Record Labels
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k.d. lang was a buzzy singer-songwriter with just one independently released album under her belt (credited alongside her band The Reclines) when Sire Records founder Seymour Stein scouted her at a nightclub in her native Canada in 1985. Lang was snapped up by Stein that same night and went on to enjoy a run of successful albums with Sire, including 1987’s Angel With a Lariat (with The Reclines), 1988’s Shadowlands, 1989’s Absolute Torch and Twang (with The Reclines) and 1992’s RIAA double-platinum smash Ingénue, featuring the indelible hit single “Constant Craving,” for which lang earned the Grammy for best pop vocal performance, female the following year.
In remembrance of the man who launched her career, Lang penned a brief tribute to the late executive, who died April 2 at age 80, for Billboard. In it, she humorously recounts the night an apparently sleep-deprived Stein signed her — and changed her life forever.
When I began to perform my music in Canadian clubs almost 40 years ago, there was initial interest from a few record labels, but I remember being excited when I heard that Seymour Stein was going to fly up to see me. We made sure to reserve the best table in the club for him, but as showtime arrived there was no sign of him. Eventually, we went onstage to play.
A few songs into the set, a very rumpled-looking guy arrived at the reserved table, slumped into a chair, put his head on the table and fell asleep. I thought, “Well, I guess I’m not getting signed tonight!”
After the show, Seymour came backstage to meet me, and said he wanted to sign me to Sire.
That’s why I’ve always said that even when Seymour’s asleep, he still has the best ears in the business!
In all these years, I have not encountered anyone who has recognized, signed and supported more great artists than Seymour Stein.
Until gangster rap pioneer Ice-T signed with Sire Records in 1987, he was strictly DIY — “recording for small indie labels, mostly selling records out of mom-and-pop stores,” as he wrote in his 2012 memoir Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption, from South Central to Hollywood. By signing Ice-T to Sire, founder Seymour Stein, who died on April 2 at age 80, delivered hip-hop to a label mostly known for pop (Madonna), punk (The Ramones) and new wave (Talking Heads). The rapper produced three classic albums in a row for Sire: Rhyme Pays, Power and The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech … Just Watch What You Say, and went on to induct Stein at the A&R legend’s 2005 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. Following a day of filming his longtime role as Sergeant Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in New York City, Ice-T remembered the late Stein in this as-told-to phone interview.
I was introduced to Seymour by a guy named Ralph Cooper, who presented Seymour with a compilation album, and Seymour picked me out of the compilation and said, “I just want to sign Ice-T.”
Me and [DJ-producer] Afrika Islam went up to his office and he was in his socks and dancing around. He told me he wanted to get involved. At that time, hip-hop was so new. First, he told me I sounded like Bob Dylan. I took that as a compliment because I knew Bob Dylan: “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” all that. I said, “OK, I get it.” Then he started talking to me about calypso music: “Do you know what they’re singing about in this song?” and “This is from Trinidad.” And I was like, “No.” Then he said one of the most genius things I’ve ever heard: “Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t make it any less valid. It just means you don’t understand it. I may not understand rap and hip-hop, but it doesn’t take any validity away from it. It just means I don’t understand it. But I know you’re singing to people that will understand it, so I want to give you a record deal.”
I was excited and we took the deal and I was never A&R’ed or anything. It was just like, “Turn the album in.”
They just let us go. There was no one there who was capable of input in what we were doing. They had nobody else who understood hip-hop, so they just had to go with it. The records were selling, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
By the time we got to Body Count, I was working mostly with Howie Klein [president of another Warner-owned label, Reprise Records]. Seymour was always having battles with health. Whenever you got to see Seymour, it was a great moment, but he was kind of off-deck. The whole time I was on Sire, there was never any conflict. People hate record labels, but I had a great experience. I didn’t have any problem — until after “Cop Killer,” when Warner got nervous. And I understand that. They let me go, no problem, no strings attached.
The last time I saw Seymour was at his [2005] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. I always knew he was proud of us — he was proud of me, and what I did and what I stood for. Because that’s his character. He liked to make music that meant something and moved people. Even though they say he understood pop, and how to get involved with pop, he was more punk than pop.
