Record Labels
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Los Angeles-based Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) Records has set down roots in Nashville with the relaunch of the iconic Lost Highway imprint.
Former Thirty Tigers executive Robert Knotts and Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) executive Jake Gear will serve as co-heads and executive vps of the resurrected label.
“Lost Highway carved out a special place in the remarkable musical legacy of Nashville. It was a left-of-center label with one-of-a-kind artists who, at their core, were great songwriters and moved culture,” John Janick, chairman/CEO of Interscope Capitol and IGA, said in a statement. “Similarly, Interscope has always been a beacon to artists who don’t fit into a box yet are destined to inspire what comes next. With this new chapter in Lost Highway’s history, we are devoted to empowering the next generation of trailblazers, both artists and executives.”
The revered label, which takes its name from the song made famous in 1949 by Hank Williams, had been dormant for 13 years after being launched by then-UMGN head Luke Lewis in 2000, who retired in 2012.
From the start, Lewis and his team curated a tasty roster focused on roots-leaning music from artists including Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Bingham, Hayes Carll, Mary Gauthier, Lyle Lovett and Kacey Musgraves, who signed with the label in 2011, shortly before it was folded into Mercury Nashville.
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Lost Highway was also home to soundtracks, including the T Bone Burnett-produced, Grammy-winning O Brother, Where Art Thou.
Lost Highway
Courtesy Photo
Janick says he picked Knotts and Gear because their musical aesthetic matches the imprint’s storied history. While at Thirty Tigers, where he rose to senior vp of artist and label services, Knotts worked with such artists as Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Sturgill Simpson, Turnpike Troubadours, Muscadine Bloodline and more.
“Over the course of my career, my goal has always been to operate in service to the artist’s vision while understanding the emotional connection to their art. It is with this same spirit that Lost Highway left a lasting impact on the Nashville community — providing a home for artists who aren’t defined by genre and recognizing that the artist’s vision ultimately shapes culture itself,” Knotts said. “I am honored to carry that approach forward alongside one of my closest friends, Jake Gear. With John Janick’s guidance, and support from the entire Interscope team, we have an incredible opportunity to combine an artist-first mentality with Interscope’s remarkable ability to help build worlds around an artist’s vision.”
Gear was most recently vp of A&R at UMG Nashville, where he signed and/or developed upstarts Tucker Wetmore and Vincent Mason and A&R’d projects by Parker McCollum, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Sam Hunt and Brothers Osborne, among others.
“Lost Highway has a rich history. Many of these releases and artists were formative in developing my own appreciation of the craft of songwriting,” Gear said. “The label was a pioneer in taste, representing an ethos of artistry first, an openness to taking creative risks and shining a light on artists who drifted on the fringes of the major label defined ‘mainstream.’ Together with my friend, Robert, and with the backing of John Janick and Interscope, I look forward to curating the roster.”
Lost Highway was briefly resurrected earlier this year by UMG Nashville’s chair/CEO Cindy Mabe, who exited the label in February, in partnership with iconic producer Burnett. Their first release under the revamped Lost Highway was Ringo Starr’s country album, Look Up, which came out Jan. 10. Burnett will now work with the IGA iteration, including on a 25th anniversary edition of the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. A release date on the reissue, artists on the roster and staffing are expected to be announced shortly.
Warner Music Group announced on Monday (April 14) that Armin Zerza will join the company as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective May 5, reporting to CEO Robert Kyncl. Zerza, who previously served as CFO of Activision Blizzard, brings extensive global financial, commercial and operational leadership experience.
Bryan Castellani, the current executive vp and CFO, will serve until May 5 and then act as an advisor to ensure a smooth transition.
Armin Zerza
Zerza has three decades of experience across the entertainment, technology and consumer goods sectors. At Activision Blizzard, the game publisher behind Call of Duty and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, he held roles as CFO and chief commercial officer, playing a pivotal role in the company’s acquisition by Microsoft. Before joining Activision Blizzard in August 2015, Zerza spent over 20 years at Procter & Gamble, serving in various senior leadership roles across North America, Europe and Latin America. He managed multibillion-dollar businesses such as P&G’s European Baby Care and Latin America divisions and was part of the global M&A team.
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CEO Robert Kyncl praised Zerza’s 30 years of global experience and his track record of delivering results through innovation and financial discipline, adding, “He’ll help us evolve our long-term strategy and build WMG for the lasting benefit of our artists, songwriters, investors, employees, and partners.”
