Record Labels
Page: 63
Position Music has sold a significant minority equity stake in itself to Vesper Company, a private investment firm founded in 2021 by executives formerly involved with a company that invested in Kobalt Music. In addition, Position Music has a new revolver credit facility from Pinnacle Bank. Terms were not disclosed for either deal.
Founded in 1999 by CEO Tyler Bacon, Position Music has a 40-person staff and occupies a 15,000-square-foot facility with office space and two recording studios, with four more studios currently being built. The company, which started as a synch music house, now consists of music publishing, a record label and a small artist management operation.
“I am excited to be partnering with the Vesper team as we enter this next phase of growth,” Bacon said in a statement. “With Vesper’s investment and strategic experience paired with our new credit facility from Pinnacle Bank, we are well-positioned to substantially build on the foundation we have built for 24 years.”
According to the company, Position Music’s publishing roster includes RIAA platinum-certified songs including Em Beihold’s “Numb Little Bug,” grandson’s “Blood // Water” (double platinum) and Judah & the Lion’s “Take It All Back,” along with gold-certified songs including Rotimi‘s “In My Bed” and Sueco’s “Paralyzed.” Its roster includes songwriters and/or artists such as Kid Bloom, Welshly Arms, Fantastic Negrito, Layto, Ryan Oakes, Blackway, 2WEI, TeaMarr and Judah & The Lion.
Position Music says the songwriters and producers it represents have written or produced songs for such artists as Avril Lavigne, Dua Lipa, Blink-182, Travis Barker, iann dior, Pop Smoke, Machine Gun Kelly and Avicii. Moreover, the company says it has recently completed joint ventures with Big Noise Music and Champagne Therapy Music Group. Position Music provides its own administration in the United States, while Kobalt serves as its international administrator.
Vesper was founded in 2021 by David Caro, Shamit Grover and Raj Gopal, formerly with MSD Partners. They were involved in that firm’s purchase of a minority stake in Kobalt Music Group, first made in 2014.
“For over twenty years, Tyler and his team have shown a strong commitment to serving artists and songwriters and helping them reach the next level of their careers,” added Gopal in a statement. “We’re excited to support the continued growth and evolution of Position Music.”
According to SEC filings, Vesper has raised at least $36.5 million in selling securities since its founding, although that appears to be related to another Vesper investment: its acquisition of New England Marine Monitoring. That investment, like its stake in Position Music, is apparently part of its investment strategy of partnering with companies that the firm can help scale through providing “strategically aligned capital and active support,” according to its website.
“Few independent music companies today can match Position Music’s scale, track record, and depth of synch and creative services,” Vesper’s Caro said in a statement. After his involvement with MSD Partners — but before the formation of Vesper — Caro served as head of corporate development at Kobalt, according to his LinkedIn profile.
With its new investment partners, Bacon tells Billboard that Position Music will organically expand by signing another 15 artists to its label roster in the near future and another 20 or so songwriters and/or producers in the next few years. Moreover, it will continue to selectively acquire current music assets, mainly in the pop and hip-hop genres; it recently completed two such buys in deals that included going-forward songwriting contracts. Bacon says the company is also open to doing more joint ventures.
As for investing in legacy music — a preferred asset class for most institutional investors — Bacon says the company’s financing is currently not set up to accommodate that type of investment strategy, though he doesn’t rule out making such investments somewhere down the line.
Position Music was represented by Shot Tower Capital and Reed Smith. Vesper Company was represented by Drummond Woodsum and Greenberg Traurig.
In other Position Music news, Bacon announced that vp/head of A&R Mark Chipello, vp/head of synch Emily Weber and vp of A&R and gaming Jake Versiuis have been made partners at the company.
Tyler Bacon (second from left) with his newly announced partners at Position Music: Jake Versluis, Emily Weber and Mark Chipello. / Mallory Turner
Provident Entertainment has signed five-time Grammy winner Brandon Lake to its artist roster.
Lake’s song “Gratitude” is in its 11th week atop Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart and previously reached No. 1 on the Christian Airplay chart (where it currently resides at No. 3).
“I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Provident and for what’s to come,” Lake said via a statement. “With their team, I feel a genuine friendship and partnership, and know that there is a united goal of wanting to serve. This isn’t just about success, or trying to get the next #1; it’s about people, and serving people well.”
Lake’s most recent album, Help!, draws awareness to mental health and includes the Christian Airplay top 20 hit “Fear Is Not My Future (featuring Chandler Moore) and “Don’t Give Up on Me.” In addition to his solo music, Lake is known for his collaborations with Elevation Worship, Bethel Music and Maverick City Music. He is currently on the road on the 26-city Miracle Nights Tour with guest Benjamin Williams Hastings, and this fall, Lake will co-headline arenas on the Summer Worship Nights Tour with Phil Wickham.
