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To many people, Joe Keery is the actor known for playing Steve Harrington on the beloved Netflix show Stranger Things, or Gator Tillman on the most recent season of FX’s Fargo. What those people may not know is that he’s also the creative behind the music releases under the moniker Djo and has been releasing music for the past five years under that name through Sony-owned AWAL. He started by licensing his music through the company’s distribution service and, over the years, rose through its tiered offerings to release two projects via its AWAL Recordings label.
The most recent of those projects was Decide, Djo’s 2022 album that broke through and was well received by critics, garnering him his biggest looks from the music press to date. Now, two years later, the Decide track “End of Beginning” has become a massive hit on TikTok. The song has flown to the top of the TikTok 50 chart and landed “End of Beginning” not just a spot in the top 25 of the Hot 100 (it currently sits at a new peak of No. 23) but into the top 10 of both the Global 200 (at No. 6) and the Global Ex-U.S. charts (No. 7) as the song explodes not just Stateside but around the world.
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That marks a huge success for Djo and serves as an example of how AWAL’s tiered offerings can help an artist go from hobbyist side project to worldwide success; it also helps earn AWAL CEO Lonny Olinick the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week. Here, Olinick talks about the success of “End of Beginning,” Djo’s rise through the AWAL ranks and how the company helped support the song’s growth as it began to take off on social media. “We are seeing many people who are discovering ‘End of Beginning’ and loving the song, and are digging deeper,” Olinick says. “And when they do, discovering that the person behind it is so talented in many different ways is just adding to their connection to the project.”
This week, Djo’s “End of Beginning” jumps into the top 10 of Billboard’s Global 200 (No. 6) and Global Ex-U.S. charts (No. 7), his first global chart entry and first top 10. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
Projects that create meaningful impact always begin with the right A&R decision. You never lose when you partner with artists who have a real creative vision, the drive to be successful and great music to go along with it. That has been the case with Joe and this project since day one.
When it comes to the success of this record, the way we have structured AWAL really allows us to mobilize on a global basis immediately. As we started to see “End of Beginning” react, we were able to spread the story in every country, tied in with the specific way it was reacting. That meant everything from press to content creation to DSP partnerships to radio, depending on the market. Joe even went to the U.K. to present at the Brits and visit key partners, with only a few days’ notice.
Djo first started out distributing his music through AWAL, then rose up through the company’s offering tiers to now doing full recordings deals with AWAL. How did you help guide that trajectory?
We are really lucky that we work in a system that allows us to find the best way to work with music we are passionate about. Ultimately, the projects help guide this process themselves. It becomes pretty clear when an artist is raising their hand and is in the right place to be supported further. I think the traditional way of looking at it — that an artist goes from doing everything on their own to counting on someone else to do everything — isn’t relevant in today’s world. The ramp should be guided by the connection an artist has made with an audience and the potential to grow beyond that base.
In Joe’s case, that is exactly what happened. When we first started working with him, he needed distribution and marketing/content advice. If we had pushed to do more too fast, we might have suffocated the creative process and organic growth he was experiencing as an artist. By the second project, there was a more defined fan base and he was ready for our team to handle marketing and push the story globally. And then we have a moment with “End of Beginning” where we are pushing every lever available to a record label on a global basis. And most importantly with that, pushing them in a way that is focused on creating fans of Djo, not just fans of “End of Beginning.”
“End of Beginning” was originally released two years ago, then caught a new wave on TikTok earlier this year. How were you able to capitalize on that to continue to boost the song’s success?
It is critically important that we let the artist and the art dictate what is possible. In this case, we started to see such great engagement around this song and amazing content being created. Joe was excited to continue the dialogue with the audience and so our job was to spread this in a way that respected the song and artist. From there, we dig into the who, what and where of the moment. From creating new content to support the song, to pitching DSPs, radio and press, and facilitating in-person moments, our team created and executed this strategy on a global basis. And importantly, it changes in real time as the moment evolves.
But most importantly, this has to be led and driven by the artist and that is what happened with Joe. And Joe is supported by an amazing manager in Nick Stern, who has always known when to lean into moments and when to let the fans do what they do on their own.