“I am thrilled to join WMG, a dynamic and innovative leader in the music industry,” said Zerza. “I believe the business has tremendous potential and look forward to working closely with Robert and the talented team at WMG to help deliver its ambitious vision for innovation, growth, and long-term value creation.”
Castellani joined WMG in August 2023 after nearly 30 years at The Walt Disney Company, rising to CFO for Disney Entertainment & ESPN. Prior to that, he held such roles as evp of finance for Disney Media, where he oversaw its distribution, ad sales and networks businesses, and previously he was evp and CFO of ESPN proper. Castellani succeeded longtime CFO Eric Levin.
“It’s been a rewarding experience to contribute to the ongoing evolution of this great company,” he said. “There’s so much we achieved at a pivotal time for the industry. I thank Robert, the Board of Directors, and everyone at WMG, especially the global finance team.”
For much of the past decade, the British metal band Sleep Token has been quietly building its own universe: anonymity, masks and cloaks, band members identified only by Roman numerals, a dearth of interviews or explanations of any kind. It has led to a mystique that has drawn in fans just as much as the music; the group’s followers comb through Easter eggs and hunt down clues — in website source code, for instance, or by linking QR codes scattered around Los Angeles, or through the lunar eclipse live stream from Griffith Observatory — looking for hints at what is to come, and what the band might do next.
Lately, that has ratcheted up, as the group signed to RCA and began releasing singles on a major label for the first time ahead of their upcoming album, Even In Arcadia, set for a May 9 release. It started with a detailed campaign ahead of the release of the single “Emergence,” which began with the group’s first-ever TikTok video, led to a website where fans were instructed to choose between two coats of arms, involved competing Instagram accounts and instructions released in Morse code and a numerical cipher that spelled out the name of the single — and even that is an oversimplification of the campaign. But the scavenger hunt that ensued, of course, was only part of the story of the song’s success: it became the band’s first-ever Hot 100 entry, and is now spending its third straight week at No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs.
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Building on that was the release of the followup single, “Caramel,” teased in part by WRAL Raleigh, North Carolina weatherman Chris Michaels during a news broadcast, which also helped introduce the band’s next step, which is forthcoming — with “Caramel” jumping out to an even bigger streaming debut so far than “Emergence” had. “It’s truly a marketer’s dream project,” RCA Records’ vp of marketing Aaron Stern says — and the creativity and success so far helps earn Stern the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Stern helps break down some of the work that went into the campaign, and what’s to come for Sleep Token. “The future is about building community,” Stern says. “If there’s anything to take away from this campaign and what this band has created it’s how you build that sense of fellowship and that’s what I’ll take with me as a focus going forward with all of my projects.”
This week, Sleep Token’s “Emergence” spent its third week at No. 1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, and a few weeks ago became the band’s first-ever single to appear on the Hot 100, when it debuted at No. 57. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
Before we could approach the rollout plans for Even In Arcadia, it was critical to me that everyone who would be tied to the project deeply understood and respected the profound and expansive world the band created to surround its artistry long before this record. Sleep Token set a best-in-class standard for how an artist can cultivate an audience of fans that sincerely immerse themselves in the music and surrounding visual identity. My role was to take the entirely new creative vision the artist had for this album and help bring it to life on a broad scale with intriguing fan intersection points to build demand for new music from the band.
Mapping the timing and cadence of when and how the music rolled out was key. We knew it would be vital to create meaningful inroads to the new world of Even in Arcadia for fans long before the first note of music was heard, so that just before “Emergence” dropped, the anticipation and excitement for what was coming was at a fever pitch. It was so important to us that we honor the vision and support the foundation that Sleep Token had been building for years leading up to this, and we had the expertise of their long time manager Ryan Richards at Future History Management to serve as our compass and one source of truth.
This is the biggest commercial moment for the band in its near-decade history. How did you set this up to both engage their existing fan base and also introduce them to more of a mainstream audience?
The strategy for this rollout was rooted in energizing and activating the existing Sleep Token fan base with hidden clues to draw them into the new world of Even In Arcadia — and then giving them something shareable to bring others in. We leaned into the mystery and the lore that exists innately with the identity of Sleep Token and created an entirely new realm with many different touchpoints fans could explore. We knew that if we hit a critical mass of excitement and conversation within this core fan base, it would then spill over into a larger mainstream space and get potential new fans intrigued and engaged. We believed it was only a matter of time for Sleep Token to break through if the fan base was equipped to go out and share their excitement about the new album broadly.