“Very rarely do you get to come alongside an artist like Brandon whose songs, music, and ministry are already having such a significant impact around the world,” said Holly Zabka, president of Provident Entertainment, via a statement. “His passion for the Gospel and desire for teamwork has been evident each time we met about this new partnership. We are thrilled to welcome Brandon, his family, and the entire Brandon Lake team as new members of the Provident Entertainment family.”
“We’re thrilled to announce that Brandon Lake has signed with Provident Entertainment,” added Lake’s manager, Brandon Breitenbach. “Brandon is an exceptional artist whose music has already touched countless lives, offering a message of hope and redemption that have the power to transform hearts and minds. With Provident’s support, I’m confident that Brandon will continue to make a meaningful impact in the world. We’re excited to witness this next chapter in Brandon’s career and look forward to supporting him every step of the way.”
At this year’s Grammy Awards, Lake was honored for his work on a few songs, including “Fear is Not My Future,” which won best contemporary christian music performance/song, while his work with Maverick City Music on the 2022 EP Breathe garnered a best contemporary christian music album Grammy.
Lake previously told Billboard that he is working on a new album.
“I have a ton of songs and we are figuring out which ones will land on the new album and we are getting into pre-production,” he said. “We also have some songs on the next Elevation Worship record that are coming out, so collaboration is not slowing down.”
Warner Music México has announced the launch of Gorgona, a label which will be “completely” run and managed by women, and will also be focused on promoting women talent.
According to a statement issued by the company Wednesday (April 12), the “historically low” presence of women in key senior industry roles initially led to the formation of Warner Music México’s Gender Equality Committee, comprised exclusively of women across the organization. Then came the idea of creating a label in which all roles — from songwriting to digital music services — would be executed by women.
The creation of Gorgona — a creature who is a protective deity of women according to Greek mythology is — led to their first songwriter’s camp attended by Ali Stone, Erika Vidrio, Escarlata, Ingratax, Marian Ruzzi, and other artists, producers and songwriters.
“The atmosphere in our first camp was very friendly because everyone felt that their opinions and voices were validated in the studio,” says Andrea Fernández, A&R manager at Warner Music Mexico and the label’s creative leader. “They had practically never attended a camp where the participation of women was greater than that of men. We came out with a network of creative women who were able to get to know themselves and their work and produced spectacular songs.”
“Cypher 1: Ella”, which dropped on International Women’s Day, was the first release under Gorgona. A collaboration between singers and emcees Mabiland, Emjay, Mare Advertencia and Delfina Dib, the alternative, urban-leaning song was produced by Maria Vertiz, mixed by Marcella Araica and mastered by Natalia Schlesinger.
The underrepresentation of women in the industry in Mexico reflects the reality of music in general. A report on inclusion issued by The University of California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative earlier this year found that women have been woefully underrepresented across the recorded music industry.
The number of women with producer credits continues to be low. In 2022, only 3.4% of producers were women across all songs included on the year-end Hot 100 chart, according to the report, which examines the gender of artists, songwriters and producers across all 1,100 songs included on Billboard’s Hot 100 year-end charts spanning from 2012 to 2022. Moreover, women represented only 30% of the 160 artists on the Hot 100 year-end chart, while men made up 69.4% and artists who identified as non-binary made up less than 1%.
Chilean singer-songwriter Polimá Westcoast signed a global deal with Sony Music U.S. Latin, Billboard has learned. With this agreement, the up-and-coming artist expands his relationship with the label after previously singing with Sony Music Entertainment Chile in 2019.
Born Polimá Ngangu Eduardo Miguel Orellana, the Santiago-born act entered the music industry in 2018 with his edgy “Trap Star,” which captured his trap star-meets-rock star attitude. Polimá Westcoast gradually made a name for himself as a local artist performing at the important Lollapalooza Chile Festival last year and at Viña del Mar International Song Festival in February.
“This is something fundamental for me that not only I worked on, but also along my great team,” the singer said in a statement. “A lot is happening with my career at the international stage. We are ready and determined to take the necessary steps to achieve the next level.”
Although Polimá has been making music for some time now, it was his Pailita-assisted track “Ultra Solo” released last year that really put him on the map. It peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Excl. U.S. chart (dated July 2, 2022). He later landed a remix alongside Paloma Mami, Feid and De La Ghetto. In the past, he’s also collaborated with J Balvin and Quevedo.