The song’s appearance in the top 10 on the global charts speaks to the enormous success it’s having not just in the U.S., but also around the world. How have you worked to help the song grow internationally?
To start with, we don’t care where an artist is signed or even where they are based. We let the fans tell us where there is an opportunity to engage further. Since this is ingrained in our DNA, we look at every artist with a global perspective. That has meant that our team has spent as much time focusing on what we can do in Latin America and Asia as we have on what can be done in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. As it turns out, the audience for this song is everywhere and so our team has been everywhere. But it’s easy to say we want to be global. What’s hard is to create and execute a unique plan for each and every market, and that is exactly what our team has done.
Djo — Joe Keery — is also an actor that many people know from Stranger Things and Fargo. How has his success in other mediums also helped you guys with his music career?
To be honest, this is one of the things that makes this project most meaningful and that starts with Joe. Even when I was introduced to the project five years ago, I had no idea it was Joe. I listened to the music and loved it and only found out after the fact. And that has been the way Joe has wanted it to be. He puts the music first and doesn’t want people to listen to it or discover it because he is an actor. And because of that, he has built up a hugely engaged music audience first, many of whom don’t know that he is behind Djo.
It has been interesting to watch this moment evolve. We are seeing many people who are discovering “End of Beginning” and loving the song and are digging deeper. And when they do, discovering that the person behind it is so talented in many different ways is just adding to their connection to the project.
What else are you looking to do to continue to push the song, and Djo’s career overall, moving forward?
Career is the most important part of that question. We are relentlessly focused on using this moment to create new fans for Djo, vs. just fans of “End of Beginning.” We are seeing great engagement with his whole catalogue and there are so many great songs he has put out that are getting new exposure. We believe there is a lot of life left in this song, but at the end of the day, we are spending a lot of time planning out the next two years and continuing to build a story that has already been five years in the making. So many artists have moments that they aren’t ready for and you see that, quickly, it can only be about the song. In this case, we have an artist and their team who has done the work in so many different ways and is fully ready.
How has AWAL shifted along with the music business in the last few years?
We have been fortunate to be ahead of where the industry is going for a while now. We always had fair deals and a model that allowed us to partner with artists in different ways. And most importantly, we always were a music company that prioritized being in business with artists that we love and knowing how to truly develop those artists. Our track record of developing meaningful artists really is different from any other non-traditional company.
But that doesn’t mean we are in any way complacent. I find that our team is hungrier than we have ever been. And being a part of Sony has been an incredible accelerant to everything we planned to do. We have doubled down on the creative side of our business both in helping on the music side and the content side. The creative part of our jobs is what we ultimately all are here for. We have also built out the global side of our business even further. We have new teams in India, Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria with more offices opening up in the coming months. I look at the last eight years as the hard preparation work for where the market was going. It is fun to see now how uniquely positioned we are even as so many others are trying to adapt to this new music world.
These days the music industry sometimes seems like a media business version of “Trading Places” in which every label wants to be a distributor and every distributor wants to become a label.
On March 7, Warner Music Group disclosed its interest in buying the French digital music distributor Believe, but all the label groups are focusing more on the distribution game – think Sony Music’s 2021 acquisition of AWAL and Universal Music Group’s October consolidation of Virgin Music and Ingrooves. At the same time, distributors are offering more of the services that only labels used to provide, including radio promotion and different kinds of marketing.
From the perspective of an independent creator, these two once-separate sectors have moved close enough that they’re competing – the majors are offering more flexible contracts that allow artists to keep their copyrights, while distributors are providing advances and an array of services to successful acts. For anyone who was in the industry before streaming became the standard, this seems like the music business’ Reese’s moment: You got your distribution in my label! You got your label in my distribution! To outsiders and young creators though, the distinction might not even make that much sense in the first place. Behind all the complicated corporate org charts, isn’t Sony just investing in, marketing and distributing Bad Bunny’s music (through The Orchard), just as it invests in, markets and distributes Beyoncé’s (on Columbia)?
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Sort of. Companies spend less, and make less, on the music they distribute, while acts signed to labels represent bigger bets both in terms of investment and potential upside. Distribution is steadier, while the label business involves more risk and some very profitable successes that more than make up for them. That’s not new. What is new, though, is how what was once a binary choice has become more of a question of finding the right point on a spectrum of risk and reward that has a traditional label deal at one end, distribution on the other and plenty of options in between.
