Record Labels
Page: 60
LONDON — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 led to a rapid exodus of global music companies from Russia. All three major labels say they ceased operations there. So did touring giant Live Nation and streaming platforms Spotify, TikTok, Deezer and Amazon Music. Paris-headquartered Believe, however, publicly pursued a different path, and a year later is still operating in Russia — releasing, distributing and promoting new music by local artists and labels on Russian streaming platforms Yandex. Plus, VK Music and Zvuk.
Executives at rival music companies have privately expressed outrage, accusing Believe of exploiting the sudden breakup of Russia’s music market — the 13th largest in 2021, generating $328 million in revenue that year, according to IFPI — to gain market share in the absence of Western competitors.
Denis Ladegaillerie, Believe’s founder and CEO, denies that charge and says the major labels and platforms are being hypocritical for criticizing how the French company is operating in Russia. Believe’s ongoing presence in the country “is really not an economic decision,” he tells Billboard in a rare interview addressing the issue. “We are not looking at building or growing or extracting value [in Russia].”
Following the start of hostilities, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group said they stopped distributing and promoting new releases in Russia. If new titles are being made available on local streaming services, the majors say, it’s through piracy.
The Believe CEO is skeptical about those assertions and defends his company’s continued presence in the isolated nation. “What I see is that all global artists are still available on all local platforms [in Russia],” Ladegaillerie says, noting that YouTube and Apple Music are also still active in the market, albeit in a reduced capacity. “So, my question is: ‘You’ve pulled out of Russia? Really?’”
After Billboard discovered in December that Russian streaming service VK was allowing users to upload albums from major label artists like Taylor Swift (UMG’s Republic Records) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (Warner Music), all three major labels declined to comment; labels body IFPI did not condemn the apparent copyright violations, nor confirm if they or its label members had issued takedown orders to VK.
Ladegaillerie says Believe, for its part, has “very strictly” abided by all international sanctions placed against Russia since the start of the war — “both in law and spirit” — and has halted all new investments in the now-isolated country. “Our No. 1 priority, both in Russia and Ukraine, has been to protect our teams locally and support our artists,” he says.
Despite those claims, Believe’s revenue from Russia, where it retains just over 40 employees, has been growing. Combined revenue from Russia and Ukraine rose 9.9% to 57 million euros ($62.5 million) in 2022, according to the company’s year-end financial figures. (That was 7.5% of Believe’s overall revenue.)
While the economic sanctions against Russia were meant to starve the country of funds and further isolate it from the world financial system, they have been limited in scope and hundreds of Western companies continue to operate in the country. Global music companies have not completely extracted themselves from the country, either. Universal Music and Warner Music — which had the largest presence in Russia among the majors, with almost 100 employees — continue to pay their staff and maintain offices there, although they say those offices have been effectively closed since the war started.
In September, Sony Music announced it had decided “to exit the Russian marketplace completely” and was transferring its Sony Music entity there to a fully independent local company that would only represent locally signed artists. “As the war continues to have a devastating humanitarian impact in Ukraine, and sanctions on Russia continue to increase, we can no longer maintain a presence in Russia, effective immediately,” Sony Music said in a statement at the time.
YouTube continues to operate in Russia in compliance with U.S. sanctions but has suspended ads and monetization features (Russian creators can still make money from ads and other monetization products shown to users outside of the country). The Russian subsidiary of YouTube parent company Google filed for bankruptcy last year after authorities seized its bank account, making it impossible to pay employees, suppliers and vendors, a YouTube spokesperson tells Billboard.
Apple Music is still available in Russia, although there are fewer subscription payment options, as MasterCard and Visa cards issued by Russian banks can no longer be used to pay for subscriptions. Music from the major labels that left Russia is not available. (An Apple Music spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.)
The French government of President Emmanuel Macron, for its part, has supported Believe’s decision to “maintain links” with Russia, Ladegaillerie says. That rings true for other French companies, which established deep ties with Russia in the wake of the Cold War. In March, French retailer Auchan said it planned to open a new store in Russia, doubling down on its brick-and-mortar presence in the market. And auto maker Renault, which is 15%-owned by the French state, has been scrambling to restart its assembly lines in Russia, where it owns the country’s biggest car maker, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In fact, French companies are among Russia’s biggest foreign employers, providing more than 150,000 jobs across a range of sectors that include energy, food products and wholesaling, according to figures from the French Economy Ministry.
