Record Labels
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Ezekiel Lewis has been promoted to president at Epic Records. After serving as executive vp and head of A&R at Epic since 2020, Lewis will now help run the company’s daily operations and continue to helm its A&R division. He will also continue to report to Epic chairwoman and CEO Sylvia Rhone.
“Having been a hit songwriter and producer for many years, Zeke brings an invaluable understanding of the artist’s creative journey,” Rhone said in announcing Lewis’ appointment. “His knowledge and experience of the inner workings of the music industry give him an immeasurable edge to drive key business conversations, while staying true to his A&R roots.”
Lewis initially joined Epic in 2017 as executive vp, A&R. Over the last five years, he has worked with an artist roster that includes 21 Savage, BIA, Black Eyed Peas, DDG, Future, Giveon, Madison Beer, Meghan Trainor, Mimi Webb, Southside and Zara Larsson, among others.
“The entire Epic Records team embodies what it means to champion artist development in this fast-moving industry and I’m excited to help shape its future,” said Lewis in a statement. “I will honor the musical legacy of Epic, our artists and partners with my most intentional effort. I look forward to continuing our collaboration, with the singular goal of giving the world some of the most incredible and influential music created to last for generations.”
Prior to Epic, Lewis was senior vp of A&R at Motown Records. During a six-year tenure that began in 2011, Lewis worked on projects by Ne-Yo, Erykah Badu, Migos, Lil Yachty, T.I., Rich Homie Quan and others. Lewis’ extensive list of credits includes co-writing and co-producing artists such as Justin Bieber, Mary J. Blige, Usher and Trey Songz, as well as collaborations with Mariah Carey and Yo Gotti.
Lewis, a 2023 Billboard Power 100 honoree, also founded Bar Music Group in 2010. The music publishing company is home to a roster of songwriters and producers whose credits encompass projects by Chris Brown, Future, Trey Songz and others.
A musician in his own right, Lewis began his career by signing with David Foster’s 143 Records after attending Morehouse College. He later co-founded the songwriter-producer collective The Clutch. The collective is behind hits such as Omarion’s “Ice Box,” Ciara’s “Like a Boy,” Britney Spears’ “Radar” and Timbaland’s “The Way I Are.” Lewis’ additional credits include song contributions on Grammy-winning albums by Luther Vandross (Dance with My Father) and Mary J. Blige (The Breakthrough).
Facet Records will now grant songwriters three percentage points (colloquially referred to as “points”) on every recording they release from the label’s share of the track, founder Justin Tranter tells Billboard. A songwriter with credits on hits like Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” and Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” among others, Tranter hopes to start a trend of labels sharing master income with songwriters and to bolster “the middle class of songwriters” that they feel has “been decimated” in recent years.
Home to emerging talent like Jake Wesley Rogers, Shawn Wasabi, Shea Diamond and YDE, with today’s announcement Facet Records is “the first company in the world to make this a standard practice,” says the company founder. While already revered hitmakers, such as Tranter, can occasionally negotiate for a half or single point on the master recording, working class songwriters typically never see revenue or ownership on the master side, “unless they also produced the song,” says Tranter.
The independent label’s team opted to offer three points specifically because it will align songwriters with the industry standard already granted to producers on the recorded music side. Historically, producers earn anywhere between one to five points on a master, given their role in the recording process. The three points will never be taken out of the artists’ share of the song at Facet Records and will be shared equally with all the songwriters on a track that are not also an artist or producer.
“I figured instead of complaining and begging for change, I could fight the good fight myself first and at least do what I can to control the situation,” says Tranter. “Songwriters are the backbone of the business, the embryo, but only a few writers are living a life like mine, most everyone is left to starve.”
Earning a livable wage as a working songwriter has become harder in recent years due to a convergence of factors. In general, the publishing side of music produces less royalties than the master recording side does, but now, during the streaming era, songwriters face additional challenges. In a time of physical media like CDs, cassettes and vinyl, songwriters across all of the album’s tracks would get paid evenly for sales of full albums, meaning that even if the songwriter wrote on a less popular track, they could still see decent income, even if their song did not make it to the radio, where many songwriters say is where the real money is. The emergence of single downloads, and now streaming, has created an increasing disparity between the income generated by radio singles and a regular album track.