He was as far from a record executive as you could imagine. A lot of record executives want to look like artists. They want to hang out in the studio and dress like the artist and be cool. Seymour looked more like a scientist or some shit! Nothing about him said “record exec.”
I don’t really know if a Seymour Stein can be reproduced, when you look at the catalog he had, from Ramones to Ministry to The Smiths. That’s the hallmark of a real A&R guy. He found them in the raw. Nowadays, you have to get a billion followers and a billion views before a record label would even look at you. All of us were basically nobodies when he picked us up. Big difference. Big difference.
When he signed Talking Heads, they were opening for the Ramones at CBGBs. They were the opening act. He was like, “Fuck that, I want them, too.” I mean, who does that!
Two former Universal Music Group Nashville senior executives, Rachel Fontenot and Katie Dean, are launching the Nashville-based independent label Leo33, Billboard can reveal.
Dean spent the last 18 years at UMG Nashville, most recently serving as senior vp of promotion for MCA Records Nashville. Fontenot most recently served as vp of marketing and artist development at UMG Nashville, a role she held since 2020.
Leo33’s team also includes Daniel Lee, former president of artist development company Altadena (which Lee co-founded with the late songwriter/producer busbee), as well as former Downtown Music Nashville senior creative director Natalie Osborne.
“I worked at a major for half of my adult life and I loved every minute of it,” Dean tells Billboard. “But in the digital age you have the ability for artists to go directly to the consumer. With the majors having to do the volume [of music] that they have to do, you lose a bit of the development process and at some point, it becomes more air traffic control than actual individual focus. This is an artist development-focused label.”
Leo33 will reveal artist signings in the coming months. The label’s signings will include commercial country artists, Dean says, but will also allow for a broader palette of sounds.
“Some of the artists we sign will be very radio-driven; others will not,” Dean says. “I love radio. You can’t beat the recognition that radio delivers, but that’s not necessarily every artist’s goal. I love that challenge of, in addition to radio responsibilities, finding new ways to reach artists’ goals. Our strategies will be agile.”
“The genre lines are blurred, especially when you are playing in these other musical spaces outside of commercial country radio,” Fontenot says. “It’s wonderful because it expands the format…I feel like we are in a sort of renaissance time in terms of making music that moves you without having to assign a specific genre. It’s exciting and challenging.”
Pictured: Daniel Lee, Natalie Osborne, Katie Dean and Rachel Fontenot
Robby Klein
Leo33 will house A&R, marketing, streaming and promotion services.
“We have many of the same resources of a major label, but the focus on agility of an independent label,” Dean adds. “We are all marketing and artist development people at our core.”
Backing for the new label comes from Firebird Music and Red Light Ventures.
“We are happy to be associated with both companies,” Fontenot says. “They have successful track records and provide the resources we need, while allowing us to be autonomous and independent.”
Leo33 takes its name from the constellation Leo.
“When you talk about being courageous, agile, and the lions forming a pride to protect, that’s what we want to do for our artists,” Fontenot tells Billboard, adding that “33” is a nod to the long-playing vinyl format, as well as company’s vision of looking at an entire body of work in terms of how the label treats artists.
“We are treating this very much as a holistic experience for the artist,” Dean says. “There’s also this nod to the nostalgic, but also to the future.”
Leo33’s offices will open later this year in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. The label plans to slowly add staff as they scale up their roster.
“We both have an entrepreneurial spirit, and I feel like that will be the face of the future, just based on how the business has evolved,” Fontenot says. “We are all going to wear a lot of hats and all work to promote our artists in various ways, with the idea that the collective work is going to be unstoppable.”
Courtesy of Leo33
American singer/songwriter and Youtuber Poppy has returned to Sumerian Records and released the new single and music video “Church Outfit.”
Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen says he was thrilled to bring Poppy — known for representing “a future where high art and high fashion equal subversion of the highest order,” according to her bio — back to Sumerian after a brief stint at Lava Records, which released her EP Stagger last year.
“The only thing more exciting than signing an iconic artist for the first time is signing them again when they choose to return home,” Avildsen says. “Poppy is a pioneer and lover of music, film, pro-wrestling, the unorthodox and the avant-garde. That is why I believe Sumerian is still the best label in the world for her. We are thrilled to have her back.”