The situation “is not black and white, it’s grey,” Ladegaillerie says. He identifies Believe’s humanitarian support for Ukraine — which includes donations and regularly publishing a playlist of Ukrainian artists — as part of the “difficult” balance his company is trying to maintain in Eastern Europe. “We realized that different countries have different perspectives on the situation but that’s really the line that we are trying to navigate.”
Additional Reporting By Vladimir Kozlov
Universal Music Group shareholders approved on Thursday (May 11) the 2022 compensation packages for CEO Lucian Grainge and his deputy, Vincent Vallejo, plus a special $100 million stock option awarded to Grainge to stay on the job for five more years.
The company did not immediately disclose the percentage of votes cast in support of the advisory vote on the pay packages or other voting items at its annual general meeting held in the Amsterdam, and the meeting was live-streamed only to registered shareholders.
Since the global financial crisis, these kinds of annual meetings become a stage for shareholders to express their gripes about a company’s policies or performance. The vote of support for the world’s largest music company’s pay practices comes despite criticism raised by influential shareholder advisory groups, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, who had advised investors to reject Grainge’s pay packages.
Shareholders approved Grainge’s 2022 pay, which totaled more than 47 million euros (roughly $50 million), and re-appointed him as executive director, along with Sherry Lansing and Luc van Os as non-executive directors. Entertainment mogul Haim Saban was also appointed as non-executive director.
Shareholders declined to reappoint Anna Jones as a non-executive director, and her current term will run until the company’s next annual meeting in 2024.
Shareholders also approved a final 2022 dividend payout of 0.27 euros per share, which investors will receive in June. The vote brings UMG’s full year 2022 dividend to 0.51 euros per share.
In an April report, ISS recommended shareholders vote against UMG’s 2022 remuneration policy, saying the pay packages were out of step with industry standards in part due to “excessive” base salaries. That Grainge’s total pay was 12.4 times higher than the median of peers “raises substantial concerns,” ISS wrote.
Grainge’s 2022 pay package included a base salary of about 15.4 million euros and short-term incentives totaling 28.77 million euros, including a portion equivalent to 1% of UMG’s consolidated earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) that was part of an agreement reached prior to UMG going public.
In its annual report, the company says that full-time UMG employees receive an average of 142,039 euros annually,up from 131,961 euros in 2021.
The board explained its reasoning for the remuneration for its executive directors saying that Grainge was a one-of-a-kind executive, and that certain incentive payments were due to legacy arrangements agreed to before the company went public.
In the proposed future pay agreement, which was part of an extension of Grainge’s contract through May 2028, the board said it did away with the incentive that paid Grainge 1% of UMG’s consolidated EBITA. In addition, the new agreement transitions Grainge from an all-cash compensation package to a combination cash and equity package “with a broad set of performance-based objectives aligned with shareholders’ interest and corresponding to the company’s long-term growth strategy.”
UMG ended the European trading day up 0.43% at 18.79 euros ($20.52).
Promotions are pouring in at Elektra Entertainment, with the Warner Music cohort of Elektra, Fueled by Ramen and Roadrunner elevating Chris Brown, Katie Robinson and Johnny Minardi to various leadership roles across the company.
Effective immediately, Brown is elevated to executive vp of Elektra and co-head of Roadrunner, while Minardi is promoted to head of Fueled by Ramen, co-head of Roadrunner and senior vp of A&R at Elektra. Rounding things out, Robinson is named head of marketing across all of Elektra Entertainment.
The elevations arrive following a major change at Elektra, where co-president Mike Easterlin recently announced his shift to a consultant role “as part of the recent changes at the company.” As a result, Gregg Nadel now has the president title to himself, with Robinson and Minardi (Los Angeles) and Brown (New York City) all reporting to him.
“Elektra’s fierce commitment to artist development is only equaled by our dedication to executive development, and it’s been a privilege to watch Chris, Katie, and Johnny grow into their own as leaders,” said Nadel in a statement. “Elektra wouldn’t be what it is today without them. They’ve all individually made such a strong, tangible impact and delivered exceptional results that have elevated our artists on the global stage.”
