State Champ Radio Record Labels
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Joseph Oerke has been promoted to executive vice president, Decca Records U.S., the Verve Label Group announced on Tuesday (April 16). “I love classical music,” Oerke said in a statement. “In fact, I moved to New York to study oboe and got my first job in the gift shop at the Metropolitan Opera. I think […]
What a difference a year — or a couple of months with a massive label shakeup — can make.
The reorganization of the Universal Music Group that occurred in February — which loosely divided the music giant’s labels under two umbrellas, Republic Corps and the Interscope Capitol Labels Group (ICLG) — has created a new hegemony that effectively splits its industry-leading market share in half, meaning that Republic Corps’ Monte Lipman and ICLG’s John Janick sit atop label empires that, in a given week, can rival the Warner Music Group as a whole in terms of market share. (For Republic, given its partnership with Big Loud for Morgan Wallen and the eye-popping success of Taylor Swift and others, that was already the case at times last year.) In the first quarter of 2024, for example, both Republic Corps (13.69%) and ICLG (13.81%) put up current market share figures that are more than double the next-highest label from any other company.
Yet for comparison’s sake — and to get a sense of the trends in the market — we’ll set that reorganization aside for now, particularly as it happened in the midst of a quarter and thus doesn’t reflect the totality of the first three months of 2024. And even under the old alignment, Republic (which, even prior to the shift, encompassed Island, Big Loud, Mercury and Imperial) and Interscope (which similarly already included Geffen and Verve Label Group) still lead the pack for releases through the end of March.
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Republic, on the strength of enduring hit albums by Wallen, Swift, Drake and Noah Kahan, as well as the huge success of the new Ariana Grande album eternal sunshine, posted a 12.84% current market share (defined as albums released within the past 18 months), only marginally coming down to earth from the eye-popping 13.47% full-year current share it posted in 2023, and a slight uptick over the 12.45% first quarter it enjoyed last year. Meanwhile, Interscope’s 9.10% current share is a big jump from the 7.75% it posted in the first quarter of 2023, and up from the full-year 8.80% it posted last year, with the enduring success of Olivia Rodrigo and breakout singles from Xavi (“La Diabla” and “La Victima”), among others, helping boost its position.
But perhaps the biggest story of the first quarter of 2024 has been the smash success of Warner Records, which surged from seventh place in Q1 2023 (5.23% current share) all the way to third in Q1 2024 (6.41%), reflecting the remarkable success the label has had on the Hot 100 so far this year. Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” Teddy Swims’ Hot 100 No. 1 “Lose Control” and Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything” feat. Kacey Musgraves are all among the top five songs of the year so far, while Bryan’s 2023 self-titled album and his 2022 album American Heartbreak are both among the top 20 albums of the first quarter. Warner — whose market share includes catalog label Rhino as well as Warner Latin and parts of Warner Nashville — continued to build on its 2023 trajectory, when it finished with a full-year current share of 5.96%.
That surge pushed Atlantic Records down into fourth place, at 5.14% current share, a drop of more than 2% from the 7.22% it maintained in Q1 2023. Atlantic — which includes 300 Elektra Entertainment in its market share — did have a big hit from Jack Harlow, whose single “Lovin’ On Me” topped the Hot 100 for five weeks in the first few months of the year. Atlantic’s hold on fourth, however, was only 0.01% above RCA Records, which came in at 5.13%, as the enduring strength of singles by SZA, Doja Cat and Tate McRae, combined with a viral smash from Flo Milli (“Cruel Summer”), kept the label in fifth place, despite dropping from 5.76% in Q1 2023, when the SZA album had a lock on the top of the Billboard 200.
Sticking in sixth place is Capitol Music Group — whose market share still contains indie distributor Virgin, as well as Quality Control/Motown, Capitol Christian, Astralwerks and Blue Note — which posted a 4.71% current share, down from 5.56% in the first three months of 2023. Dropping to seventh is Columbia, which includes some labels from indie distributor RED in its market share, at 3.71%, down from 5.85% a year ago. Though, in this particular ranking, Columbia is an unfortunate casualty of the end-of-March cutoff date; Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter debuted the week after with the biggest first week of the year, which will be reflected in the second quarter. In eighth, Epic Records saw a big boost, posting a 2.99% share (up from 2.06% last year), though that also seems like it will be trending higher in Q2, with the twin Future/Metro Boomin albums still growing. Sony Latin (2.38%, up from 1.92%) and Sony Nashville (2.08%, down from 2.30%) round out the top 10 in current market share.