During her initial time as a Sumerian Records artist, Poppy released two albums — 2020’s I Disagree and 2021’s Flux — and the 2021 EP Eat (NXT Soundtrack). During that period, she also became the first-ever solo female artist to be nominated for best metal performance at the Grammys for her 2019 single “Bloodmoney.”
Beyond tallying 100 million-plus streams, according to a press release, Poppy has been featured on the covers of NME, Revolver, Upset, Kerrang! and Tush and performed at the 2021 Grammy Awards and the 2022 Glastonbury festival. She’s toured with The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane’s Addiction.
“It’s an artist’s responsibility to always change,” Poppy explained in a press release announcing her return to Sumerian. “I don’t think I’d want to be in my body if I was repeating the same thing over and over again. I’m only competing with myself. I will continue to write the story until I get tired of the book. Then, I’ll write another one.”
Anitta and Warner Music Group are parting ways, both parties announced in a joint statement the Brazilian star posted on social media on Tuesday (April 4).
“After eleven years of successful partnership, we’ve agreed to go our separate ways,” reads the post. “Anitta would like to thank the Warner Music team for all their support. And the Warner team wishes Anitta all the best in the future.”
Anitta signed with Warner Music in the U.S. in 2020 after previously linking with Warner Music Brazil in 2013. Under the U.S. contract, she produced Versions of Me, which was executive produced by Ryan Tedder. The trilingual album was recorded mostly in English with a few songs in Spanish and one in Portuguese. It included the hit song “Envolver,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Global Excl. U.S. chart and on Spotify’s Global list, making Anitta the first Brazilian artist to achieve either feat. Meanwhile, the self-directed video for the song claimed the top spot on YouTube’s Global Top Music Videos chart. It currently has more than 500 million views on YouTube.
The news comes after Anitta took to Twitter in March to say she would have “auctioned off her organs” to be let out of her Warner contract. “If there was a fine to pay, I would have already auctioned off my organs, no matter how expensive it was to get out. But unfortunately, there isn’t,” she wrote. “When you’re young and still don’t know a lot, you need to pay close attention to the things you sign… if you don’t, you could spend a lifetime paying for the mistake.”
It wasn’t the first time Anitta has complained about her relationship with WMG. According to Anitta, Warner refused to produce a video when they saw that the song’s performance on streaming platforms was falling below expectations.
“They only invest after it pays off on the internet,” Anitta said in an Instagram livestream in May. “Unfortunately, there are things I can’t get, that’s why I don’t buy millionaire cars, because when I want to do something, I pay for it.”
Recently, it was announced that Anitta has joined the Elite cast for season seven of the hit Netflix show.
Three top Universal Music Group Nashville executives have exited their roles: executive vp of promotion Royce Risser, evp of A&R Brian Wright and senior vp of A&R Stephanie Wright, according to Country Aircheck. Representatives at UMG Nashville did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Risser was promoted to evp in 2018. He began his career as an intern at MCA Records in 1991 and climbed the ranks as director, NE regional promotion, then director of national promotion and vp of promotion before assuming the role of svp of promotion for UMG Nashville in 2007.
Stephanie Wright joined UMGN more than two decades ago and previously served as vp of A&R. During her tenure with the label, Wright worked with artists including Kacey Musgraves, Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt, and was instrumental in albums including Musgraves’ Same Trailer Different Park and Hunt’s Montevallo.
Brian Wright also joined UMGN over two decades ago and was promoted to his evp role in 2018 and worked closely on albums including Jamey Johnson’s Lonesome Song, George Strait’s Troubadour and Chris Stapleton’s Traveller and From A Room Vols. 1 and 2.
The exits of the Wrights — who are married — and Risser come as Cindy Mabe officially began her role as UMG Nashville chairman/CEO on April 1, following former UMGN chairman/CEO Mike Dungan‘s retirement. Mabe was named president of UMGN in 2014 and with her rise to chairman/CEO, she becomes the first woman to serve as chairman/CEO of a Nashville-based major label group.
Earlier this year, Katie Dean left UMG after a two-decade tenure with the company; Dean had led MCA Nashville’s promotion team since 2015. In 2022, UMG Nashville’s Rachel Fontenot exited her role as vp of marketing and artist development, while vp of marketing Brad Turcotte left UMG Nashville to become partner at 615 Leverage + Strategy.
