Record Labels
Page: 28
Tanner Adell, known for her breakthrough hit “Buckle Bunny” and her contributions to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, has signed with Love Renaissance (LVRN).
The Atlanta-based Love Renaissance was founded in 2016 by Tunde Balogun, Justice Baiden, Junia Abaidoo, Carlon Ramong and Sean “Famoso” McNichol, and features a roster including 6LACK, Summer Walker, DVSN, SPINALL, and TxC. The multi-faceted label and management company offers creative direction, production, marketing and strategic partnerships. LVRN also operates the Atlanta-based LVRN Studios to further cultivate musical talent in the Atlanta area.
“They made it so obvious that they knew exactly who I was and exactly how they were going to help me achieve what I want to achieve,” Adell tells Billboard of her decision to sign with LVRN Records.
Trending on Billboard
Adell’s upbringing in both California and Wyoming has helped the singer-songwriter in crafting a unique fusion of country, pop and hip-hop on songs such as “Whiskey Blues” and “FU-150,” as well as a signature brand that blends big-city glitz and rural roots. Adell moved to Nashville three years ago with her sights set on a career in country music.
“I was writing in my bedroom, using beats I’d find on the internet. I moved here and just put my head down, working, and kept my vision as straight as I possibly could in trying to create a sound that I felt was unique to me, but relatable,” Adell told Billboard.
Adell, who was previously signed with Columbia Records, issued the song “Honky Tonk Heartbreak” in 2021, followed by her EP Last Call the following year. Most recently, she released her Buckle Bunny debut mixtape last year, followed by a deluxe version of the project, including “Love You a Little Bit,” “Throw It Back,” and “I Hate Texas.”
Then Queen Bey came calling.
On Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Adell joined with Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts on the song “Blackbiird,” and provided background vocals on “Ameriican Requiem.” Like her Cowboy Carter cohorts, Adell saw a surge in streaming. According to Luminate, the week after Beyonce released “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Adell saw a 188% increase in streaming activity.
This year, she’s built on that surge by performing at top festivals including CMA Fest, Stagecoach and C2C. Adell also wrote and recorded the song “Too Easy” for the soundtrack of the movie Twisters, with her work residing alongside music from artists Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and Miranda Lambert.
Baiden, head of A&R for LVRN, said in a statement, “It’s rare these days to be wowed and instantly connect to an artist. Tanner is a generational talent who will change how people feel, perceive, and digest country music. We believe in the stories she tells and her ability to relate to the everyday person; she will touch a global audience. Our decision to support her journey reflects how we at LVRN came into the business and how we see things: fearless, rebellious, loving, Renaissance!”
Amber Grimes, evp/GM of LVRN, added, “Given our profound affinity for storytelling, we were determined to collaborate with Tanner. She has a jaw-dropping story waiting to be shared through her songwriting. We are thrilled to welcome Tanner to our family, amplify her narrative, and continue to cultivate her success as an artist. Our commitment to nurturing talent and supporting artistic integrity extends across all genres.”
Adell recalled the detailed plan the label created for a forward-facing career vision.
“They had about 30 pages of where they felt my trajectory was going, showing how they understood my brand,” Adell told Billboard. “They had a vision for touring, and a deep dive into how the partnership would go if I signed with them. You never see that—it felt like these are real people who really care and understand me.”
Over the past year, Adell has been writing for a new project, one that will draw fans deeper into her story.
“I haven’t talked too much about my family, and my birth family and being adopted and how I’ve dealt with that,” Adell said. “I’m biracial. I was adopted by a white family, but they also adopted my siblings. I haven’t talked about finding my birth family, or any of that. I feel like my fans are ready, and I’m ready to give that part of myself to them. I’m ready to share that side of me. I feel like there will be a lot of people who will be healed.”
Cash Money Records founders/CEOs and hip-hop icons Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams will be the 2024 honorees at YouTube Music’s second Leaders and Legends gala. The invitation-only event will take place in Los Angeles on June 27. Developing a roster that included pioneering hitmakers such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Mannie Fresh […]
Black Opry Records, the new Thirty Tigers-distributed label started by The Black Opry founder Holly G, has signed its first artist. Jett Holden’s label debut, The Phoenix, will arrive Oct. 4. The infectious, rock-tinged first single, “Backwood Proclamation,” which feature John Osborne and Charlie Worsham, premieres below.