Among the label groups, UMG’s dominance continued, with its 33.90% current share ticking up slightly from 33.59% in the first quarter of 2023, while Sony Music Group’s 26.91% came in lower than last year’s 28.46% — again, likely a quirk of the calendar. Still, despite Warner Records’ individual surge, the Warner Music Group’s overall current share slipped to 15.98%, down from 16.81% in Q1 last year. (WMG’s market share still contains 1.09% from BMG, despite the latter announcing that it would be ending its distribution arrangement with Warner; projects that were in the works prior to the agreement ending are still going through the Warner system, a BMG spokesperson says.) The big beneficiary in current market share is the independent sector, which grew its mark from 21.15% in Q1 last year to 23.21% this year by distribution ownership, a significant increase. Both the independent release of the chart-topping Ye and Ty Dolla $ign album Vultures 1 and the huge success of Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” contributed to the boost.
The numbers are more static when looking at overall market share, which includes back catalog, though the trends are still there: Universal (38.23%, up from 37.65%) and the indies (16.28%, up from 16.18%) both were up over Q1 2023, while Sony (27.23%, down from 27.62%) and WMG (18.26%, down from 18.55%) dipped. By label ownership, the independent sector remains larger than any individual major, accounting for 36.09% in overall market share, albeit down from the 37.38% it had in Q1 2023.
Among the individual labels, Republic’s huge current numbers pushed its overall market share above Interscope’s for first place, at 9.94%, up from 9.16% last year, while Interscope’s second-place showing at 9.85% still represented growth from its leading 9.44% last year. Atlantic’s strong catalog numbers meant that in overall share it remained in third place, at 7.65%, besting Warner Records, which jumped into fourth at 6.72%. Interscope, meanwhile, retained its top spot in catalog market share, at 10.09%, with Republic (9.03%) and Atlantic (8.43%) behind.
Bobo Producciones, the production and promotion company that for the past few years has produced the successful “90’s Pop Tour” in Mexico and the United States, this week expanded and launched new management, A&R and marketing departments in addition to a record label: Bobo Music.
“We are very excited about everything that is coming this year for our company. We continue to look for opportunities and expand strategically, especially in the Latin market in the United States,” Ari Borovoy tells Bilboard Español. The former member of pop group OV7 — which had its heyday in the 1990s — heads Bobo along with his brother, Jack Borovoy and Sonia Salvador.
For its expansion, the company brought in veteran music industry executives, including Humberto Calderón, who has headed marketing and A&R at BMG and Universal Music; Sabo Romo, the renowned musician, producer and founder of legendary rock band Caifanes; and Eliseo Reyna, who has been a key player in conceiving successful concept albums such as Rock En Tu Idioma and Rock En Tu Idioma Sinfónico.
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“Bobo’s strength and growth in Mexico, the United States, Spain and Latin America will be materialized with our offer of development and consolidation of artists,” says Calderón.
The team aims to develop new projects and expand marketing and production to strengthen the company’s work. Bobo has more than 15 years of experience in musical events and managing Mexican stars including Pedro Fernández, Lupita D’alessio and Sentidos Opuestos, among others.
The company’s most recent success is the 90’s Pop Tour, which last year toured 10 cities in the United States and Mexico, including a stop at Madison Square Garden. The tour has begun its sixth season, featuring Paulina Rubio on four dates, including a May 3 stop in Querétaro and another on May 18 in Mérida. The tour includes a cast of stars from the 90s, such as Caló, The Sacados, Magneto, Kabah, JNS, Ana Torroja, Mercurio and Sentidos Opuestos. In addition to performing their beloved hits that made history in Spanish language music, they also collaborate on new versions with their colleagues.
Lisa, the breakout singer, dancer and actress from the hugely successful K-pop group BLACKPINK, has signed with RCA Records for solo recordings, the parties announced Wednesday (April 10). The deal, a partnership between Lisa and her LLOUD Co. management and creative company with RCA, will allow her to retain ownership of her master recordings. In […]
It’s all about the artist, music executives say (and say and say). If you really look at the industry over time, though, it’s really all about the formats — the health of the business may have more to do with how people listen to music than what they actually listen to. For the last decade, that has been on-demand streaming, and the music business has boomed — from total revenue of $6.7 billion in 2014 to $17.1 billion last year, according to the late-March RIAA report. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the industry is worth almost double what it was at the beginning of the streaming boom. Internationally, the story is broadly similar — the business was worth $13 billion in 2014 and $28.6 billion last year, according to IFPI statistics.
