own tweaks on it.
We spent maybe two months going through stuff before we started building anything. And that was really just trying to get a sense of what we had, what we could get from artists, and what was important to tell the story. We have access to certain items that are interesting, but we also have big moments at the label that we want to make sure are represented, and sometimes those don’t always line up. It took maybe four months altogether. One thing we took away from this experience was feeling like we should do a better job archiving stuff in the future, both digitally and physically.
Posen: I always keep something next to my desk that reminds me of the beginning so I don’t forget where we came from. I kept the original Guttermouth 24-track two-inch tape in my office. Ian also spent some time — very kind of him — going through my garage with me to find all kinds of stuff that no one had looked at in 30 years.
The idea from the beginning was for it to be mobile, so we could go from museum to museum. Ian came up with the idea of putting these items in road cases, which was really cool because it has a music connection. You’ve got these music road cases like an artist would have on tour, but with the glass fronts like what you would see on the wall of a well-known museum.
How often did you have to ask artists for items?
Harrison: About 25% of the good stuff I’d say comes from artists. Avenged Sevenfold’s guitar that they used to record Waking the Fallen, that came from the producer actually who still had it. Neck Deep gave us a guitar. The Wonder Years gave us these two amazing lyric books with original song titles that had changed, early album plans, a pros and cons list about conversations with the label. That’s gold.
A lot of the good stuff came from artists, which is really nice and also requires us to have good relationships with them. That’s another bright spot for the label — we generally have pretty good relationships with these artists over time.
Posen: The third way we got stuff was becoming an expert at searching eBay, finding old T-shirts and things that we don’t have any stock of anymore. We used to put out these parody shirts that look like Rolling Rock, but they said “punk rock.” We found those on eBay.
Harrison: For maybe a month my house looked like a crazy person’s house. We just had the weirdest-looking packages coming every day. I bought a lot of posters that came in like these insane packages.
Hopeless Records
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Are there any items in the exhibit that are especially meaningful for you?
Harrison: For me, it would be The Greatest Generation workbook from around when The Wonder Years put out that album. That’s one of the top records in the company’s history. I remember us putting out that record and going through the whole process. To see the inner workings of that record as it was developing, to me that’s the coolest thing. And then I also threw in my own gold record from All Time Low when they first got a single plaque.
Posen: I mentioned we did the Punk Side Story that covered the whole West Side Story soundtrack. We actually got a letter from Leonard Bernstein‘s daughter — he’s the composer. She said, “This is an amazing version of my dad’s work and we’re not going to sue you.” It’s handwritten on her stationery. That’s an amazing piece.
And we have a letter from the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, who’s an icon in California, recognizing our charitable work with Sub City. Our belief that the artists’ voices can do more than make musicians rich and famous, that’s still the fabric and foundation of what we do every day.
What advice would you give to someone who aspires to start a label now and have it last 30 years?
Posen: I’m always hesitant to give advice because every individual is different. But there are definitely philosophies that I have that I like to share. We have a list of principles on the Hopeless site. If you’re just doing this for your own benefit, I think that’s not sustainable or rewarding over a long period of time. And it’s not about whatever the quick, easy path is. It’s about doing things the right way, treating people the right way. Those principles aren’t necessarily in fashion now, but we think those are universal and everlasting. And my biggest one is probably to still surround yourself with great people. This is really a team sport.
How do you feel about the health of the independent label landscape?
Posen: We’re a big believer that the independent music sector is an amazing place to build your career and create social mobility. This community does that. It’s an amazing environment to get started. Most independent labels don’t require you to have a Harvard degree, or any degree. It’s all about how hard you work — and how much you care. This community is what gave us the environment to start and thrive. And so we want to make sure this community stays strong and grows for the next generation of labels and other music businesses.
Ian made a list while he’s been putting this together — all of our albums that have reached 100,000 copies sold in the U.S. You only get a gold record at 500,000 or a platinum one at 1 million. We’ve got a few of those, which is awesome. But what’s actually more exciting is we have 33 albums that have hit over 100,000. To me, that symbolizes what we do and what independent music is all about. It’s not about superstars necessarily. It’s mostly about great music and art and allowing these artists to make a living doing what they do.
Following the example of its bustling Nashville division, BMG is moving headfirst into its focus as a frontline label and investing heavily in developing U.S. acts.
Less than six months after Jon Loba was promoted from president of BMG Nashville to president of frontline recordings at BMG North America, he now expands his reach to president of frontline recordings, The Americas, to include Brazil under his watch. He will oversee new releases across all genres, including pop, rock, R&B/Hip-Hop, country and Latin.
“We’re going to become much more frontline focused,” Loba tells Billboard. “There’s a reallocation of resources to the U.S. We’re going to be much more frontline competitive, including building out our LATAM division.”
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The move comes with a heavy investment in A&R, A&R research and digital resources, with BMG doubling the dollars it had been spending on U.S. signings and acquisitions. “The whole idea of putting me in this position was [BMG] very much wanted the rest of the U.S. to match the culture of Nashville and how we broke acts,” Loba says.
BMG’s country division has been a frontline powerhouse with such platinum artists as Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Parmalee, Dustin Lynch and Blanco Brown, while the non-country genres were “focused on acquisition and established artists,” Loba says. “We want to be intentional about growing organically, as well as being a home for new viral acts.”
Running BMG Nashville has taught Loba that “the icons come from fringes” and copycats need not apply. “We want to be a home for artists that maybe don’t easily find a home elsewhere or that others don’t immediately see the value in,” he says. “We want to be home for a different perspective, a different voice.”
Part of BMG Nashville’s success has come from the strength of its radio promotion team, and Loba expects that team to work to select non-country records going forward. “Radio tends to be the rocket fuel of streams too,” he says. “You may have streaming airplay for a certain amount of time without radio’s involvement, but I still don’t know an artist who doesn’t care about radio airplay, so to be attractive to our current and potential artists, you can’t afford not to have a radio presence.”