It’s easy to understand why distributors are offering services that were once solely the domain of labels – pure online distribution has always been a low-cost commodity business, and label services offers are one way to get better margins. But what about the opposite? Why are labels getting into a lower-profit business that essentially endangers the best part of their existing business? Especially as label deals get less standard, companies make higher margins on acts that are early in their careers, before they score the success that gets them the leverage to negotiate a better deal.
Understanding why the major label groups are investing so much in a less profitable sector than the one they’re in requires seeing the issue like a media executive in the Internet Age, which is to say through the lens of disruption. This is the idea that companies which pioneer a good-enough product or service at a much lower cost will eventually challenge the market leaders – think of Netflix and cable television, for example. Although the theory isn’t as simple or as applicable as technology executives say it may well apply here: The market share of recorded music from traditional labels is slowly but steadily shrinking, in favor of distributors. The good news for the major labels is that much of that shift involves distributors they own, including The Orchard, owned by Sony, which raised its U.S. market share from 1.5% in 2021, to 7.1% in 2022, to 8.7% in 2023, according to Luminate. Much of that business comes from Bad Bunny, of course, but the company already has another bona fide Latin music superstar in Peso Pluma.
The labels basically just want to disrupt their own businesses before other companies can. If you think this kind of change is inevitable, it’s worth running toward it. (The music business has a reputation for being fearful of technology because it took so long to embrace the internet, but the business school idea of disruption doesn’t apply to pirated music; Napster wasn’t offering another product – it was offering the same product illegally.)
The second reason companies are buying distributors is, as MUSIC founder and CEO Matt Pincus recently told Billboard, “it solves a real stack problem for them.” Pincus was talking specifically about Warner, which like all label groups focuses on trying to break and market stars. A “stack” – programmer-speak for underlying technology – would let the company serve beginning creators and more emerging ones, as well as stars and a few artists that it wants to develop into stars. Warner already does this with ADA, which distributes independent labels, but ADA has tended to focus on a moderate number of mid-size indies, rather than a larger number of smaller ones.
But the most important reason labels are investing more on distribution could be the sector’s potential to serve as a kind of talent farm system. In the movies, label executives discover artists in bars or office auditions, but that hasn’t been the dominant way of doing business for a generation. These days, even beginning creators are distributing their music online, starting their careers on their own rather than trying to be discovered. Which means that by the time a major label gets interested in them, they may already have a deal. Since it’s easier to sign an artist who’s already involved with another division of the company, it makes sense to cast the biggest net possible. This is a defensive move, too: Now that Sony and Universal have big distribution businesses that can potentially serve as talent pipelines, Warner arguably needs one, too.
For that matter, the same applies to Believe. Most indie creators want to start their careers with basic distribution deals – but few of them want to stop there. Believe could be much more attractive to creators if it could offer them a place to grow to as well as services to grow into.
A year ago, Matt Najdowski, like many business managers for top artists, was routinely going over royalty statements when he discovered an unusual plunge in revenue.
For years, Pandora, the internet-radio streaming service, had paid 50% of song royalties to the artists through a collection agency called SoundExchange. But suddenly, artists signed to Universal Music Group were receiving a much lower percentage, similar to what they received from on-demand streaming services like Spotify or YouTube. And the payments were now arriving directly from UMG instead.
Najdowski researched further and learned UMG was able to change the way it reported Pandora revenue because Pandora itself had changed. In 2016, the streaming service began evolving from webcasting to a Spotify-style “search and play what you want” model. Because Pandora now offers an interactive service, rather than a non-interactive webcaster, it needed to make new deals with labels rather than relying on a government-mandated compulsory license at a standardized rate.
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As such, UMG and other labels were able to change the flow of royalties so they collected and paid them directly — rather than SoundExchange distributing to artists, as law mandates under these compulsory licenses. With UMG’s change in policy last year it became the first and only label so far, according to sources, to take advantage of this change. With that, the royalty splits for artists changed, too, from a 50% split through SoundExchange to whatever, often smaller, percentage their record deals dictated for on-demand streaming revenues. That’s significant as the world’s biggest record label contributed $135 million to SoundExchange as part of its Pandora share for artists, according to Billboard estimates based on financial reports and other public information.