Holly G founded Black Opry in 2021 initially as a blog to talk about her disheartening experience as a Black country music fan, but it quickly evolved into a platform to bring attention to Black artists and help launch their careers. It then expanded to booking shows across the country, under the Black Opry Revue banner, to highlight the unsung Black country artists Holly G found.
Trending on Billboard
The label became a natural progression and a way to fill a great void.
“Over the years that I’ve been working in and observing the conversations surrounding diversity in country music, we are still not seeing the same resources and opportunities being poured into Black country artists as we do their peers (outside of very few exceptions),” Holly G says. “We’ve got the community, we’ve created a pipeline to touring and show opportunities through the Black Opry Revue, we’ve got all of the work Rissi Palmer is doing with [her Apple Country show] Color Me Country, but we still don’t have people who are in executive positions strategically advocating for and developing Black country artists.”
Watch Jett Holden’s “Backwood Proclamation”:
[embedded content]
That is one reason that the smoky-voiced Holden, 35, had pretty much given up on getting a label deal.
“Being gay and Black had been a nonstarter for me in the industry from the time I started chasing a career in country music when I was 19. I had a developmental deal fall through when they learned I was gay,” Holden says, declining to name the label. “Every time things started to look up for me, all of a sudden I wasn’t marketable because I’m gay or my race or both. But when Black Opry Records became an option, I leapt at it.”
Holden and Holly G first connected on Instagram when she reached out as she was launching the blog and had discovered his music.
“I had actually quit music in 2020 when the pandemic hit, but the community that developed around the blog, and later the collective, drew me in and reinvigorated my drive to create again,” he says. “Then in 2021 everything changed. Black Opry blew up into more than any of us expected.”
Though Holden is only being announced now, he was asked to sign with the label last summer after playing the Black Opry Revue at the Newport Folk Festival.
“When we got back to the Airbnb, they pulled me aside and sat me down by the fire pit like I was in trouble for something,” he says. “And then they told me about the label and that they wanted to sign me first. I’m not used to being chosen first for anything, so it was a huge shock, but a no brainer. It was the easiest yes of my life.”
Jett Holden
Kai Lendzion
For Holly G, talent led the way in signing Holden, but it was also important to send a message with his selection.
“From a big picture standpoint, it was really important to me that we set the tone for who we are as a label by signing an LGBTQ artist right out of the gate,” she says. “I put a lot of pressure on other institutions about their lack of inclusion, and I feel it’s important I lead by example by making sure there are diverse artists even within marginalized communities when I serve on different projects.”
With Holden teed up, Black Opry Records has already signed its second artist, Tylar Bryant, a former MMA fighter-turned-singer-songwriter, but Holly G resists pinpointing the ideal roster size for the boutique label.
“There may be some artists that we have to pour into more than others, which will dictate what my bandwidth is for beginning the next project,” she says. “I have such a long list of artists that I would love to sign but I’m taking things one artist and one album at a time so that we are giving everyone the best chance possible to be successful.”
Holly G will sign artists who align with the Black Opry’s mission to highlight Black talent.
“The Black Opry was created as a platform specifically for Black artists and Black Opry Records will carry on that tradition,” she says. “We have a beautiful community of people from all backgrounds that interact with us behind the scenes, but it’s really important that we have this space specifically for Black artists. When you consider the lack of opportunity for Black artists overall, it would do a huge disservice to them to open the space up for other marginalized groups (though they are all equally deserving).”
Black representation at country labels, both on the artist and executive roster, is meager, at best, and “Black artists need to see that there is a space that will always be held, so they know there is somewhere for them to go,” she says.
For now, Holly G will handle A&R and Black Opry Records will rely on Thirty Tigers’ staff for all other functions.
“Thirty Tigers has already established itself as a leader in the music community in terms of putting artists first and letting music guide the journey,” Holly G says. “With them providing our label services, we want to use that as a foundation to diversify country music by helping Black artists build their careers.”
Holden’s Will Hoge-produced album covers a wide spectrum of country styles, which Holly G thinks will help broaden its appeal and possibilities for airplay, but she’s not counting on terrestrial mainstream country radio stations to lead the way given how limited their playlists are and how conservative they have been.
“As far as country radio, it would obviously be great to have them get on board with this project, but given the dismal track record they have with both Black and queer artists, we aren’t going to depend on that happening,” she says.
Holden’s goals extend far beyond radio play. “I have a lot of the same hopes as a lot of my counterparts; making my Grand Ole Opry debut, winning a Grammy, and making a living writing and performing,” he says. “But I also hope that I’m fostering a more welcoming industry than I came up in. I hope that kids growing up today feel seen in the ways I didn’t. And I hope that I’m not an anomaly, and other artists of color and queer musicians will continue to get opportunities.”