Following the success of “Emergence,” RCA released second single “Caramel” to even bigger streams so far. How have the two songs worked together to boost the band overall?
These are some of the most incredibly crafted songs the artist has released to date, and they were recorded with so much depth and nuance, so I’m not surprised to see these songs have resonated so deeply. We knew stepping out with “Emergence” would immediately resonate with their fans, and sonically nodded to their past successes — but also branched out with genre-bending spirit that gave a glimpse into what Even In Arcadia could be for a much larger audience. “Caramel” then further solidified the statement of true ambition for where this band is headed and further proof that there is no sonic highway they won’t explore. Credit to the artist along with A&R gurus Dan Chertoff and Daniel Schultz for plucking these two songs from the brilliant album as the introduction of what’s to come. The success we’re seeing is not just that people are listening, it’s that they are listening and they’re invested enough in what they hear to go online or out into the world to share their experience with others. In a time of so much polarization, this music and the immersive world connected to it is uniting people and offering a space for people to come together.
There has been an intricate marketing plan for these singles. What were your favorite moments, and how did you want to bring the fans into the experience with them?
We’ve had so much fun rolling this one out. It’s truly a marketer’s dream project. It all started with the visual creative for this record that would become the initial touchpoint for fans to be drawn in. That came to life through the vision of the artist in collaboration with the incredible minds of Niki Roberton, Shoshana Reist and Leo Araujo from the RCA creative team. Once we established this beautiful palatial world of exquisite flora and fauna, seemingly run by a lone black flamingo, we focused on ways to bring people into it. By seeding cryptic messaging, puzzles and scavenger hunts for fans to discover and explore, we leaned into immersive storytelling.
As an exuberant community of worshippers across the globe dove deeper and deeper into this world, a local weatherman from Raleigh, North Carolina started adding clues in his weather reports, which added to the buzz on TikTok and Instagram. Sometimes it’s hard to put into words how it all falls into place, but with the combination of the visual creative and its strategic placement, coupled with the mystery built and the passion of the fan base, set the tone for a highly anticipated launch. Tarek Al-Hamdouni, Christian Edusada and Bird Cooley from the RCA digital marketing team have done a fantastic job of having the pulse of the fans online and have played an integral role in the strategy of getting the message out there. We also can’t forget that Sleep Token is one of the greatest live bands in the world. Lexi Vaganos, my marketing partner in crime at RCA, and I worked closely with our friends at AEG to extend the world of this record into the teasing and announcement of their now sold out U.S. arena tour this fall. I love that we found ways for the marketing of the album to extend into every component of what this band does and where it exists, going far beyond any other standard project roll out.
Why is this happening for them now?
There’s no stopping a great vision whose time has come. Simultaneously, and thankfully, we’re also seeing a resurgence in rock music, in part due to the cyclical nature of music trends but also driven by a collective desire for the authenticity that the genre stands for. The continuous growth of streaming, as well as social media trending topics like the elder-emo subculture over the past few years, have contributed to exposing younger generations to rock music, sparking new interest in the genre.
What have you learned from the unorthodox campaign here that you feel can be applied to other artists?
I’ve learned that people really want something to unite on and something that can help them escape from reality. I realize that this isn’t new and music has always been this way for most of us, but the way we rely on a creative escape ebbs and flows with the happenings of the world — and we are in a moment where a retreat from our real world is desired. The future is about building community. If there’s anything to take away from this campaign and what this band has created it’s how you build that sense of fellowship and that’s what I’ll take with me as a focus going forward with all of my projects.
How do you continue to push this forward with future singles as you approach the band’s album release?
We’ve got such an amazing plan ahead and so much to Do thAt I think is really going to shake things up and set fans up for an epic experience of Even In Arcadia. This is one of the MOst intelligent and exCited fan bases I’ve ever seen. They often know what’s coming with even the LittleESt kernel of information that’s put out there, so I’ll keep it to that.
Create Music Group has acquired longstanding indie electronic label !K7. The acquisition comes two months after the death of !K7 founder Horst Weidenmueller at age 60.
The acquisition was in motion before Weidenmueller’s death, with a representative for the deal sharing a statement made by the founder before he died: “This transition is a deeply personal one for me, but I know that with Create Music Group, !K7 is in the right hands. Create Music Group shares our commitment to artists, labels, and creativity, and I am confident that this partnership will strengthen !K7’s legacy while opening new doors for the future. I want to thank our incredible team, partners, and artists for being part of this journey — what we have built together will continue to thrive and evolve for years to come.”