BMG expects to still be very involved in the acquisition space, with the focus on signing new acts coming as an additive to the existing business. According to its 2023 year-end report, the Berlin-based BMG made 30 acquisitions last year as revenues grew to 905 million euros (the equivalent of $986 million), up 4.6% over 2022. Among its main acquisitions were the purchase of Paul Simon’s royalty income in his Simon & Garfunkel recordings as well as acquiring the catalog of British rock band The Hollies.
Unlike a number of labels that are combining frontline and catalog operations, BMG’s will remain separate (even though, before new BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld took over last July, the plan had been to unite the two). Thomas Scherer, who formerly ran the publishing division, is now head of global recorded catalog. According to the 2023 report, recordings account for 34% of BMG’s revenue, 61% comes from publishing and the remaining 5% comes from broader rights.
Loba has also set his executive team, many of whom are refining their duties. Below are the key members of his team and their defined roles.
*JoJamie Hahr, executive vp of recorded music, BMG Nashville, will oversee day-to-day management of BBR Music Group and its three imprints, which are home to such acts as Jelly Roll, Aldean and Wilson. Hahr, who joined the company in 2017, reports to Loba.
*Zarah Ortiz, vp of repertoire and campaign management, will oversee BMG’s building presence in Latin American markets including Mexico and Brazil and such genres as Afro-pop. Based in Miami, Ortiz, who oversees a team in Mexico, reports to Loba, as does GM Daniel Fernandes in Brazil.
*Dan Gill, executive vp of recorded music, West Coast, will oversee the pop, rock, R&B/Hip-Hop and international outbound repertoire. Gill, who joined BMG following its 2014 acquisition of Vagrant Records, led the success of such acts as blink-182 and LP at BMG and will lead the campaign on upcoming releases from YG, Chief Keef, Wiz Khalifa and others. He reports to Loba.
*Gill’s direct reports include Cyndi Lynott, senior vp of marketing, who will lead BMG’s recorded frontline strategy for pop artists including New Kids on the Block and The Script; Sean Heydorn, senior vp at Rise Records, who will now lead all rock frontline efforts, including Rise’s roster and BMG rock acts Godsmack, Lenny Kravitz and Sum41; Shane Cosme, senior vp of international marketing for BMG U.S., who will be responsible for handling U.S. repertoire outside the United States; and Tim Reid, senior vp of repertoire & marketing, who will oversee R&B/Hip-Hop in the United States as well as handle RBC Records, home to Chief Keef and Run the Jewels. Reporting to Reid is Jecoure Lemothe, vp of A&R and marketing, who will also handle day-to-day operations for RBC Records. Lynott, Heydorn, Cosme and Lemothe are L.A.-based, while Reid has relocated from L.A. to Nashville.
*Bryan Columbus, vp of recorded music, Canada, reports directly to Loba; he returns to BMG following a stint at Concord Label Group. Before Concord, Columbus led Canadian market campaigns for Nashville’s Broken Bow Records Music Group through BMG’s partnership with Black Box Music.
Loba hints there will also be more changes coming, including additions to the frontline, global and U.S. teams.
Much of the conversation in the music business this year has been about superfans — where to find them, how to connect with them and the ways to better cater to them during single and album rollouts. Suffice it to say that the team behind Twenty One Pilots and their latest album, Clancy, took that conversation to heart.
This week, Clancy debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and flew in at No. 1 on both the Top Album Sales and Top Rock Albums charts with 143,000 equivalent album units, landing the biggest rock debut of the year so far in the process, with a campaign that leaned heavily into super-serving the group’s biggest fans. That took the form of exclusive listening parties at independent record stores around the country, a multi-pronged sales strategy that offered more than a dozen different ways of purchasing the album and thinking holistically about each tier of fandom and what they want the most.
The result: Nearly 60% of the album’s first week numbers came from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales, according to Elektra vp of D2C, streaming and marketing strategy Thom Skarzynski, who worked on the album rollout. And the success of Clancy helps earn Skarzynski the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Skarzynski discusses the fan-led strategies that went into the album release, as well as the career-long buildup that got the band to this point. “We went into the campaign with a refreshed mindset,” Skarzynski says. “It was all about bringing things back to the surface and carrying the story to life for not only the deeply-rooted superfans but also the more casual listeners who may have lost the plot along the way.”
This week, Twenty One Pilots’ Clancy debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on both Top Album Sales and Top Rock Albums. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
My role at Elektra is multifaceted — depending on the project, I might be involved in marketing, D2C or streaming strategy. In the case of Twenty One Pilots, I was fortunate enough to run point on all three, co-running the overall marketing on this album campaign with Katie Robinson [senior vp of marketing at Elektra], so I truly was able to engulf myself into the whole picture and curate what we needed to happen and when.
That said, the area that I’m most proud of in impacting our debut was what we were able to do via D2C on the band’s store. We took extra care to custom tailor each of our offerings, accounting for every level of fan, what would excite them, and how it would deepen their connection with the band. In the end, D2C accounted for nearly 60% of our first-week activity. Their overwhelming response shows the power of a fan base when they’re being listened to and treated right.
With 143,000 equivalent album units, Clancy nearly doubled the first-week mark from the band’s last album, 2021’s Scaled and Icy. What did you do different this time around to achieve that?
We went into the campaign with a refreshed mindset. It was all about bringing things back to the surface and carrying the story to life for not only the deeply-rooted superfans but also the more casual listeners who may have lost the plot along the way. I must credit the band themselves, management [Chris Woltman and Ashley Pimenta at Element 1] and their creative team [Mark Eshleman and Brandon Rike], as they were true architects in the early teaser campaigns we executed for the core fanbase — sending 1,500 red envelope letters out to fans across the globe, swapping all studio artwork of previous albums to have “red tape” over it. Cryptic moments like that activated their hardcore fans, and from there we just expanded. This album campaign was about bringing every level of fan together and nailing the conclusion to a story the band has been telling for nearly a decade.
The album’s huge sales week was also bolstered by its physical availability — 11 vinyl variants, plus several CD editions and deluxe box sets. What was your approach to the physical sales aspect, and how were you able to pull that off?
Very early on, we connected with the band’s creative director Brandon Rike, and went through ideas and suggestions for this launch — including my absolute favorite, the Clancy Journal — as well as box-set options and how many different vinyl variants we would need to ensure everybody from the fan base had something they loved enough to own. We chose carefully, knowing where each level of fan would be shopping and what they would engage with, and let that be our guide.