“That specific royalty stream can range from a couple hundred dollars per month to a couple thousand. It can be a significant amount of money,” says Najdowski, royalty manager for Farris, Self & Moore. This change in accounting, he adds, “is more or less taking money out of [artist’s] pockets.”
Perhaps most notably, Najdowski discovered that the many UMG artists who are unrecouped – meaning they have yet to earn back the money the label spent on recording, marketing and other costs – were receiving a worrisome amount: zero. These acts were previously being paid directly by SoundExchange, so their unrecouped status with UMG was not an issue for these royalties. “A lot is being withheld, and it feels like a grab for money from the labels,” says Heather Gruber, royalty manager for Fineman West, a business-management firm that represents artists.
Although Pandora has struggled in recent years – monthly users have dropped from 81.5 million in 2014 to 46 million in 2023 – it remains a potent outlet for hitmakers such as SZA, Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Durk, as well as bubbling-under singles like contemporary-Christian singer-songwriter Lauren Daigle’s “These Are the Days.” Newer artists rely on the exposure, too, and Pandora royalties have provided crucial revenue while they absorb touring and merch expenses. “If you’re making millions of dollars, this isn’t going to have a big impact on you,” says Harold Papineau, associate lawyer for King, Holmes, Paterno and Soriano, which represents Metallica and others. “But if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, then this is a significant problem. Now you’ve lost money that you may have relied on to pay your bills.”
In a statement, a UMG representative responded by explaining the difference between interactive (like Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music) and non-interactive streaming services (like internet radio). For the former, recording royalties are “subject to direct negotiation between an individual rights owner and the service,” the rep said, adding that Pandora “has substantially changed its functionality such that it has evolved into an interactive service, where users can select tracks on demand.” In other words: The label has every right to make this change.
Still, UMG didn’t fully change the way it reported the royalties to artists until 2022, and it caught many business managers and music attorneys by surprise. “It kind of happened in the dead of night,” says Mike Merriman, a business manager for the firm PARR3 who represents DJ Alison Wonderland, singer 6lack and producer Louis Bell, among others. “It does create some ambiguity and lack of transparency.”
When the Pandora change first kicked in, business managers were confused about the streaming service’s identity. “We’re still running analysis on it,” says Erica Rosa, owner/vp of royalties and contract compliance at FBMM, a business management firm that represents top artists. “I’ve asked a lot of questions to attorneys and various industry figures: ‘How would you define Pandora? Would you consider it to be an interactive or non-interactive stream? I don’t know that anyone has given a clear definitive answer yet.”
Additional reporting by Glenn Peoples.
Nashville’s Big Loud Records has inked a multi-year distribution deal with Mercury/Republic for all releases, effective immediately.
Previously, only releases from Morgan Wallen, Lily Rose and Dylan Gossett had gone through the partnership, while the rest of the Big Loud roster was distributed through Stem and Amped.
In a memo to the staff obtained by Billboard, Big Loud founders/partners Seth England, Craig Wiseman and Joey Moi stressed that the move is not an acquisition and that the full staff will remain intact: “This partnership allows for Big Loud Records to remain fiercely independent while leveraging their global distribution and resources, as needed, to best serve our world-class roster. Artists and our staff will see increased creative opportunities, robust international support, new multimedia partnerships, additional multi-format promotion muscle and merchandising resources, among many other benefits. And to clarify: Big Loud Records has not been acquired in any way. Our full staff will remain intact and will continue to lead with the artists we represent.”
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The move comes as Mercury/Republic parent Universal Music Group is undergoing a massive restructuring, with the East Coast labels realigning under a new structure called Republic Corps under chairman/CEO Monte Lipman. Mercury will continue to be led by president Tyler Arnold and general manager Ben Adelson.
The announcement arrives as Wallen’s One Day at a Time spends its 19th non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, breaking the previous record of 18 weeks held by Garth Brooks more than 30 years ago.
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The memo is in its entirety below.
Good afternoon everyone,
We’re writing to share an important update regarding our distribution for Big Loud Records and our affiliate labels.