Brown was most recently head of marketing at Elektra while his successor, Robinson, was svp of marketing. Their department’s big wins in recent years include successful campaigns for Slipknot, Fall Out Boy, Turnstile, twenty one pilots, Maisie Peters, jxdn, Alec Benjamin and others. Minardi, previously vp of A&R for Elektra, is credited with signing Tones and I, Fall Out Boy, The Band CAMINO and Grandson, among others, and played a key role in bringing Travis Barker’s DTA Records into the Elektra fold.
In the Warner family tree, Elektra Entertainment (formerly Elektra Music Group) is one of the branches of 300 Elektra Entertainment (3EE), led by chairman & CEO Kevin Liles. WMG, the third-largest label group, disclosed quarterly earnings this week that were saddled by flat results across its recorded music division but showed a strong three months for publishing.
Ben Platt signs with Interscope Records, both for his own recordings and a deeper relationship that will enable the award-winning entertainer to operate an imprint, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
Currently, Platt is working on new music which will be released through Interscope at an unconfirmed future date.
“Ben is an extraordinary artist in every way,” comments John Janick, chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, in a statement. “He’s as comfortable on a Broadway stage as he is headlining Madison Square Garden. We’re so excited to have him on the label and are looking forward to working with him and his team on his future releases.”
The Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award-winning singer and actor has two full-length solo albums to his name, 2019’s Sing To Me, which peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard 200; and 2021’s Reverie, which reached No. 84 on the chart.
Set to be announced Thursday (May 11), the new arrangement is an extension to an alliance which has included the Dear Evan Hansen OST, released in 2021 via Interscope. Platt won the Tony Award for best actor in a musical for his performance in the titular role and went on to reprise his role in the Universal film adaptation.
In a joint-statement, Platt pays tribute to Interscope’s Janick, Steve Berman, Sam Riback, Michele An and the entire team as “wonderful, deeply creative collaborators on our Parade and Theater Camp albums, and I so look forward to teaming up on my next solo record and on many projects of all kinds to come.”
Details remain sketchy on Platt’s imprint, for which the artist will have the opportunity to sign and develop talent.
“I’m thrilled for Ben’s future recorded music to be coming out on Interscope, a label known for its roster of culture moving iconic artists,” enthuses Platt’s manager, Adam Mersel. “We’re looking forward to working alongside John, Steve Berman and the entire IGA team on the next phase of Ben’s career.”
Maria Becerra has signed a deal with Warner Music Latina in a new joint venture with 300 Entertainment, Billboard can exclusively announce today (May 10).
“I am thrilled to be a part of the Warner Music Latina family,” Becerra said in a statement. “I know that together we will achieve incredible things and that this union will allow me to go even further in my career and solidify my global expansion. I’m honored to be part of their roster and look forward to working with such a skilled and talented team.”
For Alejandro Duque, president of Warner Music Latin America, having the Argentine singer-songwriter on the roster is an honor.
“She’s a standout artist with a strong team behind her, and her past successes are a testament to that. We’re excited to continue the path that was started by 300 Entertainment and Kevin’s team, and are very excited for our future together,” he added.
The news of the signing comes on the heels of Becerra receiving the Visionary Award at the inaugural Billboard Latin Women in Music gala.
Maria Becerra at Billboard Latin Women In Music held at the Watsco Center on May 6, 2023 in Coral Gables, Florida. The show airs on Sunday, May 7, 2023 on Telemundo.
Natalia Aguilera
To date, the YouTuber-turned-artist has achieved three entries on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, including her hit “Qué Más Pues?” with J Balvin, as well as two top 10 entries on Latin Airplay (the No. 1 hit “Te Espero” with Prince Royce, and “Éxtasis” with Manuel Turizo at No. 9), and five entries on Latin Rhythm Airplay.
In 2021, Becerra was nominated for best new artist at the Latin Grammys, and her latest album La Nena de Argentina (2022) has garnered more than 300 million plays on Spotify alone, to name a few career highlights. Additionally, she signed with 300 Entertainment in 2020, becoming the first Latin artist to join the label’s roster.
“We are very happy and deeply grateful to 300 Entertainment, Kevin Liles, and his entire team, for the support they have provided Maria since the beginning, because due to their dedication, efforts, and teamwork, Maria has been able to achieve the success she celebrates today, which leads us to this important next step with Warner Music Latina, spearheaded by Alejandro Duque, to continue growing with the next albums,” noted Jose Levy, Becerra’s manager.