We also held listening events at over 175 independent record stores across the country the Saturday prior to album release, which brought out an estimated 20,000 fans. That indie variable was super cool and we were so happy to bring the physical community together to experience the album as one. I am a firm believer that fans want to own an item from an artist they love that they can proudly display or cherish, and that’s what we aimed to offer. Every decision we made was around “thinking like a fan.” Any mindset different from that was unacceptable as we rolled this out.
The album was the final chapter of a conceptual series. How were you able to play into that to help generate excitement among the fan base?
For me, the pressure was on to deliver on behalf of the band and their team, and simply connect the dots wherever possible. This storyline that they’ve built for nine years now is so much bigger than me and I not only accepted that fact but was humbled to be trusted to handle parts of the campaign that played into it. Ultimately, what generates the most excitement are three things: excellent music; a message and lyrics that resonate with people; and bringing fans along on the journey with you.
Clancy also represents the biggest debut for a rock album this year so far. With rock such a sales-heavy format and the industry at large so dependent on streaming, how do you leverage streaming with that sales strategy to deliver such a big debut?
The variety and cadence of the single releases leading up to the album kept the fan base engaged and built up anticipation for the full album. We also had great support from our streaming partners with multiple playlist covers, and excellent positioning in both their new music and flagship playlists across rock, alternative and pop. When it comes to sales itself, we looked at everything mathematically, and strategically pinpointed where we could find wins and where we felt we may have had some challenges. We knew how much we had total control of — D2C, physical retail, indie retail and digital albums — and making each of them the best experience possible maximized our results. We just knew the fan base so well and were able to be strategic with how, when and where we interacted with them.
How are you guys planning to continue to promote the album moving forward?
We are just getting started. “The Craving (single version)” is impacting at Top 40, Alternative and Hot AC radio right now and already getting incredible support. This is also a band that never stops: They have their massive Clancy World Tour which hits arenas and even some stadiums across North America starting in August before going overseas to Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Europe. In my very first conversation with management back in October, they walked me through a plan that ran through 2026 and beyond. Twelve years in, this is still just the beginning for them.
R&B/hip-hop industry veteran Lionel Ridenour has been appointed executive vp of promotion at gamma. In his new role, Ridenour will oversee the company’s radio promotion efforts across all formats and genres. The appointment comes in the wake of Ridenour’s promotional work on behalf of gamma. projects by Usher, 4batz, Sexyy Red and October London.
In a press release announcing Ridenour’s appointment, gamma. co-founder/CEO Larry Jackson said, “Early into the formation of gamma., we oftentimes heard the critique that one of things we would be challenged to deliver on is radio promotion, for any artist at the highest level. So we challenged ourselves to roll up our sleeves and debunk that theory. And it is because of Lionel, his staff and our efficient spend in this area that we now have such an unbelievably strong radio market share for a company that’s only a year old.
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“Radio is still such an important mainstream access point to the heartland of so many countries, especially the U.S., and I am so happy to be able to have Lionel leading the charge for us in that regard,” Jackson added. “It’s also incredibly noteworthy that he’s the first African-American head of promotion in 40 years for any major music company (we’re not a label, of course) and I am so proud to be able to be a part of this historic moment in the overall business.”
Added Ridenour, “I’m thrilled to be joining gamma. and want to thank Larry and Ike [Youssef, gamma. president] for the opportunity to grow past the boundaries of industry norms and lead all promotion efforts on behalf of a wide variety of incredible talent. It’s gratifying to be a part of an intrepid company reshaping the manner in which careers can be magnified and propelled.”
Over the last decade, Ridenour’s Anchor Promotions has worked with various major and independent labels, including Warner Records, Alamo, Red Bull, Hitco and Geffen Records. Founded by CEO Ridenour in 2013, Anchor was the industry’s only Black-owned label services and promotion company.
Prior to Anchor, Ridenour began honing his promotional skills during his first industry gig as co-founder of the street promotion team Mainframe Records, later brought in-house by Capitol Records. His resumé since then includes supervising promotion for LaFace Records, Bad Boy and Rowdy Records. After a decade of working closely with Clive Davis at Arista Records — overseeing promotion for projects by artists such as Biggie, TLC, Usher, OutKast and Whitney Houston — Ridenour went on to lead the music departments at Virgin Records and Malaco Records. Last year, he received the Living Legends Foundation’s Music Executive Award.
For plenty of music’s most compelling artists, going independent doesn’t mean going small — it means reaping the myriad benefits of forgoing the major label route. Across genres, staying independent can ensure an artist has greater ownership over both their creativity and their intellectual property; the ability to pivot or react quickly when a song unexpectedly takes off; and the freedom to put together a team that truly has their best interests at heart. Of course, there are the more intangible upsides to staying indie too — above all, the feeling that when success happens, it’s truly earned.
Here, Billboard surveys some of the most compelling indie artists making music (and chart inroads) now about the challenges and benefits they’ve seen to independence and the advice they’d offer anyone considering it.