In the U.S., at least, growth is slowing — revenue rose from $15.9 billion to $17.1 billion last year, and it hasn’t grown much in the last two years, accounting for inflation. The reason is simple: There are only so many streaming subscriptions to sell, and the U.S. now has a 12-month average of 96.8 million on-demand subscriptions in a country of 127 million households. It’s hard to know when we’ll reach Peak Subscription — 105 million in a year? 110 million in two? — but slower growth in the number of subscribers seems inevitable. This is one reason record companies are cutting back. It’s the end of hypergrowth for creators and rightsholders — at least in some places.
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Those places also include most of Europe, where the recorded music business grew 8.9%, according to the IFPI’s 2024 Global Music Report, compared with 7.4% in the U.S. and Canada. In the developing world, where the music business is much smaller, the figures tell a very different story: Asia was up 14.9%, with much of that growth coming from China, which was up 25.9%; Latin America grew for the 14th consecutive year, by 19.4%; and revenue from sub-Saharan Africa rose 24.7%. These increases are taking place in smaller businesses, but they mean that there’s plenty of room for growth — it’s just moving south and east.
We’ve all heard the simple and optimistic version of what comes next: Just wait until everyone in China, India and Brazil subscribes to a streaming service! (I hope they subscribe to Billboard Pro while they’re at it.) But this assumes a world where the global middle class continues to grow, trade and prosperity continue to expand, and developing economies stay relatively stable. Alas, as the small print says, past performance is not indicative of future results. Over the past two years, Russia has gone from a developing market into a geopolitical adversary, and tensions between the U.S. and China are heating up. (Whatever you think of globalization, it will be far worse in reverse.) If the U.S. forces a sale of TikTok, could China retaliate by imposing limits on American music? Could inflation in Latin America hurt consumer purchasing power in a way that stifles a streaming business that still depends more on advertising? Whatever happens is beyond the control of the music business. The potential is incredible — it’s just not reliable.
The truth is that there’s still plenty of opportunity in developed markets, including plenty of room to raise streaming subscription prices, but creators and rightsholders don’t have to just sit around and wait for that. Other opportunities are emerging, and growth could be fueled by licensing music for AI training, as well as for social media, video games, and the next iteration of the technology formerly known as the Metaverse.
Some of the most exciting opportunities might come from a traditional business model: Selling stuff. Yes, I know, it’s all so unbearably dreary compared to the “Free” future we were told to expect. But consider that, adjusted for inflation, the U.S. recorded music market is still only two-thirds the size of its 1999 peak. Back then — how old does that sound? — much of that revenue came from serious fans who bought a couple of albums a month instead of a couple of albums a year, mostly for more than the cost of a monthly streaming subscription today. Such dedication explains the fantastic growth in the vinyl market, which rose from $243.8 million in 2014 to $1.4 billion last year — almost a sixth the size of the music business of a decade ago in 2023 dollars. (I am proud to say that I have done my part.)
Sure, vinyl growth is slowing, too — the format isn’t for everyone and I am running out of shelf space myself, but consumers have demonstrated a willingness to spend more on their favorite artists, which is why music executives are so excited about superfans, which could be the most exciting opportunity available. The last decade of the music business was about making a hundred dollars a year from millions of people. The next 10 years will be about making millions — OK, probably thousands, but you get the idea — from hundreds of people. That won’t be easy, though. The music industry has always been, pardon the pun, a volume business. Making money from superfans requires finding that, figuring out what they want to buy, and marketing that, presumably online, better than live promoters or dedicated startups.
This could also solve one of the biggest problems with the recorded music business: it’s not making stars fast enough, and the new ones it has don’t shine for so many people. But what is a big problem in the hit-driven streaming business doesn’t matter so much when it comes to monetizing superfans — older acts still do big business, and there are riches in niches. From a financial perspective, K-pop is essentially a high-margin merchandise business focused on an audience that’s dedicated but not quite mainstream. And if labels are going to keep growing in the U.S. and Europe, at least some of their business might look a lot like that.