After many incredible years with Stem and Amped we have decided to enter into a new multi-year distribution deal with Mercury Records/Republic, amplifying our existing partnership with Monte & Avery Lipman as well as Tyler Arnold and the greater Mercury Records/Republic team.
We are immensely grateful for the tireless efforts of Milana, Kristin, Bobby, Alison, and the entire team at both Stem and Amped who have supported our releases for the better half of a decade. Both teams have been an integral part of our growth story and remain a highly recommended distribution and artist resources solution for self-determined artists and companies. We remain proud investors of Stem to this day.
The Big Loud partners and executive leadership team are immeasurably proud of what this roster and staff have accomplished over the past eight years. Our songs, albums, artists, and company have seen the top slots of nearly every chart in our format. Best of all, we’ve earned those accolades with integrity. We’re reaching new heights with broadened creative ventures and international outposts leading our growth into new genres and markets. With this next chapter, we are thrilled to elevate with a like-minded, best-in-class team that’s effectively been the #1 all-genre record label in the business for the last decade. Rest assured, Mercury Records/Republic both mirrors and supports our renegade spirit.
This partnership allows for Big Loud Records to remain fiercely independent while leveraging their global distribution and resources, as needed, to best serve our world-class roster. Artists and our staff will see increased creative opportunities, robust international support, new multimedia partnerships, additional multi-format promotion muscle and merchandising resources, among many other benefits. And to clarify: Big Loud Records has not been acquired in any way. Our full staff will remain intact and will continue to lead with the artists we represent.
Our hope is that this announcement makes you as excited as the partners and the executive leadership team feel because we achieved this together. From the smallest artists to the biggest, it takes the entire village – we are confident Big Loud will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
Please feel free to reach out to your department head, Patch, Austen, or Seth if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Seth, Craig, and Joey
In February 2022, Farruko turned his La 167 Tour into a religious experience when he opened up to fans about his beliefs during his Miami concert.
“God loves you just the way you are. We’re all sinners, none of us are perfect,” he told the packed venue. At the show, he didn’t perform his biggest hit to date, “Pepas,” and in fact, asked fans to forgive him for the lyrics, which are about drugs and partying.
Since then, the Puerto Rican artist has steered away from the sultry and provocative lyrics that made him a household name and changed his words to more feel-good ones, as heard in singles like “Nazareno” and “Pasa_je_ro.” The latter is part of the latest Transition album, a 20-track project that highlights his personal journey as well as a new era for his label, Carbon Fiber Music.
“What we are currently living and experiencing with Carbon Fiber, with my life, with Farruko’s life, with the life of Raymond Guevara (formerly and artistically known as Lary Over) and other artists in the company is simply that God has called us to serve him,” Franklin Martinez, the label’s president and Farruko’s longtime manager, tells Billboard. “I can’t tell you what made this change, but I can tell you how it came into my life.”
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In the fall of 2021, and in the midst of “Pepas” having major success (it scored Farruko his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart on the Aug. 28, 2021-dated tally, where it crowned for 26 weeks), Martinez admits he was going through a deep depression that made him feel “empty, completely unhappy, and feeling dead.”
“I made the decision [to change my life] about seven months before Farruko did,” he elaborates. “I tried not to throw it in his face, but instead I told him that I was going through a personal situation and over time I would tell him, but I didn’t even have time to explain to him because God collided with him. That explanation, that trying to convince him, did not come from me, it came from Jesus directly.”
Though Carbon Fiber Music launched in 2014, Martinez had no explanation as to why the label’s literal transition is occurring a decade later, only saying that “God’s timing is perfect.”
Transition is packed with optimistic and motivational messages about relationships, life and praise —backed by hard-hitting hip-hop beats, mid-tempo reggaeton, infectious Afrobeats and dance melodies. In addition to Farruko, it includes Carbon Fiber artists such as Akim and Menor Menor as well as renowned Christian acts like Christian Ponce, Indiomar and Lirios.
Without naming names, Martinez says that some Carbon Fiber artists have left the label since the change in direction while others are supporting it, though he calls it “a constant battle and not easy.”
“We can no longer and don’t want to continue carrying a message of destruction to humanity,” he says. “I don’t want to continue sending messages of violence and sex, I think that God has given us a talent to be able to transmit a message that fills and not a message that destroys.”