Meanwhile, former Arista Nashville artist Brad Paisley recently signed a deal with UMG’s EMI Nashville imprint.
Through the first three months of 2023, two albums have largely defined the year and had a profound effect on the record label market share rankings for the first quarter: Morgan Wallen’s One Thing At a Time, on Republic; and SZA’s S.O.S., on RCA. Combined, the albums have spent all but two weeks atop the Billboard 200 albums chart this year and have contributed significantly to major gains for their respective labels.
In terms of current market share — albums released in the past 18 months — Republic Records has had a white-hot start, posting a 12.45% mark and besting the second-highest label, Interscope Geffen A&M (7.75%), by nearly five full percentage points. While Republic has continued to benefit from an exceptionally strong fourth quarter of 2022 — Q4 releases like Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains and Drake & 21 Savage’s Her Loss are all in the top 10 most-consumed albums of 2023 so far — much of that increase can be attributed to Wallen’s album. One Thing At a Time is so big that Wallen’s Republic label partner, Big Loud Records, would have ranked as the No. 8 label in current share in Q1 if it were broken out on its own, having posted a 2.84% share so far in the year. (Republic’s market share encompasses Big Loud, Island, Cash Money, Mercury and indie distributor Imperial.) In fact, the first-week impact of Wallen’s album was so large that it boosted Republic’s single-week current market share from 9.76% the week before it came out to 18.14% the week it debuted, meaning that nearly one in every five album consumption units that week was a Republic Records release.
Meanwhile, the SZA album, which has topped the Billboard 200 for eight non-consecutive weeks in 2023 so far, helped catapult RCA to a 5.76% current market share in Q1 this year. That’s up from 4.34% this time last year and lands it in fifth place, only slightly behind its Sony sister label Columbia at 5.85%. That’s significant enough for RCA on its own — rarely, if ever, has it placed above Columbia in current share in any quarter in recent years — but alongside strong new releases like the Miley Cyrus album Endless Summer Vacation on Columbia, as well as the continuing success of releases from 2022 from Bad Bunny (Un Verano Sin Ti, The Orchard), Harry Styles (Harry’s House, Columbia), Beyoncé (Renaissance, Columbia) and Future (I Never Liked You, Epic), it’s helped push Sony Music Entertainment to a 28.46% current share in Q1. That’s up from 24.0% at this point last year and places Sony at its highest mark since the end of 2016, according to Luminate.
Those are the biggest takeaways from a first quarter that has thrown up plenty of surprises so far, as labels have settled into another year of a changing marketplace. Sony’s surge has seen the second-largest major close the gap in current share on market leader Universal Music Group, which essentially held steady at 33.59% in Q1 2023 from 33.58% at the same point last year. The indie sector also had a strong quarter of releases, accounting for 21.15% of the market, while Warner Music Group came in at 16.81% in current share. (Warner and the indies do not have a direct year-over-year comparison due to WMG-owned distributor ADA being shifted under Warner’s umbrella midway through 2022.)
In current share, Interscope and Atlantic both receded from the first quarter of 2022 to 7.75% (from 8.91% last year) and 7.22% (from 10.57% last year), respectively, coming in second and third. (Interscope’s market share encompasses Verve Label Group, while Atlantic’s includes the combined 300 Elektra Entertainment Group). Surrounding RCA on the list is a trio of labels who all also boosted their current market share year over year, with Columbia coming in fourth (5.85%, up from 5.78%), Capitol Music Group coming in sixth (5.56%, up from 4.13%) and Warner Records finishing in seventh (5.23%, up from 4.22%), marking encouraging starts for those labels over the first quarter of 2022. (Columbia’s share includes some labels from indie distributor RED; Capitol includes Motown/Quality Control, Astralwerks, Blue Note and indie distributor Virgin; and Warner Records includes catalog label Rhino, Warner Latin and the bulk of Warner Nashville.)
Coming in eighth in current share is Sony Nashville at 2.30%, bolstered by the continued success of Luke Combs and his brand new album, Growin’ Old. That’s up big from the 1.51% it had in Q1 last year before Growin’ Up was released last April. In ninth place is Epic Records, which at 2.06% saw a boost from 1.83% at this point in 2022. Sony Music Latin rounded out the top 10 among current share with 1.92%.