While artists can bolster their income by looking to brand partnerships, touring and other revenue sources, songwriters are left to pay their bills with streaming, radio and sales alone. While the Copyright Royalty Board proceedings have led to some increases in U.S. streaming rates for songwriters in recent years, many feel it is not enough.
In 2021, Tranter — along with other hitmakers like Emily Warren, Ross Golan, Tayla Parx, Victoria Monét, Savan Kotecha and Joel Little — created an advocacy group called The Pact to voice some of the issues facing the modern songwriter. Among their grievances, The Pact noted that artists who do not contribute to writing the song now expect “particularly aggressive” cuts of the publishing, something most songwriters do not have the leverage to refuse.
There are also other, more universal difficulties songwriters today have to account for, including inflation and cost of living increases, the latter of which has particularly hurt Nashville songwriters.
When asked if Facet would adjust another area of its business to account for losing the three points of income, Tranter says though they expect the change to be an “accounting headache” they add, “if I’m lucky enough to have a hit song where we own or co-own the master, that’s going to be great. I don’t need to make this up. In my opinion, labels are being greedy, they’re just being f-cking greedy.”
Tranter hopes that by opting to announce the new standard publicly that “it will inspire other labels to follow.” “We especially need the major labels to join this if we want it to be a real thing, but if it inspires other smaller labels, who can make this change quickly and overnight like I did, and it gets majors to at least have the conversation, then that’s a step forward.”
Three years after initially teaming up, JYP Entertainment, Imperial and Republic Records are going all in on their strategic global partnership, with the three companies now set to collaborate across the entire JYP Entertainment roster, Billboard can reveal.
According to a press statement, the enhanced label partnership will include worldwide distribution of artists and catalogs, A&R, marketing and business development.
While the Republic/Imperial push already powers JYP groups TWICE, Stray Kids and ITZY, the expanded deal includes newer acts like girl group to watch NMIXX and rock band Xdinary Heroes. JYP Entertainment currently houses nearly a dozen acts, with many members of its groups also active as soloists under the label.
Billboard first broke the news in early 2020 of JYPE and Republic linking to grow TWICE’s presence in the United States. Since then, the K-pop girl group has not only seen massive growth, most recently earning their highest chart position and biggest sales week ever in the United States when Ready to Be debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Last year’s expansion, which brought boy band Stray Kids and female quintet ITZY into the fold, has resulted in two No. 1s on the Billboard 200 for the former and a top 10 album on the chart for the latter. And in July, TWICE member Nayeon became the first-ever K-pop soloist to enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200 with her debut solo album, IM NAYEON: The 1st Mini Album.
Prior to its Imperial/Republic partnership, JYP had a global digital and physical distribution deal with The Orchard that was struck in 2019.
“It has been a continuous journey of astonishing achievements through the strengthening of mutual trust as loyal partners,” said JYP Entertainment CEO Jimmy Jeong. “The expansion of this partnership between these leading music companies will sculpt the next vision of K-pop, opening up a new chapter together.”
Republic Records founder/CEO Monte Lipman added, “This partnership was born out of mutual respect and admiration. We recognize the incredible opportunity to be at the forefront of the next K-pop explosion. The potential is limitless.”
Next up for JYP, Republic and Imperial is the Friday (June 2) release of Stray Kids’ new full-length album, 5-Star, which could become the boy band’s third consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200. A teaser video of the group’s upcoming single, “S-Class,” has amassed about two million views on YouTube since its May 29 release.
Two Sony Music Nashville artists have announced their exits from the label, according to recent social media posts.
Rachel Wammack, who signed to the label in 2018 and released songs including “Enough” and “My Boyfriend Doesn’t Speak for Me Anymore,” revealed via a series of Instagram videos that she parted ways with the label late last year.
“I’m really thankful for the time that I had there, and all the opportunities that I got, It’s amazing really,” she said in one of the videos. “I’m really thankful for that time. Now I am an independent artist. There’s so much to unpack, but I’m very excited for this new chapter and all the blessings that really come with being an independent artist.”
Wammack also unveiled an unnamed new song about not giving up and staying committed to your dreams, with the singer saying, “It’s really cool to share a sound with y’all that I’ve wanted to share for a really long time.”
Meanwhile, Australian duo Seaforth, who signed with Sony Music Nashville’s RCA Nashville imprint in 2018 before shifting to the Arista Nashville imprint in 2021, relayed the news to fans this week that they have exited the label after the Arista Nashville imprint shuttered in March. During their time with Sony, Seaforth — comprised of Tom Jordan and Mitch Thompson — issued music including the single “Love That,” the Mitchell Tenpenny collaboration “Anything She Says” and the Jordan Davis collaboration “Good Beer.”