Founded in 1985, !K7 began releasing artist albums in 1996, putting forth music from across the wide electronic spectrum and beyond. The company now has offices in Berlin, London and New York, with its label group including the in-house labels !K7, AUS, 7K!, Soul Bank and Strut Records. Its longstanding influential DJ Kicks mix series is an influential and globally known platform for a wide range of DJs and producers.
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!K7 CEO Tom Nieuweboer says the partnership will allow the label “to scale our vision while staying true to our core values of independent artistry, innovation, and quality.”
This is the second high-profile acquisition Create has made in the electronic space this year, with the company announcing in March that it acquired the deadmau5 catalog, along with the catalog of the producer’s mau5trap records, for $55 million.
!K7 will be an asset to Create with its global brand recognition, ubiquity in and knowledge of the European music industry ecosystem, and its physical distribution network. Meanwhile, !K7’s artists and label partners will leverage Create’s in-house services spanning distribution, marketing and more.
“Horst was a special music entrepreneur who built !K7 over 40 years into a globally renowned brand,” said Create CFO William Smith in a statement. “Long before he passed, we spent many hours discussing ways that we could invest more into !K7 to help the business reach new heights, while also preserving the culture and principles that make the business so unique. We’re proud that Horst has trusted us with his legacy and the next chapter of !K7’s growth, and are excited to partner with Tom and the rest of the team in achieving this shared vision.”
“We are thrilled to welcome !K7 and its iconic DJ-Kicks series to the Create Music Group family,” added Create’s senior vp of global corporate development and M&A Eric Nguyen. “This acquisition not only deepens our footprint in electronic music but also reinforces our commitment to forward-thinking music across a wide spectrum of specialist genres represented by its globally respected imprint Strut Records. We’re proud to support the innovative spirit that defines the !K7 catalogue. We look forward to powering the next chapter for !K7, its exceptional roster of artists, and its visionary label partners around the world.”
Island Records has promoted Marshall Nolan to executive vp, head of commercial strategy. Based in New York, Nolan reports directly to Imran Majid and Justin Eshak, co-chairmen and CEOs of Island Records.
In his enhanced role — he was previously svp — Nolan will continue leading streaming, physical and D2C strategy for the label. Since joining UMG in 2022, he has been pivotal to the breakthrough campaigns of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, the development of rising stars Gigi Perez, Lola Young, and Charley Crockett, and the continued success of Bon Jovi, Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato and The Killers.
Last September, Nolan was recognized as Billboard’s executive of the week for his role in orchestrating the leave-no-stone-unturned commercial strategy (radio promo, streaming, multiple variants to boost sales) behind Carpenter’s album Short N’ Sweet, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. “The plan from the start was that every detail mattered,” Nolan told us. “We knew to double down on her strengths, in areas like e-commerce, and once we built a rhythm there, it afforded us the time to nurture elements that still had room for growth.”
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Prior to joining UMG, Nolan spent five years at Columbia Records as senior director of the commercial team, working on key projects for artists such as Adele, Harry Styles, Hozier, Beyoncé and The Neighbourhood.
Eshak and Majid expressed their excitement about Nolan’s promotion, highlighting his leadership, deep understanding of music and visionary approach to commercial strategy. “His strong, trusted relationships with our label’s artist roster and their respective teams have led to some of the most exciting commercial marketing campaigns in recent memory,” they said in a joint statement. “We’re excited for his next phase and the opportunities he’ll bring to our team and artists we support.”
Nolan emphasized the artist-first culture at Island, saying “Nothing is off limits if it benefits the artist, which opens up the boundaries and enables us to effectively deliver at the highest level on their behalf.”
The executive is also committed to philanthropy, raising awareness and funds for metastatic breast cancer research through organizations like BCRF and The Pink Agenda, inspired by his sister-in-law cancer battle.
Sony Music announced on Monday (April 7) that David Massey, president of Arista Records since its relaunch in 2018, will retire at the end of June. The company has yet to announce new leadership.
“It has been a privilege to work with David on the rebirth of Arista,” Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer said in making the announcement. “In two different eras at Sony Music, David has been a hugely respected key senior executive for the company worldwide and as a friend and colleague in both those eras I wish him all the happiness in his retirement.”