Beginning in September 2022, Ron Poore and his Atlantic Records radio promotions team emailed and called alternative-rock program directors for months to convince them to add Paramore‘s new single, “This Is Why,” to playlists. Their efforts paid off: The song hit No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart in February 2023. “You work that record for weeks and weeks and weeks, and all of a sudden it starts showing up in the research,” says Poore, then Atlantic’s senior vp of promotion, alternative and rock and a 21-year veteran of breaking radio hits by Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay, Portugal. The Man and others.
“This Is Why” is an example of a classic record label promo story: an experienced major-label staff working radio connections to achieve chart success. But it didn’t end well for Poore. In February, Atlantic laid off Poore as part of an industry-wide downsizing that hit promo teams especially hard.
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“Five years ago, 10 years ago, it’s radio, radio, radio,” Poore says. “And now it’s the last thing we do at these labels.”
Layoffs at two of the top labels, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, began in February, affecting dozens of employees, many in traditional media positions such as publicity, marketing and radio. (Sources say similar cuts affected Sony Music Entertainment as well.) The layoffs have had little to do with the companies’ financial health: Universal earned $12 billion in revenue and $1.3 billion in net profit last year, and Warner said it is coming off its best quarter ever. But top executives from both labels announced they were adapting to a long-running industry shift towards new technology.
In a late February statement announcing layoffs of roughly two dozen staffers, Julie Greenwald, chairman/CEO of Warner-owned Atlantic Music Group, said, “The changes we’re making today are primarily happening in our radio and video teams.” And Lucian Grainge, Universal’s chairman/CEO, told staffers in January, before the latest layoffs, that the label would be “not just expanding geographically and leveraging new technologies” but “further evolve our organizational structure to create efficiencies in other areas of the business.”
From a practical standpoint, according to Diane Monk Harrison, a radio manager at Warner-owned distribution company WEA, who lost her job in mid-March, that meant the industry layoffs have been “disproportionately affecting radio promotion.” The broadcast business is shrinking: The biggest radio company, iHeartMedia, has been downsizing since the pandemic, including a recent wave in the last few weeks. That means fewer programmers exist for major labels to lobby for extra playlist adds. “Radio is still extremely important,” says Skip Bishop, a former longtime promotion executive at Sony and other labels who has been a consultant for more than a decade. “But it’s just an evolution. You don’t need six regionals, three nationals, two vps and an svp [at a label] when 20 to 45 people are making the decisions that 200 people used to make at radio.”
Adds a major-label source: “In the old world, you might have radio-promo people who were earning the same, or more, as the head of A&R. That’s not going to happen in the new world, for obvious reasons. What is happening is the labels are keeping the absolute very best radio people.”
As listeners have shifted away from old-school radio stations in favor of on-demand streaming, the radio business has declined: According to Nielsen Media Research data, weekly listenership dropped during the pandemic, from 89% of adult Americans in 2019 to 82% in 2022. The medium’s most resilient advertising area is in digital sales, a recent Radio Advertising Bureau and Borrell Associates study shows, and not in AM-FM airplay. “The only portion of radio that’s growing is not dependent on music,” says Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, an analyst group that focuses on media advertising and marketing. “I don’t think the record labels are daft of what has happened to the industry in terms of listeners, and they’re well aware of the aging nature of terrestrial radio programming.”
iHeartMedia has more than $5.2 billion in debt and has been laying off personnel over the last few years, including a wave of reported layoffs in early 2024. (Audacy, another broadcast giant, filed for bankruptcy in January, owing $2 billion in debt.) As the number of radio employees decreases, major label staff who attempt to influence them have made proportionate changes. “It makes sense to shrink your radio promotion when there’s less radio people to deal with,” says Don Cristi, a veteran radio programmer recently laid off as iHeartMedia’s senior vp of programming in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. “I dealt with way more ‘nationals’ in the last few years [from labels] than what used to be called your regional guy.”
And many independent artists are going around both labels and radio entirely, having “already done the heavy lifting” to break on TikTok and other social media, according to an indie R&B and hip-hop music executive. “Nothing will ever go back to the way it was just five years ago,” this person says. “A label may shift from promo field execs to mobile digital execs, just as radio is now relying on its digital real estate to generate additional revenue.”