Jordan and Thompson shared the news of their departure on social media, saying, “As of today, we have amicably parted ways with Sony Nashville and are officially a fully independent artist. Sony was great to us, supported us when times were tough, and we owe a lot to them for what we have achieved thus far.”
The duo added, “Over time, it just honestly became a very emotional challenge for us to persevere through certain things behind the scenes. Although it ultimately took us a while to get here, anyone who knows us knows it’s the best decision for all parties involved, Sony included…we truly believe that a big change like this will inspire a whole new life for Seaforth, and it honestly already has.”
Seaforth also revealed that their upcoming independent single, “Get the Girl,” will release on June 16.
Sony Music Nashville did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment by press time.
In early 2011, Miguel was a rising R&B singer who had just released his debut album, All I Want Is You, and was seeing his single “Sure Thing” gain traction on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. The song would eventually reach No. 1 that May, while also climbing to the summit of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and peaking at No. 36 on the Hot 100, where it spent 23 weeks between March and August, when it fell from the chart. After 59 weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, it eventually fell from that chart in 2012.
And that was the extent of its chart run — until this year, when a TikTok trend led to an explosion in streams, catapulting it back onto the charts — and to entirely new territory. Earlier this month, “Sure Thing” broke the record for most weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at 76 (it is now at 78), and this week it achieved a mainstream crossover, 12 years after its initial debut on the charts, by reaching No. 1 on Pop Airplay, the longest trip to the top of that chart from a song’s release in history.
It’s the latest example of older songs being reinvigorated and reaching new chart heights in recent months, following The Weeknd’s “Die For You” (after a remix featuring Ariana Grande) and Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” which also benefited from a TikTok trend. And it helps RCA senior vp of digital marketing Tarek Al-Hamdouni earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Al-Hamdouni explains how the track came back after such a long break, and how RCA helped spur it into a new realm. “We know activity can spring up at a moment’s notice, and when it does, the best labels are able to move quickly and turn a spark into a flame before it goes out,” Al-Hamdouni says.
This week, Miguel’s “Sure Thing” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, 12 years after its initial chart run. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
The climb to No. 1 began in November of 2022 when we first saw the signs of organic growth and engagement on “Sure Thing” across socials and streaming services. The first major decision came in us validating the opportunity and investing in sustaining the activity across TikTok, Reels, Shorts & Snapchat. The initial goal was to “see how far we could take the trend,” knowing every jump in creations and streams was broadening our listener base and building familiarity, which would eventually result in bigger opportunities.
Miguel attends the 65th GRAMMY Awards on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Winkelmeyer/GI for The Recording Academy
We knew the record was already a favorite among fans since its release, but the key component to this new activity is that it was coming from new listeners. This led us to make the key decision to treat “Sure Thing” as a new record in our marketing efforts, also giving us the new task of turning listeners into fans. To connect the dots, we worked closely with Miguel — who deserves all the credit in the world for leaning in with curiosity, passion and optimism around this new activity — to start to engage with fans and content across socials.
Our promotion team did a fantastic job in following along with all the activity we were generating and timed their impact such that we were already receiving pull from the markets and stations. The last key decision I’ll offer up is the move to leverage the activity around “Sure Thing” to prime the market for new music from Miguel, something that we kicked off with his new single, “Give It To Me.”
In its original run, the song was an R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay hit. Why did the song work at Pop radio this time around?
I think the beauty of an artist like Miguel is that he’s always been ahead of his time. While often thrown into the “R&B” box, his music and artistry have always pulled from diverse corners of the music spectrum. And when you look at the freedom streaming has given Gen Z to bounce from record to record and genre to genre with such ease, it’s no wonder they gravitate towards a forward-thinking artist like Miguel.
It’s also worth noting that the dynamic between data and radio has strengthened at a rapid pace over the last few years. This has given us the opportunity to build our case in advance of an impact, showing the audience potential and, in a lot of ways, letting the story and streams reach critical mass with core Gen Z music fans before taking it to the broader audiences that only radio can reach.
The song’s resurgence originated on TikTok with a sped-up version. How did that come about? How often are these sped-up versions of tracks spawning new life for songs?