He concludes: “‘Transition’ is just that. We are going through a process and this album is a stage that represents what’s happening with the label.”
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Mercury Records is expanding its executive team amid the broader restructure of Universal Music Group’s labels, the company announced today (March 13). The news comes as the label, which had been operating as an imprint of Republic Records since its relaunch in April 2022, has a hand in the top two albums on the Billboard 200 this week — Morgan Wallen’s One Thing At a Time (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic) and Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (Mercury/Republic).
Now, with the reorganization of UMG’s East Coast labels under Republic co-founder/CEO Monte Lipman, Mercury joins Def Jam, Island and Republic as part of the larger group, with a central organizational hub called Republic Corps. helping each label with marketing, promotions, publicity and legal support. And Mercury president Tyler Arnold and general manager Ben Adelson have made three appointments to their team in the new operation.
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Alex Coslov, a marketing veteran who had worked across both Mercury and Republic, will now be working full time at Mercury as its new executive vp, while Republic senior vp of media Marisa Bianco slides over to work on Mercury full time, while also reporting in to Republic Corps. head of media Joseph Carozza. Additionally, the label hired Mario Vazquez as vp of audience and streaming, who will work at Mercury while also reporting in to Republic Corps. executive vp of global commerce and digital strategy Kevin Lipson.
“Ben and I are thrilled to welcome Alex, Marisa and Mario to our team at Mercury Records,” Arnold said in a statement. “From day one, our goal has been to foster a creative, supportive and forward-thinking home for our artists to thrive. We are incredibly grateful to expand our team with this talented group of executives who will help further that mission as we usher in our next chapter.”
Arnold and Adelson are themselves Republic veterans, emerging from the A&R department at the label, and when the imprint relaunched in 2022 it came with several artists and partnerships that Arnold and Adelson had signed at Republic, including Post Malone, Kahan, James Bay, Lord Huron, Jeremy Zucker and others, as well as Republic’s relationship with Big Loud for Wallen, which Arnold had originally brokered. The label is also home to Stephen Sanchez, Zayn and AJR, among others.
As the broader restructuring of the Universal Music Group’s label operations continues on the West Coast with the newly-formed Interscope Capitol Labels Group, the East Coast labels have now also begun to unveil their new structure under chairman/CEO Monte Lipman, with a new name of its own: Republic Corps.
The new structure and designation is set to be the umbrella “central operational hub” for each of the labels underneath it, with former Republic Records co-president Jim Roppo serving as president and COO of the new overarching group, reporting to Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman.
Each of the labels have individual leaders, many of whom remain in the same roles they had prior to the reorganization: Republic Records will now be led by president and chief creative officer Wendy Goldstein, formerly co-president of Republic alongside Roppo; Mercury Records will continue to be led by president Tyler Arnold and general manager Ben Adelson; Island Records will remain under the purview of co-CEOs Justin Eshak and Imran Majid; Def Jam Recordings will remain under chairman/CEO Tunji Balogun; and IMPERIAL Music/Casablanca Records will still be run by president Glenn Mendlinger. According to a release, each of the labels will maintain “full independence and autonomy” under the new structure.
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Roppo, leading the Republic Corps. teams, will work across each of the labels, with former Republic head of global commerce Kevin Lipson becoming his “chief lieutenant,” with an expanded role that will encompass revenue strategy at the group. They will lead a series of shared departments, led by executives from several different East Coast label teams.
Former Republic Records head of promotion Gary Spangler will take up the same title in the new Corps., with support from former Republic Records exec Lucas Romeo and former Island promotions head Ayelet Schiffman in support, and format leads that include former Def Jam exec Natina Nimene overseeing urban; and former Republic execs Gary Dumler overseeing pop, Davey Dee Ingenloff overseeing rhythm, Manny Simon overseeing adult and Amanda Dobbins overseeing rock.
Most recently general manager of Island Records, Mike Alexander is moving to a new role overseeing global marketing at Republic Corps, with a team consisting of Myra DeCastro (Def Jam), Steve Rowen (Island) and Zoe Briggs (Republic/Mercury). Additionally, former Republic head of media Joseph Carozza will lead media strategy for the Corps, with a team consisting of Beau Benton (Republic), Marisa Bianco (Mercury), Lauren Ceradini (Def Jam) and Lauren Schneider (Island).