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The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Take mindful steps to get to know and understand your artist identity so that you can become something unique and genuine — whether it’s through vision boards, writing diaries or practicing adjacent forms of artistry to help you flesh out your identity as a musician. It has been instrumental to me in making sure I don’t lose my way.” —Paris Paloma (Nettwerk)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “You control the narrative, so don’t settle, and be bold. An artist working independently has the ability to reach their fans directly with no barriers to entry and to create their own culture. [Independence] also provides a comfortable space for an artist to discover who they are and run their business with full oversight of the costs. It’s incredibly important for anyone getting into this business to understand how it works, what you’re signing into and how your money is being spent.” —Josh Sanger, manager, Paris Paloma
Paris Paloma
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“Freedom is the most important asset an artist can have, in many more ways than just artistic. If you’re serious about being independent and you know how to work it, it’s way better than signing with an established label. For example, I own my own publishing company. I own my touring company. The capability of reacting and not being on a part-semester plan or a year plan is priceless. The capacity of reaction is one of the biggest assets of being independent.” —Pepe Aguilar (Equinox Records, Machín Records)
One of the most challenging parts of being independent is…: “Being able to make connections with global artists who are represented by major labels for collaborations.” —Cris MJ (Stars Music Chile/Rimas Entertainment)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “[Take] responsibility as an artist, and form a good team that can support you in making the right decisions.” —Sergio Javier Ampuero Vergara, manager, Cris MJ
“If you’re grinding to get to your highest point of success and you started by yourself, it means more when you make it. The celebration when you make it is different because you get to say that you gave all of yourself to your dream, no matter who believed or didn’t.” —Lay Bankz (Artist Partner Group)
Lay Bankz
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One of the most challenging parts of being independent is…: “[When you’re] doing the same thing every day with what feels like no motion, and spending money. No one knows you, no one is there to help you, or believing in you — it’s just God, you, and your dreams.” —Kenney Blake, manager, Lay Bankz
“Being an independent artist means having total control over both your art and your business. This requires being an entrepreneur, taking all the risks and having no one to blame but yourself and your team. Make sure you have a good team. You can still yell at the label when you are the label, but you will be yelling in the mirror.
That said, where there is great risk there is great reward. The potential upside is tremendous when you own your own masters and publishing. Don’t let anyone ever convince you ‘independent’ is synonymous with ‘small’ or ‘broke.’ ” —Andrew McInnes, CEO, TMWRK Management; manager, Sturgill Simpson (High Top Mountain)
“We have been able to have full control of our music without having to encounter a lot of politics and red tape that other artists do. It has given us the ability to do what we love most in the way we feel is best, and it even allowed us the freedom to experiment with different sounds on our newest album, Jugando A Que No Pasa Nada.” —Grupo Frontera (Grupo Frontera)
Why is being independent important to you?: “It gives us the power of decision-making and accountability without relying on third parties. This autonomy allows us to act swiftly and adapt to changes in the market or consumer behavior. As a team we can identify shifts in consumption patterns and work towards addressing them on the same day, without needing to wait for approval or direction from a label. This freedom to maneuver quickly and make decisions on our own terms enables us to stay agile, innovative, and true to the artist vision.” —Lucas Barbosa, manager, Grupo Frontera
Grupo Frontera
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“Independence, to me, is having autonomy and ownership of your art. This makes me feel a closer connection to my audience because they know that what comes from me is from me.” —Laufey (AWAL)
Why is being independent important to you?: “So I can own my music and I can control my whole world more easily. Being able to work and keep my music in my possession [means] I can have everything in the future. That’s why I work with UnitedMasters.” —FloyyMenor (UnitedMasters)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Establish and maintain a clear budget. By implementing a detailed budgeting system early on, I was able to allocate funds effectively, ensuring that I always had enough money set aside for crucial aspects of my career. By tracking income and expenses diligently, artists can make informed decisions about where to invest their resources, ultimately leading to greater financial stability and long-term success.” —310babii (High IQ/EMPIRE)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Always ask ‘Why?’ The music business will make you pay for what you don’t know, and it’s your choice on how you choose to learn. If you do not educate yourself on what’s important for the longevity of your career and choose short-term gratification, you will end up paying for it in the long run.” —Jentry Salvatore, manager, 310babii
310babii
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“An indie artist has to have the understanding and knowledge to grasp that investing in their own career is crucial, whether in marketing, in making better content, in doing big tours and shows. An indie artist is one who makes decisions and pays for them from his own pocket.” —Fede Lauria, manager, Bizarrap (Dale Play Records)
The biggest benefit of being independent is…: “Maintaining creative control over the strategies and music that I create. [My song] ‘Daylight’ [had an] original release date scheduled for June, but I knew we had to get it out as soon as possible based on all the engagement we were building around it on socials. I called my manager and just told him we needed to get the song out, and the team made it happen. I think if I were signed to a [major] label, I wouldn’t have been able to make a last-minute change like that and the song wouldn’t have had as big of an impact.” —David Kushner (Miserable Man Music)
“I learned how to play in public. Taught myself how to play guitar and sing and write songs standing on street corners. If I were you, I wouldn’t sign any contracts, ever, if you don’t have to. Because it ain’t to your advantage. Unless they’re giving you a whole bunch of money — and even then, try and get the cash with a handshake. Let me put it to you like this: If you don’t know who the sucker in the deal is, it’s you.
Asking why being independent’s important is really beside the point. I didn’t set out to be independent. I was always seen as so confusing and so different that the people I was dying to do business with didn’t want me. The woman that discovered us, when she started realizing that I was going to be difficult to handle or tame, one afternoon in frustration, she threw her hands down on her desk and looked across at me and said, ‘Goddamn it, Charley Crockett. It’s a Coke and Pepsi world, and you are going to have to dance.’ She said my problem was that I just wanted to be Woody Guthrie and this was my one golden opportunity. Well, the only thing she was right about is I did want to be Woody Guthrie. Where we disagreed is, I don’t think you have one shot. You just have to keep rolling the dice.
At a certain point, I felt like I was out in the wilderness. And when you get far enough out there, the air is real good. You learn how to survive in it, and you just keep going. Don’t ever turn around.” —Charley Crockett (Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers)
Charley Crockett
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The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “You have to be persistent in selling your musical vision to find your fans and reach the masses. Being creative and trusting your instincts as an artist can help to level the playing field. And most importantly, don’t take no for an answer.” —Ken Levitan, Vector Management; manager, Charley Crockett
The biggest benefit of being independent is…: “I can work closely with my team and lead my projects, making sure my goals come to reality. At the end of the day, as the artist and mind of my project, that makes it easier for all to be on the same page.” —Junior H (Rancho Humilde)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Trust the process.” —Key Glock (Paper Route/EMPIRE)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Trust yourself, be authentic and see your artistic vision through. Continue to create the music that speaks to you that will resonate with your core audience, and don’t compromise for quick commercial success.” —Shaboozey (EMPIRE)
The biggest benefit of being independent is…: “Having the flexibility to move at your own pace. For example, if we want to release a record, we control that internally and can capitalize on any traction instantaneously — rather than having to get approvals from multiple parties. We live in a world where the consumer attention span is shorter than it’s ever been, so being able to strike while the iron is hot is ever so crucial to the success of an artist’s rollout.” —Abas Pauti, manager, Shaboozey
Shaboozey
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“It’s so important for an artist to be able to say yes or no without manipulation or punishment. I believe creative freedom is priceless. Art is beautiful. It is honest, it is therapy, it is healing, it is personal, and it is often disrupted and tainted by business minds and models looking to make a quick coin. While the independent route is not without its own risks [like] self-financing, I am truly grateful to be able to be in control of my life and my art.” —RAYE (Human Re Sources)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Being independent doesn’t mean working alone! It’s an old saying, but it takes a village and it really does. Your team is everything. I firmly believe getting that right is essential for success.” —Paul Keen, manager, RAYE
“Being an independent artist is one of the most empowering positions to be in. Independent artists feel the weight of responsibility for the future of their careers, which I think oftentimes leads to an increase in grit and work ethic.