The sped-up version of “Sure Thing” emerged purely as organic UGC on TikTok. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see the activity come from such an edit, as sped-up sounds have been a trend on TikTok and across UGC for quite some time now. That said, I do think it’s fair to say that sped-up sounds hit a bit of critical mass in early 2023 as we started to see platforms like TikTok create specific playlists centered around the phenomenon, all of which gave us more editorial placements and ways for Miguel to lean in.
The opportunities to breathe new life into a record through a sped-up sound are plentiful, but it’s important to note the viral success of a record like “Sure Thing” is still a huge outlier in terms of how much effect a campaign could have. At this point, I expect most singles to be accompanied by a sped-up version at some point in their life cycle.
This is the latest example of an older track coming back to be a force at radio and in pop culture — something that almost never used to happen. Are you guys increasingly focused on working catalog songs in a similar manner to new songs?
We don’t focus solely on the “catalog” aspect of any record at this point as much as we’re focused on using the influx of data we receive from social and streaming platforms to ensure we never miss an opportunity. We know activity can spring up at a moment’s notice, and when it does, the best labels are able to move quickly and turn a spark into a flame before it goes out.
The reliance on data is important because our core mission as marketers is to create this activity and engagement out of the gate. By collaborating with our internal data teams, we can build tools to monitor the key aspects we believe drive streaming growth while spending the majority of our time and energy collaborating with our artists and building next-level marketing campaigns.
Although to be fair, I think the rediscovery of music by the next generation of listeners is something that has happened for quite some time. Prior to shortform video, syncs played a huge role in this rediscovery, going back to examples like Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” in Volkswagen’s 2000 Cabrio commercial to the much more recent lift of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” off the back of its inclusion in season four of Stranger Things.
The song also broke the record for most weeks ever spent on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, now at 78. How did you help market the track beyond radio and TikTok?
Outside of those two platforms, we worked to ensure this record and Miguel’s content was spread far and wide across the internet. We built custom campaigns for Instagram and YouTube, we drove awareness and engagement through savvy ad spends and boost campaigns. And we worked closely with media accounts and press outlets to drive consistent presence in front of a wide range of audiences.
What have you learned from the song’s surprise success that you can use moving forward on other projects and songs?
When you zoom out far enough, you start to see that the equation we’re chasing with a resurgence is new context for a great record with a new, young and engaged audience. Additionally, the benefits of driving engagement through a catalog record doesn’t require the type of success we’re seeing on Miguel to be meaningful. Going forward, we see this as a key way to drive engagement and build demand for new music for any artist with an established catalog.
Previous Executive of the Week: Corey Calder of APG
Juanes has renewed his recording contract with Universal Music Latino, Billboard Español can announce on Thursday (May 25). With this deal, the Colombian rocker extends a 23-year-old partnership with the label.
The news comes just days after the release of Vida Cotidiana, his first album with original music in four years.
“Throughout the years Universal Music Latino has become a second home and I am excited to continue working with such a respected label,” Juanes said in a press release. “I believe that my musical career will continue to thrive and grow within this new creative cycle. I am eager to see and share what the future holds.”
Jesús López, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Latin America & Iberian Peninsula, added that the label “will continue to support and grow with Juanes,” whose “talent and professionalism have made him one of the most sought out acts for so many decades.”
No additional details of the deal renewal were announced. As for publishing, Juanes remains with Warner Chappell Music.
Juanes made his solo debut in 2000 with the Gustavo Santaolalla-produced Fíjate Bien, and rose to fame soon after with hits like “A Dios Le Pido” from his sophomore album Un Día Normal (2002,) which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, and “La Camisa Negra” from Mi Sangre (2004), which spent eight weeks at No. 1. “Me Enamora”, “Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor” and “La Fotografía,” with Nelly Furtado, are some of his other chart-topping hits.
Among other achievements, Juanes has won three Grammy Awards and 24 Latin Grammys, and was named the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year of 2019 not only for his work as a musician, but also as an activist with his Fundación Mi Sangre.
In a recent interview with Billboard Español, the superstar spoke in depth about his most recent production, Vida Cotidiana, in which he reflects on his relationship with his wife and children and the problems that afflict his country. Juanes is currently preparing to announce his Vida Cotidiana Tour, with expected dates in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe.