In overall market share, which factors in current as well as a label’s catalog, Universal Music Group’s dominance extends to more than 10 percentage points, at 37.65% over Sony’s 27.62%. That gap has narrowed, however, as Sony picked up nearly two full percentage points year over year, posting its best number since the end of 2016. Warner, in overall share, flipped back above the indies, at 18.55%, with the latter posting 16.81% for the first quarter.
Among the individual labels, Interscope was No. 1 in overall share, at 9.44%, coming in just ahead of Republic’s 9.16%. That represents a slight dip for IGA (9.76% in Q1 last year), while Republic’s strong current share boosted it significantly from the 7.91% it posted in the first quarter of 2022, when it came in third. Dropping from second to third in overall share this year is Atlantic, at 8.31%, down from 9.49% this time last year.
Also making a jump in overall share is Capitol, which rebounded from sixth at this point last year to reach fourth in overall share in Q1 this year with 6.68%, up from 5.91% in 2022. Following in fifth and sixth are Columbia (6.55%) and Warner (6.38%), respectively, each up slightly year over year. RCA’s strong current figure this year allows it to stay in seventh, albeit with a larger 5.50% versus 4.92% in Q1 2022. Epic (2.63%) and Sony Nashville (2.03%) follow in eighth and ninth, while Def Jam’s stronger catalog figure lands it in 10th at 1.96% overall.
Additional Notes
— Because 300 Elektra Entertainment’s market share is included under Atlantic, they were excluded from breaking out in the rankings so as to not double count the figures. But its combined overall share comes out to 2.24%, which would have been good enough for ninth overall on its own. And that’s without digging into the success of Bailey Zimmerman, who has a top 10 record on the Hot 100 right now with “Rock And a Hard Place.” Zimmerman is signed to Elektra, which has its market share run through Atlantic, but is worked at radio through Warner Nashville, which has its market share split between Warner Records and Atlantic.
— Island, which runs through Republic, had a 1.51% overall share on its own, which would have been good enough for 15th had it been broken out thanks to a current share that has grown from 0.51% to 0.70% year over year. Similarly, Motown, which runs through Capitol, came in at 1.04% overall, driven by a big leap in current share from 0.71% in Q1 last year to 1.48% in Q1 this year thanks to releases from Lil Yachty and Lil Baby, among others.
— Elsewhere, Alamo continued punching high. Despite the fact that it’s the youngest label with probably the smallest roster of any label that made the rankings, it ranked 15th in current market share, at 0.88%, higher than several much larger and older labels.
On March 4, hundreds of metalheads stormed into Pierce the Veil’s pop-up store in Glendale, Calif., scooping up T-shirts, hoodies and other merchandise. In the process, they helped boost sales for an ostensibly dying product: compact discs. “Kids would look at the display and pick every single one of our records on CD,” says Michele Abreim, the band’s manager. “It definitely felt like CDs were a merch item, not just a means to listen to music.”
A relic of the record industry’s pre-Napster boom period thanks to megastars like *NSYNC, Britney Spears and Eminem, U.S. CD sales accounted for $13.2 billion in 2000, their peak year, according to the RIAA. But though the format has been in steady decline throughout the streaming era, retail, manufacturing and management sources say the digital discs have gained in popularity as keepsakes. More portable than vinyl albums and less affected by manufacturing delays due to supply chain issues, CDs are once again becoming merch table mainstays, and in the first 10 weeks of 2023, sales are up slightly over the same period last year, according to Luminate — 6.8 million in 2022 to 6.9 million, a 2.5% increase.
This growth could be a sign of a growing coolness factor, similar to the unexpected, and sustained, vinyl revival that began in the early 2000s, which is fueled by limited-edition releases pressed on colored vinyl and other bells and whistles. Taylor Swift took a page from that playbook when she put out Midnights CDs in different collectible colors last year, and BLACKPINK is among the many K-pop acts to sell elaborate CD box sets.
“There are ways to do CDs that are incredibly impactful,” says Carl Mello, brand engagement director for Newbury Comics. “You can get more revenue out of it, so it’s not like a ‘Will this do $7.99?’ thing. You’re selling a $30 thing that a customer will be really happy with.”