I think I’ve realized the power and value of a team that’s aligned with the artist’s vision. A small but effective team around an independent artist and the right strategic partnerships can make a huge difference.” —JVKE (AWAL)
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Right now, artist culture is very anti-major label. The seed of this is obviously that traditional label deals have been very exploitative. However, I’m noticing that, among young artists, this culture is breeding a fear of engaging with anyone who might be able to help scale their projects. I was speaking with a really talented artist the other day and they were telling me how they’re drowning simply trying to keep up with content creation and writing new songs. Yet, five minutes earlier, they were telling me how they never respond to any music pros that hit them up on socials, because it’s stupid for an artist to have a manager or label partner and give away money when they can do it all on their own. I had to stop them and point out the contradiction.
The great news is, the sort of predatory deals that sparked this label conversation in the first place aren’t all that’s on the table anymore. There are companies out there that allow artists to retain ownership of their music and maintain creative control, while still offering help with all the tasks artists don’t have the time for or network to facilitate, and they’ll do it for a very justifiable portion of the profit that is fractions of what artists had to give away in the past.
If you just want to write songs in your bedroom and hopefully pay the bills, then you might be able to swing it on your own. If you want to go big, building the right team is the best investment an artist can make. There are no billion-dollar businesses that are run by one person alone.” —Ethan Curtis, Plush Management; manager, JVKE
JVKE
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The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “A personal connection with your team is paramount. As the industry continues to shift, having a team that you trust and can envision being in your life for the next two, five, 10, 15 years is crucial. Katie Crutchfield has always had a very specific vision for Waxahatchee. While it has certainly evolved over the years, having a group of a few core, trusted team members around her has been key to keeping Katie’s goals focused and achievable.” —Reynold Jaffe, Another Management Company; manager, Waxahatchee (Anti-)
The biggest benefit of being independent is…: “Being in control of your intellectual property, how you monetize it, release it and promote it. At the end of the day, you then own all of your own IP, to sell or continue working as you’d like to, on your own terms.” —Dean Wilson, manager, deadmau5 (mau5trap)
“For Djo, the most important aspect of releasing music is to allow for people to discover the songs and who is behind them on their own. By staying independent, he is under no pressure to rush his campaigns.” —Nick Stern, manager, Djo (AWAL)
Why is being independent important to you?: “Because being a musician means being a part of the music industry, it begins to entangle creativity and business — which can be incredibly difficult and painful for artists. Being independent, we are able to maintain creative control over the vast majority of what we do, and it’s something I would never consider giving up.” —Khruangbin’s Laura Lee Ochoa (Dead Oceans)
Laura Lee Ochoa
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The biggest benefit of being independent is…: “As an independent manager who represents independent artists, we are afforded autonomy both creatively and strategically since there is less pressure to hit markers of supposed success that are often informed by financial obligation versus artistry. The music must come first, in its most pure and passionate form. If you bet on yourself, you’re sure to win.” —Dawn White, You and Me, Inc.; manager, Khruangbin
The advice I’d offer any indie artist is…: “Surround yourself with a team that you trust and you know will put your career and the integrity of your music first. I couldn’t do anything I do without my team, from my label to management and beyond. From American Idol to moving to Nashville to being thrown headfirst into the unknown world of the music industry, I’m so grateful I had all of them there to guide me, my music and my career from the very beginning.” —Chayce Beckham (Wheelhouse/BBR Music Group)
The biggest benefit of being independent is…: “I loved being involved [at BBR Music Group] with a small group of passionate people who woke up every day with an ‘us against the world’ attitude. While they have had great successes with Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson, that same passion and drive remains.” —Clarence Spalding, manager, Jason Aldean
Who is “indie”?: The artists featured in this story meet the guidelines of Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart, which includes labels distributed independently or through the indie division of a major-label group as well as labels that are independently owned and control their masters but are distributed directly through Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment or Warner Music Group.
This story will appear in the June 8, 2024, issue of Billboard.
James Blake is “the freest [he’s] ever felt,” tells Billboard over a recent Zoom call.
After about twelve years spent signed to Polydor Records, the producer/singer is now independent and experimenting with new ways to release his music to “match the speed of the internet,” he says.
On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Blake released “Thrown Around,” his first single since he left Polydor. “I know it was an anarchistic move… Sunday’s a terrible day to release music, but I thought it was fun to try now that I can,” he laughs.
Part of Blake’s new post-label experiment includes paying creative collaborators both upfront (where applicable) and in “points,” or a percentage of the master recording royalties, so that everyone is “incentivized to push the song and to win together,” he says. Points on the master are typically only allotted to producers of a record, but Blake is going further, offering points to non-producing songwriters and his creative director, Crowns & Owls.
To pull it all off, Blake turned to Indify, a music company that lives by the slogan “artists are founders” and could benefit from raising capital for their releases similar to the way start-ups do. Instead of traditional label deals, Indify is a “service marketplace” for artists to meet strategic angel investors on a song-by-song basis, says CEO/co-founder Shav Garg. Interested acts select from an online leaderboard of angels – including music businesses like Thrice Cooked Media, Golden Kids Group and ATG and musically inclined Silicon Valley execs like Alexis Ohanian – to build their set of partners based on success metrics and the investors’ bios.