Founded by Clive Davis in 1974, Arista was the longtime home of Whitney Houston, Patti Smith, Carlos Santana and Barry Manilow, among other legends, before it was retired in 2011 by RCA executives. Sony Music Nashville continued to operate Arista Nashville, which featured Brad Paisley on its roster, until its closure in March 2023.
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Massey and Stringer’s decision to resurrect the Arista Records brand received the Davis seal of approval in 2018. “Clive was amazing about it,” Massey told Billboard at the time, “and I think we all just felt like it was a very natural, great opportunity to bring back a label that so many people respect and love seeing it.”
Under Massey’s leadership, Arista’s roster has included Grammy-nominated singer JP Saxe, Italian rock band Måneskin, and rappers Lola Brooke and Paul Russell, among others.
Prior to joining Arista, the British-born executive led Universal Music Group’s Mercury Records from 2007 until he became president of Island Records in 2013. During his tenure, Island was part of the Island Def Jam Music Group until it became a standalone entity in April 2014. At Island, Massey guided the careers of artists such as Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Tove Lo, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, Bon Jovi and Mike Posner.
Earlier in his career, Massey spent a decade at Sony’s Epic Records, advancing through the A&R department to become head of the division, and later executive vice president of A&R for Sony Music Label Group U.S. He also founded Daylight Records, in 2000, where he signed and developed Good Charlotte, Jonas Brothers, Anastacia and Phantom Planet.
Before his tenure at Epic, Massey built a successful career in London as an artist manager, working with acts like Wang Chung. He also ran his own independent record company, Big World Records.
Massey served as a governor and trustee at the RIAA from 2010 to 2015.
“It has been a great honour to spend this chapter of my career back at Sony Music, working with Rob Stringer, a visionary executive for whom I have the utmost admiration, and with the extraordinary Sony family worldwide,” Massey said. “Having started the label from scratch nearly seven years ago, I am so proud of the achievements of the team at Arista and our great young artists. I know that Arista will go from strength to strength in the future.”
Scooter Braun and Jermaine Dupri are together again.
On Monday (April 7), HYBE America, where Braun serves as CEO, announced it had struck a distribution partnership with Dupri’s legendary So So Def Recordings, serving as a full-circle moment for both music executives.
“Everything I learned about the music business started with Jermaine,” said Braun in a statement. “He gave me my first shot when I was just a kid with a dream. I was blessed to witness genius up close — and now, years later, it’s an honor to return to where it all began and stand beside him as a partner.”
Braun’s legendary career started when he was a 19-year-old club promoter working under Dupri’s tutelage. In the years since, he has risen to become one of the biggest names in the music business, previously managing A-list artists like Justin Bieber, Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Ariana Grande.
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The deal will give So So Def full access to HYBE America’s marketing infrastructure, allowing the label to expand its artists’ global reach.
As one of the biggest powerhouse labels of the ’90s and early 2000s, So So Def’s roster has included superstars like Usher, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey. It also recently launched rising star Muni Long.
“Jermaine Dupri isn’t just a legend — he’s one of the greatest producers and executives of all time,” Braun continued. “He changed the sound of a generation. This deal is about giving him the modern tools and reach his legacy deserves, and making sure the next generation hears what the last one already knows: Jermaine Dupri is a giant.”
Dupri echoed this sentiment in his own statement. “This isn’t just a business move — this is family,” he said. “Watching Scooter build what he has built has made me incredibly proud. He learned the game inside So So Def, and now he’s in a position to open doors the way I once opened them for him. That’s what legacy is about.”
So So Def and HYBE America will begin rolling out new music in the coming months.
“Cowgirls” hitmaker and four-time ACM Award nominee Ernest is adding another notch to his musical resume, launching his own label, DeVille Records, in a joint venture with Big Loud Records (where Ernest himself signed as an artist in 2019).
Ernest’s DeVille Records features Chandler Walters, Rhys Rutherford and Cody Lohden as its first artists. Ernest, Walters, Rutherford and Lohden are all managed by new recently-announced management company Greenhouse Management, launched by Kiley Donohoe.
The initial project from the new label is Cadillac Sessions, a mixtape-style compilation set for release on May 9, that will feature two new original songs, and one cover from Ernest, Walters, Rutherford and Lohden, plus guest artists. The project will blend honky-tonk, ’90s country, Western swing and more.