Kevin Liles, chairman and CEO of 300 Elektra Entertainment, added: “It’s been amazing to see the growth of Maria as an artist, and I’m so proud of everything that we’ve been able to accomplish together so far. Tapping into the vast, global reach of our Warner Music Group family with the addition of Warner Music Latina to the team behind her, there is absolutely no limit on where she can go.”
Up next, Becerra is working on new music to be released under the Warner/300 venture and is expected to announce a tour.
Maria Becerra signs with Warner Music Latina.
Miguel Valencia/Warner Music Latina
Warner Music Group’s share price fell nearly 10% on Tuesday (May 9) following the release of the company’s second quarter earnings report, which showed that revenue from the recorded music division was effectively flat over last year ($1.143 billion vs. $1.147 billion in the year-ago quarter).
On Tuesday, Warner’s stock fell from $28.50 at the start of the day to $25.76 at the market’s close — a 9.58% drop.
This marks the second straight quarter of disappointing results in recorded music for Warner, the world’s third-largest label. Last quarter, revenue in the division fell 10.6%, or 5.6% in constant currency, on lower digital, physical and artist services and expanded rights revenue.
In the current quarter, streaming revenue was down 0.4% (or, in constant currency 2.2% higher) on fewer releases and a slowdown in ad-supported revenue due to macroeconomic uncertainty. By contrast, music publishing revenue grew 12% to $257 million, up from $230 million a year ago.
“While our publishing was best in class, we underperformed in recorded music,” said CEO Robert Kyncl on an earnings call Tuesday.
In attempts to bolster confidence, WMG executives on the call stressed that the company is already seeing improvement with the late-April releases of Jack Harlow’s Jackman., Tïesto’s Drive and Ed Sheeran’s Subtract, which was released earlier this month. CFO Eric Levin noted that the label’s release slate “was a little lighter in the first two quarters of the year and will be weighted to (the third quarter) and (the fourth quarter),” with upcoming releases expected from Dua Lipa‘s Barbie soundtrack, among others.
“We absolutely expect this to improve our results in recorded music streaming in the second half of the year,” Levin added.
Nonetheless, investors appear to be growing skittish over the lackluster performance. Tuesday’s closing price marked a sharp drop of nearly 20% of Warner’s stock over the past month, with the share price falling from $32.12 on April 10.
Warner Music Group reported quarterly revenues grew 1.7% to $1.399 billion (4.6% in constant currency) as strong revenues from its music publishing revenue helped offset a slow quarter for recorded music releases.
WMG, the music industry’s third largest major label, reported revenue from its recorded music revenue was effectively flat at $1.143 billion for the second fiscal quarter ending March 31, compared to $1.147 billion in the year ago quarter. (In constant currency, recorded music revenue rose 2.5%.) Streaming revenue in the quarter was down 0.4% (or, in constant currency 2.2% higher) on fewer releases and a slowdown in ad-supported revenue due to macroeconomic uncertainty.
In contrast, music publishing revenue rose 12% to $257 million from $230 million a year ago.
“While our publishing was best in class, we underperformed in recorded music,” Robert Kyncl, chief executive officer, said on a conference call.
WMG executives have said throughout this fiscal year that the label’s major releases of the year would come in the second half, and on the call, they stressed they are already seeing improvement with the late-April releases of Jack Harlow’s Jackman., Tïesto’s Drive and Ed Sheeran’s Subtract, released in early May.
“Our release slate was a little lighter in the first two quarters of the year and will be weighted to (the third quarter) and (the fourth quarter),” Warner chief financial officer Eric Levin said, flagging releases expected from Dua Lipa with her Barbie soundtrack track, among others.
“We absolutely expect this to improve our results in recorded music streaming in the second half of the year.”
Key Points From WMG’s Q2:
WMG’s revenues grew 1.7% (or 4.6% in constant currency, a measure that standardizes foreign exchange fluctuations) to $1.399 billion
Digital revenue increased 1.2% (or 3.7% in constant currency) to
Streaming revenue increased 1.9% (or 4.5% in constant currency) on growth in music publishing streaming
Music publishing revenue increased 12%, or 14.2% in constant currency
Music publishing streaming revenue grew 16.4% (18.3% in constant currency)
Recorded music streaming revenue decreased 0.4% (an increase of 2.2% in constant currency) on a lighter release schedule, foreign exchange currency fluctuations and slowdown in ad-supported revenue.