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Artists using Indify cede a percentage of streaming royalties for a given song until investors recoup the up-front funding and aid they offer. (Indify takes a 15% cut of the investor’s share of profits after recoupment and no investor is allowed to keep 50% or more of the streaming royalties after recoupment).
Founded in 2015, Indify is seen as a tool to “add gas to the fire,” as Garg puts it, on viral moments from independent artists. The company has had success stories include up-starts like Armani White, Pink Sweat$ and Anees, but Blake is by far the biggest artist to use the platform yet. “We’ve proven thus far that Indify can help artists go from, 20 to 70, but one of our goals has been taking an artist from 70 to 100, like major labels do,” says Garg. “I can tell James is willing and ready to lead the way for the next generation of artists and to take the jump, trying something like this first.”
Blake and Garg first bonded at a U.S. Open tournament several years ago and reconnected through Blake’s management when Blake began talking openly about his newfound independence and desire to handle his career differently going forward. Before “Thrown Around” dropped, Blake’s indie experiment included a partnership with superfans app Vault.FM to provide fans with unreleased demos for a monthly subscription. Garg and Blake aligned on the idea that “at a label, your music is subsidizing a million departments,” Blake says. “It’s a huge moving ship to steer, and it’s a bloated business with crazy overheads. I don’t want to pay for the CEO’s mansion in the Cayman Islands.”
Blake also felt there was a “lack of transparency” about how money was being spent on his behalf while signed to a label and that he didn’t have “much choice” in picking his team within the building, even if those assigned to him “didn’t really seem to understand” his project.
After going back and forth about what single to release as his first drop with Indify, Blake made “Thrown Around” and felt instantly that it was the right introduction to this new phase of his career. It’s easy to see why. The song (released May 26) and its video depict Blake as an artist desperate to get his music to go viral by any means necessary. At the end of the video, Blake is bloodied and bruised by all the ways he has dangerously attempted to feed the algorithm, and he ultimately learns that none of it was enough to sustain his art.
“James signed up online and used Indify just like anyone else does,” says Garg. Blake ultimately opted to pair with a combination of Good Boy Records and Stellar Trigger Marketing to build out his team for “Thrown Around” after finding them on the Indify leaderboard. Good Boy co-founder John Zamora says that “before the song came out, we already recouped the deal we did with James. We secured a pretty big synch, though I can’t say more than that.” Good Boy specialized in film/TV (or “synch”) licensing opportunities for Blake, but the company also connected with him over a shared interest in providing better compensation for songwriters.
In the last few years, songwriters’ dwindling payments in the streaming economy have made headlines, and a few indie labels have stepped in with a proposed solution to offer “points” for the songwriters who, unlike producers, typically don’t make money on the master recording side. As Billboard reported in December, this new cohort of companies includes Good Boy, The Other Songs, Facet Records and Nvak Collective. Some producers, like Good Boy co-founder Elie Rizk and Tre Jean Marie, have also been giving away some of their points to their songwriter collaborators. Now, with “Thrown Around,” Blake is joining the movement.
Stellar Trigger was brought into Blake’s Indify deal to aid with digital marketing. “Things have changed since I started,” Blake says. “Back then, it was quite easy to be mysterious. I mean, you have a whole generation of producers wearing masks. I think it’s pretty difficult to maintain that now and still get your music out there. It’s not the way it works anymore.”
Though Blake stopped short of wearing a mask, his early career characterized him as a mysterious musical genius with a “sad” disposition – an image he’s railed against in recent years. In a recent Instagram Reel, Blake wrote that he was “practicing looking sad for those who want me to be sad so that I make sad music forever,” in a cheeky dig at his fans.
“This is the most connected I’ve ever felt with the way my music is being pushed,” Blake tells Billboard. To brainstorm, he’s been in constant communication with Stellar Trigger co-founder Ryan Peterson to build the multimedia storytelling of “Thrown Around.” “We wanted it to be meaningful. There’s a lot of narrative here, with James leaving the major label and coming to independence,” says Peterson. “I’m constantly texting ideas back and forth with him.”
The story told in the “Thrown Around” music video was teased out, piece by piece, in meta social media posts about how artists have to make social media posts. Whether or not the song ever hits the Billboard Hot 100 is unclear, but Blake maintains that “Thrown Around” is still “more successful than any previous single campaign” of his career.
More importantly, it serves as proof that digital storytelling, lean budgets, equity incentives and the freedom to pick partners on a song-by-song basis can lead to creative and financial success in today’s market. Now, he’s in talks with his team about working together again for a follow-up single.
“I feel we’ve made something groundbreaking [with ‘Thrown Around’],” says Blake. “I’m excited for the future.”
When Tom Becci joined Concord in the newly-created role of CEO of Concord Label Group last August, he arrived with a background split between the record labels — first as a label executive in New York, then later in Nashville, ultimately as COO of Universal Music Nashville — and management, where he had spent the prior seven years at Red Light under Coran Capshaw. That gave him a view into both sides of the artist equation. “I have an understanding of what an artist needs from their standpoint, and an understanding of what a label can deliver for that artist,” Becci tells Billboard, in his first interview since taking the top job across Concord’s global recorded-music operation. “And putting them together, I think, really is what I bring to the table for the label group.”
Becci’s role in the past nine months has been one of learning and shaping, as the collection of labels and artists under his purview have reached new heights. Concord’s frontline portfolio includes Rounder Records, Concord Jazz, Fantasy Records, Fearless Records and the Kidz Bop franchise, as well as joint ventures in Loma Vista with Tom Whalley; Easy Eye Sound with Dan Auerbach; and PULSE Records with PULSE Music Group; while its catalog holdings include legendary labels like Stax, Fania, Prestige and Telarc, among others.
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It’s a lineup that already had plenty going for it: during his tenure, Killer Mike swept the rap category at the Grammys in February with his Loma Vista release Michael; Fantasy’s Allison Russell won the Grammy for best American roots performance for “Eve Was Black”; HBO announced a documentary on Stax Records called Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., which premiered in May; and Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” released via PULSE/ISO Supremacy, exploded out of the gate to reach No. 2 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Global 200, to name a few successes.