Bill Wilson, senior vp of operations and innovation for MNRK Music Group, which oversees 50 independent labels, says specialized CD-buying audiences are keeping the format afloat. “There are still pockets and subgenres of music [fans] — like metal — who like holding and cuddling CDs — and they’re not vinyl collectors,” he says.
For those who can’t afford box sets or to spend upwards of $20 for a standard-issue vinyl album, “the CD is a much more budget-friendly item,” says Tony van Veen, CEO of New Jersey-based vinyl/CD manufacturer Disc Makers, who crunched the latest RIAA sales data and found that vinyl album prices rose last year by 13.5%, to $29.65, while CD prices went up 15.3%, to $14.45. “Music fans are deciding with their wallets.” He adds that his company’s CD sales stabilized in 2022 after years of decline.
CDs are generally far cheaper than vinyl albums — especially classic-rock catalog releases, which labels occasionally put on sale in the format. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits goes for $13.99 on Amazon, compared with $28.31 for vinyl; a Foo Fighters Greatest Hits CD sells for $11.49, slightly more than half the $21.91 vinyl price.
Although pandemic-related manufacturing delays for vinyl are easing, they have prompted touring acts to stock their merch tables with CDs. “I had a conversation with somebody yesterday, and they’re about to go on tour,” says Ric Sherman, owner of The Production Department, a consulting company that works with artists, labels and record plants. “Trying to get vinyl on time was impossible, and they defaulted to CDs immediately.”
The profit margin for vinyl albums is slightly higher than CDs — a $15 CD would yield roughly $13.50 in profit; a $30 vinyl album, $15 — but Sherman adds: “Vinyl’s expensive to manufacture.” According to van Veen, 100 CDs cost $150 to manufacture, compared with $1,500 for 100 vinyl albums.
“If artists are touring, it’s easier to cart those around than vinyl,” says Mello. “There are utilities to it, for sure.”
Despite the small sales uptick so far in 2023, the 20-year decline in CD sales shows no sign of dissipating: Sales dropped from 40.6 million units in 2021 to 35.9 million last year, an 11.6% decrease, compared with a 4.2% rise in 2022 vinyl sales, according to Luminate. (That said, vinyl’s sales growth has slowed considerably from the 51% increase it logged in 2021.) Major labels are also reluctant to bet on CDs to drive significant revenue in the future. Says a major-label source: “I haven’t heard of the idea that somebody’s so committed to buying a physical product that they’re just going to move over to the CD if they can’t get a vinyl product.”
Then again, 35.9 million in annual sales is not nothing, and CDs will probably be around for a long time. “They’re highly valued and sought-after,” Mello says.
As Cindy Mabe officially takes the reins as chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN), she is pledging to make some changes that could radically grow the label she inherits from Mike Dungan.
In a staff memo titled “Our future starts today,” obtained by Billboard, Mabe — Billboard’s 2019 Country Power Players executive of the year — lays out several areas of expansion for the company.
Among her plans are to “dramatically expand our partnerships with independent labels and entrepreneurs.” Mabe states, “Inspiration and new ideas are coming from everywhere. Much of that innovation is coming from the independent sector, but by the same token there is so much more they could do if they partnered with us in key areas. Universal Nashville will actively take a role to position ourselves as the best partners to expand their growth and help develop and support these artists.”
She also vows to expand the label’s space in film and TV. “While we are the leaders in recorded music, I want us also to lead in the music-based film and TV space,” Mabe writes. “Our artists stories are powerful and not linear and so the means of telling their stories should have a wide reach. This means growing our presence in audiovisual to develop our Country culture and our artists stories in film and television.” She gives no further specifics, but UMG launched a film and TV studio in 2020.
As country music grows globally, Mabe also plans to take advantage of that explosion. “We will collaborate even closer (and more creatively) with our label colleagues around the world where we can leverage each other’s strengths to break artists who are either signed to their rosters or ours,” she writes. “There’s so much more we can do together.” Label artists like Keith Urban and Kip Moore already have considerable international followings.
Mabe ascended from president, a role she has held since 2014, to replace Dungan, who retired after 43 years in the music industry on March 31.