Net income was $37 million this quarter, down 60% from $92 million one year ago, primarily driven by the negative impact of currency fluctuations on the company’s Euro-denominated debt. Adjusted net income up 5% to $116 million from $111 million a year ago.
Operating income was $124 million, down 25% from $166 million a year ago, with adjusted operating income up 10% to $203 million from $185 million.
Adjusted net income of $116 million was up 5% from $111 million in the year ago quarter.
Chris Strachwitz, a producer, musicologist and one-man preservation society whose Arhoolie Records released thousands of songs by regional performers and comprised an extraordinary American archive that became known and loved worldwide, has died. He was 91.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Strachwitz, recipient in 2016 of a Grammy Trustee Award, passed away Friday (May 5) from complications with congestive heart failure at an assisted living facility in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Marin County, the Arhoolie Foundation said Saturday.
Admired by Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and many others, Strachwitz was an unlikely champion of the American vernacular — a native German born into privilege who fell deeply for his adopted country’s music and was among the most intrepid field recorders to emerge after Alan Lomax.
He founded Arhoolie in 1960 and over the following decades traveled to Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, among other states, on a mission that rarely relented: taping little-known artists in their home environments, be it a dance hall, a front porch, a beer joint, a backyard.
“My stuff isn’t produced. I just catch it as it is,” he explained in the 2014 documentary This Ain’t No Mouse Music.
The name Arhoolie, suggested by fellow musicologist Mack McCormick, is allegedly a regional expression for field holler.
Ry Cooder would call him “El Fanatico,” the kind of true believer for whom just the rumor of a musician worth hearing would inspire him to get on a bus and ride hundreds of miles — like the time he sought out bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins in Houston. Strachwitz amassed a vast catalog of blues, Tejano, folk, jazz, gospel and Zydeco, with Grammy winners Flaco Jimenez and Clifton Chenier among those who later attracted wider followings. An Arhoolie 50-year anniversary box set featured Maria Muldaur, Taj Mahal, Savoy Family Band and Cooder, who would cite the Arhoolie release Mississippi’s Big Joe Williams and His Nine-String Guitar as an early inspiration.
“It just jumped out of the speaker on this little school record player,” Cooder told NPR in 2013, adding that he decided “once and for all” to become a musician. “I’m gonna do this, too. I’m gonna get good on guitar, and I’m gonna play it like that.”
Strachwitz despised most commercial music — “mouse music,” he called it — but he did have just enough success to keep Arhoolie going. In the mid-1960s, he recorded an album in his living room for no charge by Berkeley-based folk performer Joe McDonald, who in turn granted publishing rights to Arhoolie. By 1969, McDonald was leading Country Joe McDonald and the Fish and one song from the Arhoolie sessions, the anti-war anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” was a highlight of the Woodstock festival and soundtrack.
Arhoolie releases were cherished by blues fans in England, including Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Around the same time Strachwitz met with McDonald, he taped more than a dozen songs by bluesman “Mississippi” Fred McDowell, including McDowell’s version of an old spiritual, You Gotta Move. The Stones sang a few lines from it during the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter and recorded a cover that appeared on their acclaimed 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Strachwitz prevailed over the resistance of the band’s lawyers and ensured that royalties were given to McDowell, who was dying of cancer.
“I was able to give Fred McDowell the biggest check he’d ever seen in his life,” Strachwitz later said.
In 1993, Arhoolie was boosted again when country star Alan Jackson had a hit with “Mercury Blues,” a song co-written and first performed by K.C. Douglas for the label.
Besides his Grammy, Strachwitz received a lifetime achievement award from the Blues Symposium and was inducted as a non-performing member of the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1995, Strachwitz established the Arhoolie Foundation to “document, preserve, present and disseminate authentic traditional and regional vernacular music,” with advisers including Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt. In 2016, Strachwitz sold his majority interest in the record label to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, part of the national museum in Washington.
“The ripple effect of Chris Strachwitz in the world of is immeasurable in preserving this music,” Raitt, a longtime friend, told the podcast The Kitchen Sisters Present in 2019.