On the legal side, two executives that previously worked for parent group Universal Music on behalf of all of the East Coast labels will retain their titles under the new Republic Corps. designation: Steve Gawley will remain as executive vp of business & legal affairs and business development, while Joe Schmidt retains the title of executive vp/CFO, both of whom will report directly to the Lipmans. Additionally, Republic Corps. will include teams led by Jenny Beal (Production), Brittney Ramsdell (creative synch), Meredith Oliver and Liza Corsey (A&R administration) and a data and analytics team, according to a release.
The new Republic Corps. structure comes amidst the broader reorganization of the Universal Music Group labels announced by UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge on Feb. 1, which divided the labels into an East Coast-West Coast structure, with Republic Corps. comprising the East Coast division. The West Coast labels, under chairman/CEO John Janick, have been reformulated as the Interscope Capitol Labels Group, with that structure coming into focus over the past week. Both companies have been undergoing extensive layoffs as part of the reorganization, which included the combining of many labels’ promotions and publicity staffs into shared services divisions, among other moves.
A week after chairman/CEO John Janick introduced the newly-formed Interscope Capitol Labels Group and named several members of his C-suite to top roles, the structure of the divisions of the new company are coming into focus with a slew of announcements.
On Monday (March 11), Janick named the members of Interscope Geffen A&M’s new pop/rock and urban music teams, with 13 executives receiving new remits within the new structure, including three co-presidents of Interscope Geffen A&M. The duo in charge of pop/rock are IGA co-president/head of creative strategy Michelle An and IGA co-president/head of pop/rock A&R Sam Riback, with executive reporting to them including executive vp of pop/rock A&R Matt Morris; co-heads of pop/rock digital Chris Mortimer and Kirsten Stubbs; senior vp of pop/rock marketing Adrian Amodeo; and vp of pop/rock visual creative Chelsea Dodson.
The urban music team will be lead by IGA co-president/head of urban A&R Nicole Wyskoarko alongside executive vp/head of urban marketing Laura Carter, with president of Geffen urban A&RB Aaron “Dash” Sherrod and executive vp/head of urban digital Ramon Alvarez-Smikle. Reporting to them are senior vp of urban marketing and strategy Lola Plaku and senior vp of visual creative/head of urban creative Andrew Ibea.
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(Top Row L-R) Andrew Ibea, Aaron “Dash” Sherrod, Nicole Wyskoarko, Matt Morris,
Chelsea Dodson, Sam Riback, Ramon Alvarez-Smikle, Lola Plaku.
(Seated Row L-R) Laura Carter, Kirsten Stubbs, Adrian Amodeo, Chris Mortimer, Michelle An.
Courtesy of ICLG
Almost all the executives across those two departments continue from Interscope Geffen A&M, where they had previously worked under Janick.
“Each of these executives exemplifies the culture of innovative thinking, entrepreneurial spirit and wide-ranging success that have long defined IGA,” Janick said about them in a statement. “As we continue to solidify our team and finalize the redesign of our broader company, we are creating a modern music company that will set the standard for our industry and provide the optimal environment in which our artists can thrive and achieve excellence in music.”
Today (March 12), Janick named another 13 executives to roles in the corporate leadership of ICLG, working across both IGA and Capitol Music Group, consisting of a mix of executives from both previous labels who will be reporting in to C-suite leaders announced last week.
Steve Berman, ICLG’s vice chairman, will oversee departments that will be led by executive vp of urban promotion Bill Evans; executive vp/head of media Ambrosia Healy; senior vp of sports and gaming Dave Nieman; executive vp/head of strategic marketing & brands Daniel Sena; and senior vp of creative synch licensing Jenny Swiatowy. Of those, Evans, Healy and Swiatowy came from Capitol, while Nieman and Sena remain from Interscope.