Still, the radio business has shown resilience: 82% of U.S. listeners is no small number, and a recent Chartmetric study shows radio maintains a powerful ability to break hits. Stations aired 7.4 million songs roughly 102.4 times apiece, for a total of 755 million spins, in 2023, and the top 10 radio songs earned major streaming boosts. And while rock, pop and hip-hop artists have become less reliant on radio in recent years, some genres, including Latin and country, remain attached to radio. “Music companies continue to be very important strategic partners with the entire radio industry and there are no signs that is abating,” says Wendy Goldberg, iHeartMedia’s spokesperson, in a statement. “Labels rely on broadcast radio to break new artists, because in order to introduce new music to the masses, you need radio and its unparalleled reach.”
At many labels and artist management companies, radio and streaming teams are working in tandem, befitting the hit-breaking relevance of both media. “As for now, they’re both very valuable,” says Bob McLynn of Crush Music, which manages Miley Cyrus, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Sia and others and employs radio and label veterans on its promo staff. “You could argue [radio] is not what it was 15 years ago. When you got a hit on radio, that was the all-being. Sometimes you used to lead with radio, and now radio comes later.”
Robust radio promotion departments have been expensive for labels to maintain: It costs money to send employees from New York, Los Angeles or Nashville to build relationships with programmers throughout the U.S. Still, these departments are where labels keep “boots on the ground,” as Monk Harrison calls them: employees with an understanding of how fans in Omaha or Detroit discover artists, attend shows and follow local entertainment from concerts to sports. “Relationships are still key and no algorithm can replace that,” says David Linton, a former executive at Capitol, Island and Arista who is a program director with jazz station WCLK in Atlanta.
Ed Brennan, who was Atlantic’s vp of alternative promotion until he lost his job in late February, plans to use these kinds of relationships to build his own company, White Leather Projects, potentially focusing on artist management, tour marketing and radio promotion. In the meantime, he’s concentrating on more important issues. “The first thing I did when I got the phone call that my position was to be eliminated, I volunteered to chaperone my son’s field trip at school. He’s 8,” Brennan says. “I’m excited about the unknown future.”
Additional reporting by Gail Mitchell.
KAI Media, a company that focuses on physical K-pop music and fan events in brick-and-mortar locations, raised $3 million from existing investor CRIT Ventures to fund expansion beyond its Los Angeles base. The company, which operates under the name hello82, had previously raised $5 million from CRIT Ventures, Kakao Entertainment, Snow Corp. and other investors. […]
YG has agreed to a multi-album partnership deal with BMG under his 4Hunnid record label, it was announced today (April 3). “BMG is making big waves in the industry right now,” YG tells Billboard. “This partnership will take my music to new heights. The BMG team understands the vision for my music and business. Excited for […]
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) COO Michele Ballantyne has been promoted to president, the organization has announced. She will continue to serve as COO, running daily operations and managing RIAA’s 56-person team.
A 2024 Billboard Women in Music honoree, Ballantyne serves on the RIAA executive leadership team alongside chairman/CEO Mitch Glazier while spearheading daily operations and helping lead advocacy efforts across the industry. During her tenure, she’s played a key role in the passage of the landmark Music Modernization Act as well as the PRO-IP Act, which established the first U.S. intellectual property enforcement coordinator in the executive office; and the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which provided colleges and universities with tools to reduce the illegal downloading of copyrighted works on campuses.
“I love my job, and I feel really lucky to have it,” Ballantyne tells Billboard in an exclusive interview (full Q&A below). “Music is something that is so important to everyone, and there are obviously lots of challenges…AI, TikTok, COVID. But one thing I’m really proud about is that at RIAA we’re nimble and we punch above our weight and I think that speaks a lot to the team we have in place. I really feel grateful to be at the helm with Mitch and see where we can take things.”
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Mitch Glazier, Busta Rhymes and Michelle Ballantyne
Daniel Swartz
More recently, Ballantyne has focused particular attention on the growing use of artificial intelligence in music and its ethical implications for creators. Under her leadership, the RIAA became a founding member of the Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition of music and entertainment organizations supporting ethical standards around AI that launched in August. The organization also supported the ELVIS Act, the landmark law designed to protect creators from AI deep fakes that was signed into law in March. On the federal level, the RIAA is supporting bills including the No AI FRAUD Act in the House and the NO FAKES Act in the Senate.
“Michele and I have had the privilege of guiding RIAA and supporting our member companies through amazing celebrations and challenges in the industry,” said Glazier in a statement. “I am grateful for her remarkable leadership and genuine care for people. Our playlists may not always be in sync, but our determination for a thriving and equitable community for music creators is.”