The son of wealthy farm owners, he was born Count Christian Alexander Maria Strachwitz in the German region of Silesia, now part of Poland. His family, displaced at the end of World War II, moved to the United States in 1947, eventually settling in Santa Barbara, California. Strachwitz had already been exposed to swing overseas through Armed Forces Radio and became a jazz fan after seeing the movie New Orleans, a 1947 musical featuring Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. He also felt a strong kinship with country and other forms of “hillbilly music.”
“I felt it all had this kind of earthiness to it that I didn’t hear in any other kind of music. They sang about how lonesome you are, and how you miss your girlfriend and all this other thing,” Strachwitz told NPR. “Those songs really spoke to me.”
By his early 20s, he was taping local radio and live performances and he perfected his craft while attending the University of California at Berkeley. He served two years in the Army, completed his studies at Berkeley through the GI Bill and, starting in the late 1950s, taught high school for a few years in Los Gatos, California.
Often short on money, Strachwitz sold pressings from his collection of old 78s to support his early recording efforts. Arhoolie’s first release was Mance Lipscomb’s Texas Sharecropper and Songster, for which Strachwitz and friends personally assembled 250 copies.
“So much of pop music has all this slop added, with this mush background that I can’t even call music,” he said in a 2013 interview with the online publication waytooindie.com. “You can hardly hear the voices! They bury the voices. If somebody wants to sing, sing god damn it! You know? In the old days, you could hear them sing.”
CIL, the 20-year-old pop artist who recently opened for Stevie Nicks on a string of spot dates, has signed to Warner Records, Billboard can exclusively reveal. The singer-songwriter commemorated the label deal by releasing a new single, the blistering “Devil In Your Eyes,” on Friday (May 5).
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“’Devil In Your Eyes’ is about freedom,” CIL says in a statement. “It’s about realizing somebody wasn’t who you thought they were. You may break over them, but at least you’re breaking free.”
The Fort Collins, Colo. native moved to Los Angeles by herself as a teenager to pursue a music career after teaching herself piano as a child. Her debut single, the waltzing “One More Shot,” earned a following on TikTok upon its independent release last October, and has earned 12.6 million U.S. on-demand streams through Apr. 27, according to Luminate.
In March, CIL was tapped to open for Nicks for four dates on her U.S. arena tour, writing on social media that she was “beyond honored & grateful for the incredible opportunity.”
“CIL’s world-class vocals, combined with her genuine authenticity and moving personal story, are certain to make her one of the most important artist voices of this next generation,” says Aaron Bay-Schuck, Warner Records co-Chairman and CEO, in a statement. “She’s totally fearless, raw, vulnerable, real, and uncompromising in her mission to make emotional connections with people through her music. From the moment I met her, I knew she had to be a Warner Records artist. Tom [Corson] and I are grateful she felt the same way.”
“Devil In Your Eyes” marks CIL’s second release of 2023, following the track “Girl I Used To Be,” which was released in March. CIL is currently working on her first proper project for Warner Records.
“I’m so honored and excited to be joining Warner Records,” CIL says. “Aaron and the whole team have been amazing from the start – immediately understanding what I stand for and where I’m headed. I’m very grateful for their support in bringing my dreams to life.”
On July 2, 2020, Jack Nathan went to a party with some friends near his hometown of Livingston, New Jersey. Amidst the revelry, the artist and college student took what he thought was a Percocet. But the pill was laced with fentanyl, and by the early hours of July 3, Jack Nathan had died of fentanyl poisoning. He was 19 years old.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In the wake of Jack’s death, his parents — Bradi Harrison and former Republic Records SVP of Promotion & Artist Development David Nathan — took over the apparel company their only son had founded years prior and was successfully running from his dorm room in Denver. This company, Happy Jack — called so for a nickname a very smiley young Jack had earned during a Pamper’s commercial shoot when he was a baby — sold T-shirts, hoodies, hats and other streetwear, with Jack Nathan donating percentages of his profits to mental health-focused charities.
He himself had long struggled with anxiety and depression, and in making clothing and other visual art, he found a creative outlet that helped him deal with it. A lover of music, especially hip-hop, he was just beginning to expand his business into managing musical acts when he died.