South Korea-based music and entertainment company HYBE signed a music distribution deal with Tencent Music Entertainment this week, according to media reports. Reuters, citing an article by the Seoul Economic Daily, reported Tuesday (May 23) that the agreement allows music by BTS, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and other HYBE artists to be streamed on Tencent Music’s platforms. […]
Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer said on Tuesday (May 23) that the company is focused on the fight against low-quality content — which he called ”the lowest common denominator” — flooding top streaming platforms. “We have to look after the premium quality artists at the top of our business,” Stringer said during a company-wide […]
Warner Music Group executive Ernst Trapp is stepping down from his dual role of president of global e-commerce, retail and licensing at the label group, and as CEO of specialty online retailer EMP at the end of the month. “Now is the right time for me to move on and pursue new opportunities,” Trapp said. […]
Earlier this year, Oleg Stavitsky, co-founder/CEO of Endel, laid out a vision for how his company’s AI-driven functional soundscapes could help the major labels — even as anxiety around AI was reaching new heights. “We can process the stems [the audio building blocks of a track] from Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and come back with a functional sleep version of that album,” Stavitsky told Billboard. At the time, he said his company was in talks with all the major labels about this possibility.
A few short months later, Stavitsky will have a chance to do exactly that: Endel announced a new partnership with Universal Music Group on Tuesday (May 23). In a statement, Endel’s CEO said his company will put “AI to work and help UMG build new and exciting offerings to promote wellness and banish the perceived threat around AI.”
“Our goal was always to help people focus, relax, and sleep with the power of sound,” Stavitsky added. “AI is the perfect tool for this. Today, seeing our technology being applied to turn your favorite music into functional soundscapes is a dream come true.” Artists from Republic and Interscope will be the first to participate — though the announcement omitted any names — with their soundscapes arriving “within the next few months.”
Endel focuses on creating “sound that is not designed for conscious listening,” Stavitsky told Billboard earlier this year. “Music is something you consciously listen to when you actually want to listen to a song or an album or a melody,” he explained. “What we produce is something that blends with the background and is scientifically engineered to put you in a certain cognitive state.”
Endel’s technology can spit out these soundscapes effectively at the click of a button. “The model is trained using the stems that are either produced in-house by our team, led by co-founder and chief composer Dmitry Evgrafov (who’s himself an established neo-classical artist), or licensed from artists that we’ve worked with,” Stavitsky said. “The trick is all of the stems” — Endel has used stems from James Blake, Miguel and Grimes —”are created following the scientific framework created by our product team in consultation with neuroscientists.”
Some people in the music industry have taken to calling sounds designed for sleep, study, or soothing frayed nerves “functional music.” And while it maintains a low profile, it’s an increasingly popular and lucrative space. “Science tells us that nature sounds and water sounds have a calming effect on your cognitive state,” Stavitsky noted this winter. “So naturally, people are turning to this type of content more and more.”
Early in 2022, Endel estimated that the size of the functional music market is 10 billions streams a month across all platforms. (The company has since raised its estimate to 15 billion streams a month.) If true, that would mean functional music is several times more popular than the biggest superstars. “Every day, hundreds of millions of people are self-medicating with sound,” Stavitsky wrote in March. “If you look at the top 10 most popular playlists at any major streaming service, you’ll see at least 3-4 ‘functional’ playlists: meditation, studying, reading, relaxation, focus, sleep, and so on.”
But this has caused the music industry some concern. Major labels have not historically focused on making this kind of music. Most streaming services pay rights holders according to their share of total plays; when listeners turn to functional music to read a book or wind down after a long day, that means they’re not playing major label artists, and the companies make less money. In a memo to staff in January, UMG CEO Lucian Grainge complained that “consumers are increasingly being guided by algorithms to lower-quality functional content that in some cases can barely pass for ‘music.’”
But record companies can’t eliminate listener demand for functional music. It makes sense, then, that they would try to take over a chunk of the market. And Stavitsky has been savvy, actively pushing Endel’s technology as a way for the labels to “win back market share.”
Back in 2019, Endel entered into a distribution agreement for 20 albums with Warner Music Group. And the company announced its new partnership with UMG this week. In a statement, Michael Nash, UMG’s evp and chief digital officer, praised Endel’s “impressive ingenuity and scientific innovation.”
“We are excited to work together,” Nash continued, “and utilize their patented AI technology to create new music soundscapes — anchored in our artist-centric philosophy — that are designed to enhance audience wellness, powered by AI that respects artists’ rights in its development.”