As for Holly G, she’s already thinking long term as well. “We are always trying to figure out ways to make country music spaces safer and more inclusive. Ideally I’d like to start another label down the line that could serve as a home for artists of any and all backgrounds that are making good country music, but it was important to create this space for Black artists first.”
Connecting to listeners, not making money or signing to a major label, is the most important aspect of success for a musician, according to a new report titled “Sustainability from Chaos” by MIDiA Research and Amuse, a distribution and artist services company. Even if they reach only a small number of people, 89% of all creators surveyed and 94% of full-time professionals believe that success is defined by moving people with music.
Money matters, too, but relatively few artists say they strive to be superstars. Just 17% of creators and 21% of full-time musicians said being famous is critical to success, while 21% of both groups said signing to a record label is a sign of success. Still, 83% of full-time musicians — and 63% of all creators — defined success as making a career out of music.
The report is based on a survey of 450 artists conducted in April 2024 for MIDiA Research’s Creator Survey.
Trending on Billboard
It’s an important time to consider how artists define success. Artists have a wealth of options for releasing and financing their music. And there are far more independent artists than artists who have signed traditional record deals. MIDiA estimates that 95% of artists are “artist direct,” meaning they work with a distributor or artist services platform. Only 1% of artists are signed to a major label; the remainder are signed to indie labels.
The vastness of the independent artist market, and their desire for control over their careers, explains why companies are investing heavily in distribution and artist services. Universal Music Group has Virgin Music Group. Sony Music Entertainment has AWAL. Warner Music Group was interested in — but did not acquire — Believe, owner of TuneCore. Distributors such as STEM, UnitedMasters, Ditto and Symphonic have collectively raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding in recent years.
For these service providers to succeed, they must provide artists with deeper, more meaningful connections with fans. According to MIDiA Research, the old definitions of success are being replaced by newer metrics of success such as community membership (such as Discord and WhatApp groups), sold-out shows and merchandise sales. According to the report, this approach “emphasizes building long-lasting relationships over merely accumulating views and followers.”
In the past, mainstream success was measured by chart position, radio play, awards and cover stories. Those achievements would give an artist a good chance at a sustainable career in music. But in the streaming era, those signals of mainstream success have been replaced by what the report called “misleading” metrics such as listens and follows. Chart position and radio play aren’t seen as meaningful indicators, according to the report, although they have marketing value.
Most full-time, professional artists want to work with a distributor with label services or a self-serve platform with tools that support artists to release their albums and tracks. In fact, these artists would rather work with a distributor (31%) than sign to an indie label (20%) and are nearly as interested in taking a do-it-yourself route (17%) or using a self-serve, online platform with artist tools (16%). Only 10% prefer using a management company to run their businesses, and only 6% prefer to sign with a major label.
Considering all creators — including both professional and part-time artists — a self-serve online platform is the preferred way to release albums and tracks (28%), followed by an indie label (25%), a distributor with label services (20%) and the do-it-yourself route (13%). A major label is preferred by just 7% of all creators. Management companies were the least preferred partner (6%).
Artists surveyed feel that breaking through the noise (54%) is the biggest challenge they face. Not having enough time to create (40%) and not having financial resources (35%) were the second- and third-biggest challenges cited by artists. That “noise” refers to the massive amount of music released every day online. In 2023, there was an average of 103,500 tracks uploaded daily to digital platforms, up 10.8% from 93,400 per day in 2022, according to Luminate’s Year-End Report 2023. Major labels accounted for just 3.9% of those tracks — as measured by new ISRC numbers — compared to 96.1% for the rest of the industry.
Building a sustainable career is made more difficult by the challenges of touring. Skyrocketing costs mean that live music is no longer the best way for artists to make money — but it’s still a goal for many artists and a path to financial comfort. In the report, MIDiA Research recommends that artist services companies provide stipends or salaries for new signings as well as tour support typically offered by record labels: “All artist services companies,” it writes, “need to take a longer-term view on artist relationships.”
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.
Trending on Billboard
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.”
Trending on Billboard
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.’”
Trending on Billboard
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
Courtesy Photo
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
Courtesy Photo
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
Courtesy Photo
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.”
Trending on Billboard
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.
Trending on Billboard
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.
Trending on Billboard
“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.