ICLG general manager and chief revenue officer Gary Kelly, meanwhile, will oversee departments led by senior vp of production Gretchen Anderson; senior vp of revenue Nicole Csabai; executive vp of international marketing Jurgen Grebner; vp/head of analytics Wayne Laakko; president of promotion/ICLG executive vp Greg Marella; and executive vp of direct-to-consumer strategy Xavier Ramos. Of those, Anderson, Csabai, Grebner, Ramos and Laakko remain from Interscope, while Marella comes from Capitol.
Finally, under ICLG CFO Geoff Harris, who reports to ICLG COO Annie Lee, are vp of A&R administration Steve Cook and vp of artist relations Kim Valderas. Both Cook and Valderas come from Capitol Music Group/Motown Records.
Courtesy of ICLG
“Naming these executives to company-wide positions further strengthens and solidifies our redesign of ICLG,” Janick said in a statement about the new positions today. “IGA’s and CMG’s core label teams are now able to draw upon the best-in-class skills and expertise for all of their artists, as well as more ably secure a broad array of opportunities and experiences throughout the world.”
The new Interscope Geffen A&M team joins the recently-installed new executive team at Capitol Music Group, which consists of former Geffen boss Tom March as chairman/CEO and UMPG veteran Lilia Parsa as president, following the departures of prior CMG chair/CEO Michelle Jubelirer and president Arjun Pulijal. The moves are all part of the major overhaul of the Universal Music Group label structure that UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge first announced on Feb. 1, which moved UMG’s West Coast labels — Interscope, Geffen, A&M, Capitol, Blue Note, Priority, Verve and Motown — under Janick’s purview at ICLG, and its East Coast labels — consisting mostly of Republic, Def Jam, Island and Mercury — under Republic co-founder and CEO Monte Lipman. News of the new East Coast structure is also expected soon. The company has been going through extensive layoffs in the past week, as IGA and Capitol formally merge together and the East Coast teams are being solidified.
Trueno has signed a record deal with Sony Music Latin, Billboard can announce. The Argentine rapper and singer, known for his socially conscious lyrics, is a leading force in the hip-hop scene of Latin America. “Joining Sony Music US Latin is a big step in my career! I am very excited to be able to […]
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne has signed with Monument Records and will now be managed by Little Big Town‘s Karen Fairchild, who is stepping into music management.
Led by co-presidents Shane McAnally and Jason Owen as well as general manager Katie McCartney, Monument will reissue Lynne’s 1999 album, I Am Shelby Lynne, on Apr. 5 in honor of its 25th anniversary, with a limited-edition vinyl release slated for the summer.
Meanwhile, Lynne is also working on her new studio album with Fairchild, fellow singer-songwriter Ashley Monroe and producer/engineer/mixer Gena Johnson (Ashley McBryde‘s Lindeville, Chris Stapleton‘s Starting Over).
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Lynne, who moved back to Nashville in 2018, said in a statement, “It’s good to be back in Nashville. Being back in this city has lit me up. I’ve come full circle and I can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on.”
Since issuing her 1989 debut album, Sunrise, Lynne has traversed genres including country, rock and pop with her music. In the early 1990s, several of her songs, including “Things Are Tough All Over,” cracked the top 30 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, while her sixth studio album, 1999’s I Am Shelby Lynne, featured the top 20 Billboard Triple A chart hit “Gotta Get Back.” The album also led to Lynne winning best new artist at the 43rd annual Grammy Awards. She has also picked up honors including the ACM Awards’ top new female vocalist accolade. Additionally, she has been featured in movies and TV shows including Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.
In addition to Little Big Town, Fairchild has written songs recorded by Kelsea Ballerini and Anne Wilson. In a way, Lynne’s signing to Monument Records marks a full-circle moment for Fairchild as well, as Little Big Town’s 2002 self-titled debut album was released on the label (the group has been with Capitol Nashville since 2008).
McAnally said in a statement, “Artists like Shelby Lynne come once in a lifetime. Her impact on artists and fans alike, including me, has been deep and wide. I’m so proud to be a part of bringing her artistry back to the forefront with new music.”
Fairchild added, “It feels important to reintroduce Shelby Lynne’s genius to a fresh wave of artists and fans. I’m blown away by her profound knowledge of music and the enormity of her talent. Shelby’s uniqueness lies in her extraordinary capacity to delve into human pain and beauty through her powerful voice and storytelling.”