Amid that run, Becci began to restructure parts of the label group, naming Stephanie Hudacek as the new president of Rounder Records; promoting Joe Dent and Jill Weindorf into executive vp roles overseeing operations and marketing, respectively, across the whole group; and bringing in Brad Clark to oversee a combined data analysis and streaming team, hoping to provide key, real-time insights for each of the artist campaigns that the teams are running. He’s also introduced what he calls a “portfolio approach” to catalog and frontline marketing, with each lifting the other — even if Concord doesn’t own one of their frontline artist’s catalogs, or if it owns the catalog but doesn’t have the artist signed to a frontline, as with Creed and its viral Super Bowl commercial for Paramount Plus.
Now, as Becci continues to shape Concord into a global player for all types of artists, he’s constantly looking for ways to set the company apart in an increasingly-crowded ecosystem.
“Concord sits somewhere between the major labels and the other independents and distributors,” he says. “We deliver for our artists — there’s one center of the picture and the artist belongs in it. That’s a philosophy that I want everyone to believe and feel and have the passion for. And we provide the resources to really make a difference in the musical landscape.”
Billboard: When you first started at Concord, what did you come in wanting to do?
Tom Becci: When Concord hired me, we wanted to really focus even more on the frontline business that is in place. We have a boutique label approach, but a really large infrastructure that supports each label, so there’s a unique contact point with the artist and their vision and what they want to do. And now we’re continuing to build out the team to deliver for those artists and their vision. Concord has this global footprint with direct presences in all the major markets in the world. So what I want to do is develop a frontline business with that boutique approach that delivers for artists globally.
How have you begun to restructure the company, and each label individually, to achieve that?
One of the first positions I hired, which we just recently announced, was Stephanie Hudacek, who comes from a phenomenal background of being an entrepreneur but also worked as a sound engineer and in management, so she brings that approach — not unlike mine — into Rounder Records and its presence in Nashville. Jill Weindorf, who is a 17-year veteran at Concord, promoting her into this executive vp of marketing role to really solidify these global marketing efforts to deliver for each label. Joe Dent, one of the best operators I’ve been around, promoting him and giving him responsibility over all the operations of Concord and delivering the information and resources that we all need to do our jobs. Recently, Brad Clark, who I’ve known for many years, we brought him in to oversee data analysis and streaming; they were run separately, but in today’s marketplace, having them under one leadership is really important, using what we do in data analysis and what we do in the frontline streaming world. And having them in lockstep in terms of release planning and strategy was really critical to me.
You mentioned your focus on frontline. Several of your frontline labels have had significant success lately. What do each of them bring to your portfolio, and what sets them apart?
Loma Vista, a joint venture with Tom Whalley and run by his son Ryan Whalley — bringing Killer Mike to the table and sweeping the rap categories at the Grammys is, for Concord, a huge moment in that genre, where we never had the opportunity to do those things. Ryan talked to me when I first started in September about his goals to really deliver nominations, and maybe one win, and I supported him in that vision with resources, and the results were unbelievable.
On the other side of the table, there’s Tommy Richman at PULSE — it’s the No. 1 global song. It just landed at No. 3 on the U.K. charts, which is a first ever for a Concord song. So that’s a specific vision in terms of the R&B/hip-hop music sensibilities to Concord, which builds on what Loma’s done with Killer Mike. So it’s become more of a core competency of what Concord does, and I’m proud to say we’re delivering for both those artists.
What Andy Serrao’s done at Fearless and developing that as a brand for those types of artists like Pierce the Veil, the Pretty Reckless, Wage War and on and on — there’s nowhere like it in the business, and we’re able to deliver for him as well with services. Rounder, it’s a 54-year-old legacy label in the folk/Americana/bluegrass arena, and I think there’s more for that label to do now. I think Stephanie is going to curate a roster that rivals any label in Nashville, and any in the business.
We have Easy Eye, our venture with Dan Auerbach, and we have this band Hermanos Gutierrez, which is an amazing talent; I just saw them at the Ryman last week and that was an incredible show, in terms of what they can deliver on that front. At Fantasy Records, we’ve taken an incredible A&R legend in Mark Williams and another legend in the marketing arena, Margi Cheske, and put them together as a formidable frontline duo that can deliver on both new and developing artists, and bands like Offspring and Seether and Nathaniel Rateliff and take Allison Russell to the next level. They were swimming in the same pond, and I think together they’re going to own the pond.
Where do you want to see Concord lean into, genre-wise? Further into R&B/hip-hop, or deeper into Nashville, or somewhere else?
Well, both. I think leaning into singer/songwriter and country-adjacent or alt-country, folk, Americana — genres are much more fluid today than they were when they were based on radio playlists. There’s much more fluidity now. But I do think Rounder has the ability, being based here in Nashville, to really make a statement in the singer/songwriter, alt-country, Americana genres. PULSE is already making an impact in pop contemporary music. Loma is a very eclectic label — we have the Ghost theatrical movie coming out, which is growing by the moment, and you put it with Killer Mike and Denzel Curry, that’s a highly-curated and really special roster. And I believe that what we can do with Fantasy and Concord is be not about a specific genre, but about being where you can find and develop phenomenal talent and bring it to the world.
In recent months, several label groups and companies have combined their frontline and catalog operations to streamline them better. What’s your approach to marketing your catalog and boosting sales and streams there?
This is a process that’s evolved since I’ve gotten here with the catalog, and it’s really about taking a portfolio approach, not unlike from the financial world where you have marketing experts and teams responsible for delivering for a group of artists, whether it’s a reissue, whether it’s on Spotify. But they’re in tune with each artist within their portfolio. Even if it’s a band that’s not on a Concord frontline label, but they’re going out on tour, that [our teams are] reaching out to the manager and saying, “Hey, we’ve got your catalog, let’s do things together, what are your plans for the tour?” So it’s more of a portfolio approach than managing the catalog top-down. Each pod is responsible for 25, 30 artists in that portfolio.