Mabe joined UMGN in 2012 as senior vp of marketing, leading marketing initiatives across Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville — UMG’s expanded suite of country labels following its acquisition of EMI. Prior to that, she spent five years at Capitol Records Nashville as senior vp of marketing.
UMGN is home to, among others, Urban, Carrie Underwood, George Strait, Parker McCollum, Little Big Town, Dierks Bentley, Priscilla Block and Brad Paisley. The company finished 2022 at No. 1 on Billboard’s year-end Top Country Labels chart.
Read Mabe’s memo is in full below:
Good morning team!
We have worked alongside each other and in the trenches together for a while now but today is my first day as Chair and CEO of UMG Nashville. It’s a responsibility that I do not take lightly. To succeed Mike – a mentor and one of the most accomplished executives in the history of Nashville – is humbling. And to be surrounded by our incredible, world class artists and to be working alongside you, the best team in Country music, and with Lucian’s unwavering support, is an honor that gives me a great sense of pride, responsibility and excitement.
It is with that sense of excitement, I want to share with you my vision of how we’re going to build on the incredible work that we’ve done together and position this company for creative and commercial growth in what is a rapidly changing and expanding market. This is the next era of Universal Music Group Nashville!
First, we’re going to continue to sign and develop the best artists in Country music. Our roster reflects what we value the most: GREAT ARTISTS. And with those artists we will push the boundaries and reach of Country music and widen our artistic lens by signing and developing artists who have important stories to share and who shape our culture no matter where they are from and whomever they are influenced by. Country is—and will remain—a genre of deep roots grounded in great storytelling and truth that incorporates creative influences across music styles and genres and fans everywhere have shown us they are open to what our evolving genre has to offer. From Nashville to the world.
Second, we will dramatically expand our partnerships with independent labels and entrepreneurs. The marketplace is in flux with innovation. Inspiration and new ideas are coming from everywhere. Much of that innovation is coming from the independent sector, but by the same token there is so much more they could do if they partnered with us in key areas. Universal Nashville will actively take a role to position ourselves as the best partners to expand their growth and help develop and support these artists.
Third, we will broaden our storytelling to include film and TV. While we are the leaders in recorded music, I want us also to lead in the music-based film and TV space. Our artists stories are powerful and not linear and so the means of telling their stories should have a wide reach. This means growing our presence in audiovisual to develop our Country culture and our artists stories in film and television.
Finally, we will collaborate even closer (and more creatively) with our label colleagues around the world where we can leverage each other’s strengths to break artists who are either signed to their rosters or ours. There’s so much more we can do together.
In my excitement, I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the next era of Universal Nashville is going to look like. I’ll be sharing more about all of these areas in the coming weeks and months, but I wanted you to get a sense of where we’re headed and how excited I am to be working with all of you in this next chapter.
Our future starts today. Let’s build it together!
Cindy
Record labels have been around for decades and, for a long time, being signed to one meant that an artist made it in the music industry. But what does a label actually do, how do they make a profit and how are they evolving? The latest episode of Billboard Explains answers all those questions.
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There are two types of labels: major labels, which are organized into umbrella companies called label groups, and independent labels. The three major labels in today’s industry are Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — with each having their own subsidiaries. Independent labels differ from major labels, as they operate on their own funding. They can also outsource distribution and publishing, while majors do that themselves.
“When you think about a record label now, it’s really important to focus on the fact that they have massive marketing and publicity muscle,” says Dan Rys, Billboard‘s senior writer. “They are the ones who are able to put a billboard up in Los Angeles. They’re the ones who can get you placement on streaming services.”
Labels typically make money on songs’ master recordings one of three ways: through music sales, downloads and streaming of an artist; brand partnerships where an artist endorses a product; and master licensing, using the exact recording of a song for a commercial, movie or TV show. Labels can also make money on touring, merch and other opportunities based on deals signed with artists.
Thanks to social media, the way labels recruit artists has changed drastically. “There was a time when record labels were the only way that anyone could actually get their music out to the public,” says Keith Caulfield, Billboard‘s managing director of charts and data operations. “They controlled all the marketing and distribution of getting your music into stores. Today, that’s greatly different because you have the Internet.”
Watch the latest Billboard Explains above. After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about the origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and why Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” was able to shoot to No. 1 on the Hot 100.