“I have never been more excited, passionate and sure of something in my entire life,” he wrote of his company on Instagram just a few weeks before his death. “I can not sleep, I can not think, I can’t eat. I promise, I f–king promise you, Jack Nathan is a name you’ll never forget.”
Through a new venture, Jack’s father David Nathan and his business partner Sam Koch are making sure to honor that statement. Today (May 4), the elder Nathan and Koch are launching Happy Jack Records, a boutique label taking a mega-proactive approach to the mental health of its artists, in honor of the person the label is named for.
David Nathan, who spent 21 years at Republic Records, brings deep industry contacts and knowledge to the project. Koch — who’s in his 20s — brings a dual passion for music and mental health, along with an understanding of the industry gained from his entrepreneur father, who runs an event production company. Together, Nathan and Koch are structuring Happy Jack Records to be a mental health optimization platform for the artists signed to it, and via them, to anyone who taps into their music.
“Think of us like a bootcamp,” Koch says. “We have a team of coaches attacking different elements of wellness, everyone from therapists, to a psychiatrist, to a vocal coach, to a life coach. We’re going to align them with a fitness trainer and a nutritionist. You’re talking about it all every week in therapy. We put artists into our program for 18 months, and they come out on the other side better individuals.”
With this multi-layered approach to artist development, the plan is to only sign three to four artists a year, with the funding necessitated by the bootcamp approach underwritten by donations. (Happy Jack Records is set up as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.) The idea is to sign up-and-coming artists from across genres and focus on acts who have themselves struggled with mental health issues.
The launch party for Happy Jack Records, happening in conjunction with Mental Health Awareness Month, happens this evening at New York City’s Ascent Lounge with a fundraising event featuring performances by The Arti$t, SNF.JT, American Idol winner Nick Fradiani and a DJ set by ZeeMuffin. Following this fundraising launch, the label will lock in a distributor, with Nathan saying they’re considering got some “amazing options” on this front.
The goal is to also develop partnerships across the industry when the label is fully up and running, and also do cross-collabs with Happy Jack apparel, which David Nathan and Jack’s mother Brandi Harrison took over when their son passed away and which has since donated more than $150,000 to mental health related organizations like Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, Release Recovery, Active Minds and Child Mind Institute.
For David Nathan, the new label is dually an homage to his son and an effort to help evolve an industry in which, until recently, conversations around mental health were taboo. “Honestly, there wasn’t anything,” he recalls of his time at Republic. “There were no help lines, no coaches. You couldn’t make a phone call to the record label five or ten years ago and be like, ‘I’m not gonna go on tour this year, because I need to get my head right.’”
While many mega-stars have since become more open about their mental health challenges, Happy Jack Records’ focus on emerging artist is an effort to tackle the lack of industry inroads and limited access to mental health resources such artists often experience.
“With all the fame, money and success, [a lot of the biggest artists in the world] still have issues,” says Koch. “You can only imagine what it’s like for artists that have no money and don’t have teams of people behind them to give them the resources they need.”
The idea is that artists signed to Happy Jack Records will use the label as both a conduit to their own self actualization (and through it, career success), and will also use their growing platforms to tell the stories of their personal growth.
“We are not interested in signing artists that don’t want to use it as a platform,” says Nathan. “Whatever their issue is, or their experience has been, we want them to share it. And we want them to educate with it. One of the things that we’re really trying to focus on is making this a community for the misunderstood.”
In a cross collaboration with the Happy Jack apparel company, Happy Jack Records is also focused on making mental health cool via merch that Jack himself might have designed. (During our Zoom call for this story, Koch wears a t-shirt from the line that says “I told my therapist about you.”) Another goal is that at the end of each year, Happy Jack Records will take 15% of what its earned from each artist and donate it to a mental health charity of that artist’s choice, with the caveat being that the artist must match the donation. “We’re essentially in a good way, forcing ourselves and forcing the artists to put their money where their mouth is and really be that spokesperson for what they believe in,” says Nathan.
For David Nathan and Koch, everything their doing is essentially a continuation of the work Jack Nathan himself started, via his own unique amalgamation of art, business and honest conversations about his interior life.
“Jack always wanted to start a record label,” says Koch. “He was managing artists at one point, and he loved music. I feel like we’re taking the Happy Jack concept and just doing what Jack would have done.”