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“We’re going to build this thing wide and on concrete,” Ernest said in a statement of DeVille Records. “Artist development. Write the songs and do it the old-school way. Make the videos, see the vision, help the vision come to life.”
“We have been in business with ERNEST for almost a decade. What started with ERN as a young prolific songwriter-artist in Big Loud’s publishing hallways, has evolved into so much more over the years,” Big Loud CEO / partner Seth England added. “Our partnerships in ERN’s Cadillac Music have gone so well, and his desire to create DeVille Records alongside of it made sense. ERNEST himself grew in an independent and cultural environment much like the one he desires to create. He and I have talked about this day for years, and all of the unique ways we could help break the next wave of prolific artists. Kudos to Rhys, Cody and Chandler for buying into this vision and supporting this unique rollout style with our upcoming DeVille project.”
With the new label, Ernest continues doubling down on giving back to his hometown of Nashville. Last year, he released a musical love letter to his hometown with the album Nashville, Tennessee, has earned multiple ACM, CMA and Grammy nominations, including his current ACM nominations for artist-songwriter of the year, as well as being a co-writer on the ACM song of the year-nominated song “I Had Some Help,” recorded by Morgan Wallen and Post Malone.
Writer, artist and steel guitar player Walters is touring with Post Malone and Ernest, and co-wrote the Post Malone/Morgan Wallen hit “I Had some Help.” Kentucky native Lohden, a former firefighter/paramedic, draws on the sounds of ’80s country singers such as Keith Whitley and Don Williams, and has toured with Ernest, Bailey Zimmerman and Walker Hayes. Rutherford has contributed to songs by (“Is This Really Over?”), Ernest feat. Morgan Wallen (“Hangin’ On”), Kashus Culpepper (“Talk With Me”) and George Pippen (“Rest of Our Life”).
HYBE America has partnered with Alan Chikin Chow, creator of the scripted YouTube series Alan’s Universe, to form a new pop group that will be introduced to audiences through a streaming series, it was announced on Thursday (April 3).
The partnership, dubbed HYBE AMERICA X AU, will kick off with a global talent search to form the group, which will be composed of three women and three men. Those chosen will undergo HYBE’s rigorous K-pop development system in Los Angeles. The resulting series, which will be executive produced by Chow alongside HYBE America president James Shin and CEO Scooter Braun, “will follow a group of aspiring pop idol rejects enrolled at an arts academy who decide to form their own band, fusing the worlds of drama, acting, and musical performance with concurrent releases of original music and choreography,” according to a press release.
The multi-faceted project will live on Chow’s YouTube channel (which boasts more than 88 million subscribers) and “across multiple platforms that include music, merchandise, live touring, and more,” with the goal to “reimagine the fictional musical act turned real-life global popstar pathway for today’s generation,” as stated in the release.
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“The passionate global fanbase of Alan’s Universe partnered with the premier music prowess of HYBE AMERICA creates an unstoppable force,” said Chow in a statement. “Together, we stand to create a next-generation franchise with one purpose: to serve our fans with inspiring, impactful stories.”
“This partnership represents entertainment’s future—where content and music enhance each other rather than simply coexist,” added Shin. “We’re building a franchise with Alan that establishes a new model for artist development in the digital age.”
Braun added, “Alan’s extraordinary connection with global audiences makes him and this partnership unique. Together we are not only reimagining the star-making process but will help to create once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for exceptional storytelling and development.”
To apply, male and female candidates between the ages of 18 and 28 anywhere in the world can upload a singing or dancing clip to YouTube Shorts along with the hashtag #HYBEAMERICAxAU. More details can be found here.
A mammoth first quarter of 2025 saw Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) surge into first place in the current market share rankings of U.S. record labels so far this year.
Big records from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Gracie Abrams, Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga propelled IGA to a 12.67% current share, up from 9.10% over the same period in 2024. That’s just enough to edge out longtime leader REPUBLIC, which rode a wave of releases by The Weeknd and Morgan Wallen and continued success from Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan to a 12.52% current share of the market through March 27, 2025, down slightly from the industry-leading 12.84% it held after the first three months of 2024.