When we have a frontline artist and we also have their catalog, we put them together, and the frontline team, with the catalog expertise, manages the catalog so the artist knows that we’re in lockstep. Catalog and frontline can help boost each other; they go together in terms of marketing. When you have the catalog, you have the ability to warm the plate for the new meal, and that’s what I’ve seen be really successful, especially in the streaming world. And then we have an artist like Creed, where the Texas Rangers adopted “Higher” as their World Series song and it translated into a phenomenal sync in a Super Bowl commercial, then there’s a reissue of Human Clay in the summer, and the streaming growth is exponential — that’s the power of what we can do in marketing a catalog in combination with the artist. We don’t have their new record, but we’re working with them on their new release by energizing the catalog, and vice versa.
You guys also have the HBO documentary on Stax. What are you doing around that with the Stax catalog?
We’re looking at different elements of the catalog and how we can tie it into the attention brought to the Stax catalog by the documentary, and I think it’s a story that everyone is going to really love. It just gives us the ability to reignite some of these artists and re-familiarize people with these artists that they love, or they will love.
How do you guys differentiate yourselves from the majors, or even large distributors, when approaching a deal?
We take a very boutique approach. Each label has their A&R staff and their core marketing staff, and it’s small, it’s intimate, they can ask the artist, “Where do you want to go?” And then I’ve created a team in the middle that can deliver on that question, with Jill Weindorf leading the marketing efforts, Brad Clark leading the streaming and data efforts, Karen Kloack on the sync side. And we have a global reach. If you’re signed to Concord, you have a global company. You have people in the U.K. that all know and work your record. In the major world, they have different labels in different territories that your record works through. Our labels have a global footprint for each artist.
How are label deals changing — and is it getting more competitive?
Label deals have evolved dramatically from when I started to now. Data analysis identifies artists much earlier. So someone sitting in Nebraska can be identified as a burgeoning artist because of the data and what is happening on their socials and streams. So in that sense, it’s become very competitive, yes, because once it hits the data metrics everybody knows about it. So you have to approach it from, “Why are we special compared to the other record labels?” And what positions us differently is that small label approach and personalization to the artist, and then the global resource and passionate footprint that we can bring to a team, which I believe is unmatched.
You mentioned Tommy Richman. What lessons can you take from a song that just exploded out of the gate like that?
We saw a spark that weekend. Over the weekend I was firing off emails to our team, like, “We need to mobilize.” It was released on the Friday, and I was in Berlin with our head of the European team, and all we did Monday was talk about what we could do in the different marketplaces. We had data to tell us it was starting in English-speaking territories and moving outward to Germany, France and the Nordics. We were able to move very, very fast — we’re nimble, we’re quick and we’re reactive — and I think that’s the lesson we’ve all learned across the team: when you have something, you mobilize, you focus, you put your energies into taking a spark and turning it into a bonfire — and a No. 1 global hit.
How difficult is it to break new artists these days?
It’s always been difficult, because it’s always about finding talent that’s special, that has something to say that people want to hear. What is challenging today is just grabbing attention, because there are so many ways to get people’s attention — a television set, a game, things like that. But I also think there are more ways to do it than there ever were. We used to have a funnel called terrestrial radio; now we have terrestrial radio, satellite radio, social media platforms, YouTube. There are more ways to present music. But you have to still grab attention. You saw it with Tommy Richman — he grabbed attention, and people want to be part of that. It’s not harder or easier, it’s just different now.
What challenges do you see in the future?
Finding, signing and developing talent is a challenge. It’s been a challenge since I started in the music business in New York City, and it’s a challenge today. AI presents a challenge; the legislation passed in Tennessee, the ELVIS Act, is a way of protecting the creator and original works and require a license to use someone’s creative works, and I’m an advocate for the artist, the songwriter, the creator. If we’re just really diligent, AI is going to be a part of our world, but it’ll be a good and licensed part of it.
I’m really looking forward to this Tommy Richman record, which we’re trying to nail down the release of. There’s a Lindsey Stirling record, an Offspring project, a Seether record, a Nathaniel Rateliff record, looking forward to this Ghost soundtrack, the Killer Mike project, taking Hermanos Gutierrez to the next level. I love working with artists and being a part of them realizing their vision and their dreams.
The Universal Music Group announced the formation of a new division, called the Global Impact Team, that will oversee the music conglomerate’s efforts to promote positive community engagement, environmental sustainability and other related efforts, the company announced today (June 3). The team will be led by Susan Mazo, formerly executive vp of social responsibility, events and special projects, who has been promoted to executive vp/chief impact officer.
Joining the new department will be former music journalist and GreenBiz Group executive Dylan Siegler, who has been named senior vp/head of sustainability at UMG; senior vp and executive director of UMG’s Task Force for Meaningful Change Dr. Menna Demessie, who will be part of the leadership group; Markie Ruzzo, who has been promoted to vp of global impact; and Sharlotte Ritchie, former senior director of communications and head of the U.K. chapter of the Task Force for Meaningful Change, who has been named senior director of global impact and communications. In addition, the social impact marketing agency Inside Projects, founded by Kristin Jones and Arielle Vavasseur which has worked with Netflix, Spotify and the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions, has made UMG its exclusive partner for the music industry.
“The formation of the Global Impact Team reflects our commitment not only to accelerating our work in these critical areas but to do so in a way that leverages the experience and talent of these exceptional individuals to drive positive impact across our company, our industry and in the communities in which we serve,” UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge said in a statement. “With this new structure we are ensuring that these functions are not siloed, but rather positioned to meaningfully influence all aspects of our global strategy.”
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Mazo has been at the forefront of UMG’s efforts in this area since joining the company a decade ago, having co-created the music group’s Amplify Award to honor artists working towards positive change and serving as the founding chair of UMG’s All Together Now Foundation, which works to bring about meaningful change across the globe. In a statement, she said she was honored to lead the new team on behalf of UMG.
“Through our work we’ve demonstrated that sustainability, community engagement and corporate social impact go hand-in-hand with delivering positive results for our employees, artists and shareholders,” Mazo said. “With this next evolution of our team and structure, and with Sir Lucian’s constant encouragement and focus, I’m excited to create and implement a new approach that unites all of the efforts in a way that will amplify UMG’s global impact and brand resonance given our unique position to enact positive change.”