Ballantyne earned her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and started her career in government, serving in roles including general counsel for Sen. Tom Daschle, special assistant for President Bill Clinton and special counsel for former White House chief of staff John Podesta. She joined RIAA in 2004 as senior vp of federal government and industry relations. A Black female executive, Ballantyne’s work at the organization has also focused on social justice advocacy, including mobilizing RIAA members to support police reform bills, guiding the implementation of members’ social change commitments and managing the most diverse RIAA board of directors in its history.
On the occasion of her promotion, Billboard spoke with Ballantyne about her new role, the importance of combatting AI deep fakes, Universal Music Group’s dispute with TikTok and the possible implications of the upcoming presidential election.
You’ve been COO for several years now, but you’ve now added “president” to your title. How will your purview at the RIAA change?
It will change a little bit, but maybe not that much. It does catch up to the way we’ve been working, especially Mitch and I, who sort of approach things as a partnership. But the COO part, which is the sort of the nuts and bolts of running the organization and dealing with the internal stuff, it’s not all that I do. I do a lot of industry relations and coordinating with outside groups and coordinating with our member companies and making sure everything runs smoothly, that people are communicating. And so I think it reflects that piece of it too. I’m grateful for the recognition because I enjoy the work, and the title makes it clear to everybody.
You’ve been with the RIAA for around two decades now, and you’ve helped tackle some of the biggest issues in recorded music over that time. What do you see as some of the biggest issues facing the RIAA and its members currently?
No question it’s AI. AI has sort of supercharged everyone’s work. I am not the lead on it, but it’s everybody’s issue. We’re out talking about it and thinking about it and trying to figure out, “How are we gonna meet the challenges that it brings for artists and for labels and everyone in music?” It’s such a challenging time and everything is moving so fast. We’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to navigate all of it. And it’s an exciting time. It brings a lot of innovations to the table.
I think that the music industry in general is usually, in the time that I’ve been at RIAA, in the front. We’re the — I’m not fond of the saying — but the canary in the coal mine. All of these issues are ones that we confront first, the same as with file-sharing or any of those other issues that happened way back when. And the policymakers are grappling with how to handle these changes confronting society with AI, so it’s so multifaceted and very challenging.
We’ve been working on the deep fakes issue. That is one thing that pretty much everyone can come together around. We had that bill pass in Tennessee last week [the ELVIS Act] and we’re working on some federal bills as well. So, this is, I think, where all the focus is going to be. But in general, I think things are good, the industry is moving in a positive direction. You probably saw our revenue numbers came out earlier this week. One of the things that we’re so excited about, and I think that music companies have really embraced, is offering so much choice to fans. And I think that’s really positive.
I was curious about the year-end report. One interesting takeaway is that the record labels may have become almost too reliant on paid subscriptions for revenue and revenue growth. Do you think that revenue mix needs to be more dynamic? And if so, how do you feel labels can get there?
That’s a very tricky question. I’m not sure I can really answer that one. There are a lot of different components that go into it. And a lot of the pieces that are business issues, we aren’t at RIAA going to be able to see into those. It is a concern, for sure, and something that our folks are paying attention to.
I will say that one of the things that I have noticed that has changed most over the time that I’ve been at RIAA is this willingness to innovate and pivot. When I first came to RIAA in 2004, the focus was on how do we address file sharing? It was the Grokster case, and I think that within the companies, the old guard has sort of shifted out and the folks who are there now and have come in have very successfully navigated those challenges to the place we are today.
Today, everyone streams and anybody can get the music they want, whenever they want it. And it is not something that even occurs to young folks. I have a 16-year-old. He doesn’t even think about like, “I can just go on Spotify and listen.” To me, watching that change has been really impactful. And I’m just trying to think about it, like, something exciting will happen next. I’m not sure what it is. But I think it will happen.
One of the other big stories in the last few months was UMG pulling its catalog from TikTok and the ripple effect that that’s had on the industry. What do you think needs to happen to resolve that dispute?
I don’t know. TikTok has has grown so fast, and even among our companies and among policymakers, there’s differing opinions on how to handle that. Universal certainly put their marker down, and we haven’t commented because our companies aren’t all in the same place about it. So I don’t know how that’s going to resolve and I also don’t know what’s going to happen with the federal bill that policymakers are pursuing to say that they’re going to ban TikTok. I mean, it passed the House. It’s very tricky.