Those two labels — IGA’s share also includes Verve Label Group, while REPUBLIC’s includes Island, Mercury, Big Loud and indie distributor Imperial — helped parent company the Universal Music Group (UMG) boost its year over year market share by nearly three percentage points, to a 36.82% current share so far in 2025 from 2024’s 33.90%. In doing so, UMG widened its lead over No. 2 label group Sony Music Group, which increased its own share year over year to 27.37%, up from 26.91% this time last year. That growth from those two companies largely came at the expense of the indie sector, which fell to a 19.92% current share by distribution ownership this year, down from 23.21% in 2024. (By label ownership, the indies are the biggest sector; see below.) Meanwhile, the third major label group, the Warner Music Group (WMG), largely remained static at 15.89% current share this year, down slightly from 15.98% last year.
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Given the reorganization of UMG last year — in which Capitol Music Group also reports through IGA’s chairman/CEO John Janick, while Def Jam reports through REPUBLIC CEO Monte Lipman — Interscope Capitol’s combined share would grow even further, to 17.23%, which would best WMG’s mark for the quarter. REPUBLIC’s share, in addition to Def Jam, would be 13.07%. Most notable among the labels under the REPUBLIC umbrella is Island’s continued growth. After a year in which Carpenter and Roan broke out as superstars, the likes of Lola Young and Gigi Perez are helping Island to continue to bloom: At 2.94% current share this year, Island would have been the eighth-biggest label if broken out on its own, and its share is up significantly from the 0.71% it posted in the first three months of 2024, when it would have ranked 20th.
Below the top two labels come a pair of WMG companies in Warner Records (6.17%, which includes Warner Nashville, Warner Latin and Rhino) and Atlantic Records (5.58%, inclusive of 300 Elektra Entertainment and 10K Projects). Warner’s mark is down from the 6.41% it enjoyed in Q1 2024, when it kicked off the year with breakout singles from Benson Boone and Teddy Swims; while Atlantic’s number is up from last year’s 5.14%, as it shifts into a new era following a leadership shakeup last September.
In fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, are a trio of labels separated by just over a half a percentage in market share: RCA (4.83%, down from 5.13% last year), Capitol (4.56%, down from last year’s 4.71%) and Columbia (4.25%, up big from last year’s 3.71%). Capitol’s market share includes Virgin Music, Motown/Quality Control, Capitol Christian Music Group, Astralwerks and Blue Note; Columbia’s includes some labels from indie distributor RED.
Following Columbia, in eighth place, is the other big story of the year so far: Alamo Records, which posted a 2.91% current share, up significantly from its 2024 mark of 1.53%, driven by the success of Drake and PartyNextDoor’s Some Sexy Songs 4 You album, among other releases. (Alamo also operates an indie distributor, Santa Anna.) Another trio of Sony labels follows: Sony Latin in ninth (1.89%, down from 2.38%), Sony Nashville in 10th (1.83%, down from 2.08%) and Epic Records just outside the top 10 (1.56%, down from 2.99%).
In overall market share — which combines all of a label’s output in the marketplace, whereas current refers to music from the most recent 18 months — Interscope’s deep catalog and current surge sees it secure first place, at 10.81%, up from last year’s 9.84%. REPUBLIC slipped to second, despite slightly increasing its overall market share to 9.95% from last year’s 9.94%, while Atlantic’s formidable catalog sees it leapfrog Warner Records up to third in overall share, at 7.67%, relatively steady from last year’s 7.65%. Warner, similarly, is almost the same as last year, as its fourth place showing of 6.73% is in line with last year’s 6.72%; Capitol and Columbia, in fifth and sixth, are down a small amount year over year (6.05% from 6.14% for Capitol; 5.38% from 5.79% for Columba), while RCA in seventh is also essentially static, at 5.19% from 5.20%. Epic, meanwhile, jumps to eighth (2.42%, down from 2.81%), while Sony Nashville (1.95%, down from 1.97%) and Def Jam (1.80%, down from 1.97%) round out the top 10.
In terms of catalog — all titles older than 18 months, which generally favors labels with a lengthy history of hits — the top eight are the same as in overall market share, with IGA, REPUBLIC and Atlantic leading the way. In ninth, Def Jam’s 2.19% sees it move up, while Concord’s 2.05% moves it into the top 10, with Sony Nashville (1.98%) dropping down to 11th. Concord and Sony Nashville grew their shares year over year, while Def Jam’s is down slightly.
Those figures are all by distribution ownership, whereby Universal, Sony and Warner also receive market share credit from their owned independent label distributors. By label ownership, however, the independent community is by far the largest sector of the business, racking up a 37.87% current market share so far this year, down from 38.25% in 2024; and a 36.03% overall market share this year, down from 36.82% last year.