“We are very happy to continue working with Polimá Westcoast, who has proven to be one of the most talented and creative artists of his generation,” added Alex Gallardo, president of Sony Music U.S. Latin. “We are confident that together we can bring his music to new audiences worldwide. Today, we welcome him to Sony U.S. Latin, where we are committed to helping him continue to grow his name internationally and become one of the biggest names in Latin music.”
This week, Lana Del Rey released her ninth straight top 10 album on the Billboard 200, with Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd debuting at No. 3 on the chart. But it was the manner of that debut that caught the eye: of the 115,000 equivalent album units the record racked up in its first week, 58,500 units were vinyl — the biggest vinyl sales week of the year so far and the best of her career, with it also available on CD and cassette. And the remainder of the sum equated to some 36.14 million on-demand streams, the biggest streaming week of her career, to boot.
That success was no accident: the singer has always sold well at the vinyl format, according to her label Interscope Geffen A&M, and the label and her management team at TAP prioritized the format, as well as the other sales variants, in order to have them available the day the album came out, resulting in the big sales week. And that strategy helps earn Interscope Geffen A&M chief revenue officer and global head of streaming and strategy Gary Kelly earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Kelly breaks down what went into the big vinyl and sales week for Lana Del Rey, as well as how that major streaming activity helped play into the overall success of the album. “We always like to begin with what the demands of the fans are,” Kelly says. “This is what you see here, so every music product we created was based on our insights for what the fans would want to own.”
This week, Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 115,000 equivalent album units, with vinyl making up 58,500 units — the best vinyl sales week of the year so far and best of her career. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
Lana has been at the forefront of the vinyl resurgence, so our strategy was based on years of historical data and her overall growth with the Gen Z audience, who we know love vinyl to listen to and also to show their fandom. The Interscope revenue team worked closely with [her management team] Ben [Mawson], Ed [Millett] and Wendy [Ong] at TAP Management to ensure the album was delivered in time to ensure we had the master and the packaging in time to deliver for street date.
The album had six vinyl variants, with several exclusives available in different stores. How did you develop that strategy and how did you see it pay off?
On previous releases we had productive campaigns with partners like Target, indie retail, Amazon and Urban Outfitters. We looked at that historical data to determine the best path for Lana’s new project.
Have production delays for vinyl gotten easier, or does it still require long lead times? And how did you navigate that?
The supply chain issues that we experienced at the height of the pandemic are improving and we were able to manage inventory to ensure that we had plenty of the vinyl. Long lead times however still exist, but Universal Music Logistics has done a good job turning around reorders quickly. That helped tremendously, as some of the initial allocations sold out and we had to re-run additional inventory that arrived in time for street date. That would not have been possible in 2021 or 2022.
The album was also released through nine different CD variants, and also five different cassette versions. Why lean so much into those formats?
We always like to begin with what the demands of the fans are. This is what you see here, so every music product we created was based on our insights for what the fans would want to own.
The debut also marked the biggest streaming week in Lana Del Rey’s career. How did the streaming and sales strategies dovetail and feed off each other?
Lana having the largest streaming week of her career is tied to her making a brilliant album. She is a true artist and she pushes boundaries with every new project. New fans and audiences are catching up to her. That said, we look at streaming and sales audiences as having overlap, so when we launched the preorder and first single in December, we were driving pre-sales, but also driving fans to listen on the DSPs.
We had Lana in our Santa Monica recording studios in January and while listening to the album, there was a general feel from the marketing, digital and revenue teams that “A&W” would be the ideal song to release to further connect the streaming audience and pre-sales. It worked perfectly as the song reacted incredibly well with fans across the world and drove a substantial number of preorders. In fact, preorders jumped around 20%, which is unusual given that we had already amassed thousands of preorders because they had been available for almost three months by that point.
The album also reached No. 1 in the U.K., Australia and several other countries around the world. What was the global strategy with regards to this release?
We worked with Ben Mortimer, Stephen Hallows and the rest of the Polydor team to craft an in-depth global strategy with the UMG teams across the world. The Interscope international team did a great job working with the local affiliates to ensure the best plans were in place and executed. The results show how deeply connected we were with all of them between DSP campaigns, physical partner campaigns along with our direct relationship with fans across the world with our D2C strategy.
Do you see the future of physical sales as being more merch item or niche consumer product?
Most of the physical music products are built for segments of the fans that want to own something from their favorite artist to show off their fandom. That said, I do not see these as niche as much as reflective of what these fans want. Will those tastes change in the coming years? That most likely will be the case and we will want to adjust what we, and the artist, create to match fan interests and preferences.
Previous Executive of the Week: Joseph Oerke of Decca
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.