We have a big election coming up. What should RIAA members be on the lookout for when either candidate wins, whether it’s Trump or Biden?
We used to go, Mitch and myself, to our companies and board meetings and we would talk to them about what’s happening in D.C. and how it’s all gonna shake out and what we think will happen based on what we know and our experiences working both in the House and the Senate. It’s really hard to tell now. We gave up some years ago on doing our own punditry. The polling doesn’t seem to be as reliable and, as a D.C. person, even some of my colleagues from prior administrations or from the Hill, they’re like, “It’s really hard to tell.”
The good news for everyone in the music industry, not just RIAA, is that largely music issues are bipartisan, and on the committees that handle intellectual property, policy and copyright issues, the Judiciary Committee, they are dealing with many more complex issues such as guns and immigration and reproductive rights and so on. So a lot of times they are more willing to come to the table to talk about music issues, for a variety of reasons. One is that they can get to an agreement, there can be some bipartisan action, and, you know, music touches everyone. And policymakers are no different.
I think that hopefully we can get some action on making sure that we continue to protect the rights of artists and labels and songwriters and others in the music community, and not roll back any rights. We’ll be paying particular attention to AI and deep fakes and making sure that their rights are protected there. But it’s not clear how things will go, either from the standpoint of the election, but also getting bills passed is really hard nowadays. But can we get some engagement? Yes, we’ll get engagement. A lot of times what we try to do too, is if members feel like bills won’t pass, there are other ways to get them to engage, to help bring parties, stakeholders to the table to talk through issues and see if we can get some resolutions and things like that. I expect that to continue. But, you know, D.C. is…it’s tricky.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Country artist Orville Peck has signed with Warner Records – and has already teased new music on the way.
“I was ready for a change,” Peck tells Billboard. “I spent most of last year making several huge changes to all aspects of my life – my career being just one of them. I was ready for a clean start.”
Today (April 1), Peck announced his first release on the label: a collaboration with Willie Nelson. The pair will duet on a cover of “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other,” a song originally released in 1981 by Latin country artist Ned Sublette and covered by Nelson in 2006. Peck himself previously performed a rendition for SiriusXM and at his 2023 Hollywood Bowl show.
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Jeff Sosnow, EVP of A&R at Warner – whom Peck calls “the GOAT” – tells Billboard he met Peck a few years ago and was taken “not only by his musical acumen and knowledge, but also his sense of purpose, ambition and curation of his own world, which all extends from the music.”
“It’s rare to come across an artist who checks so many necessary boxes for a path to success – great songs, singular voice, curation of overall aesthetic and visuals, ambition, communication and work ethic. With [what’s ahead], we have a real opportunity to fortify and grow Orville’s base and reach.”
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In 2019, Peck released his debut album Pony on Sub Pop. The following year, in 2020, he signed with Columbia and released his major label debut EP Show Pony. Two more EPs followed in 2022 leading up to his second full-length that August, Bronco.
“I was drawn to Warner because of their unique emphasis on their artists,” says Peck. “It may seem like it should be the standard but more and more, the music industry invests less and less in artists.” He says in addition to Sosnow being “a genuine fan of music,” he has “great respect” for Warner CEO and co-chairman Aaron Bay-Schuck along with COO and co-chairman Tom Corson. “They have helped me to feel so motivated,” he adds.
Currently, Warner is on a hot streak with its superstars and emerging talent alike. Next month (on May 3), Dua Lipa will release her anticipated album Radical Optimism, while Zach Bryan is currently playing to sold-out arenas on his The Quittin Time Tour. Plus, rising acts like Teddy Swims and Benson Boone occupied the Hot 100’s top two slots last week with “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things,” respectively.
“The last five years have proven Warner has the patience and ingenuity to work with real artists with vision and songs and grow with them,” says Sosnow. “The structure of the company has put us in a unique place where we do indeed have a special sauce.”
Peck is signed to Brandon Creed’s Good World Management, and is managed by Creed along with Dani Russin and Anika Capozza. The firm says: “Warner has been in Orville’s corner for many years and when the moment arose to work together, they immediately seized the opportunity with incredible support and enthusiasm…We are so excited for this new partnership and couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with them.”
As Peck says, this next chapter can be defined by “evolution and exploration. I have honestly never felt so excited about my career before.”
Adds Sosnow: “The possibilities are really limitless for Orville. He is a generational talent.”
Orville Peck
Ben Prince
