Record Labels
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Sony Music US Latin has officially opened its new headquarters in Puerto Rico, Billboard can confirm today (Dec. 8).
The multinational record label, which has had its facilities on the island since 1980 (formerly CBS Records), is relocating to the modern office complex Ciudadela in Santurce, where the label’s artists will have access to a press room, recording studio, content creation room for networks, and other benefits.
“These new offices are a tangible demonstration of what Puerto Rico represents for Sony and for Latino culture,” Alex Gallardo, president of Sony Music US Latin tells Billboard via email. “In addition, this expansion will allow us to provide a better service and support our current artists even more.”
Reaffirming its commitment to Boricua talent, Victor Manuelle, Pedro Capó, and Luis Figueroa were some of the Sony artists present at the inauguration, alongside Gallardo and Tuti Bou, vp and general manager of Sony Music US Latin (Puerto Rico Branch).
“After 42 years of having founded our company in Puerto Rico, today we celebrate this new stage,” Bou adds. “At Sony Music PR we are proud to be the only established multinational committed to the development of our music and culture. The space is modern, and spacious, and in which we have our own recording studio to continue developing, promoting, and discovering new talent. Sony Music Puerto Rico will continue to be ‘The House of Artists.’”
In addition, the label has commissioned a mural from the renowned artists of The Stencil Network in support of the urban development in Santurce.
Sony Music Latin offices in Puerto Rico
Dianeris Nieves/Sony Music Latin
Popular music in 2022 is more diffuse than ever. With TikTok entrenched as the industry’s most effective (and maddening) marketing tool, streaming services continually democratizing listening and dulling the impact of conventional singles, and songs from years (if not decades) earlier resurfacing as contemporary hits, it’s increasingly rare to see new releases rule over all sectors of the pop landscape.
But this past year, that very rarity was the norm for Columbia Records. As listeners’ ever-evolving consumption habits pulled them every which way — and rarely toward the same handful of releases — the label dominated in a way that could be described as old-fashioned: with acclaimed full-length albums from established superstars that spawned massive hit singles and sold lots of physical records. The monoculture may be long dead, but Columbia delivered a pretty convincing flashback to it in 2022.
Evidence of the label’s all-encompassing impact was on clear display during the Grammy nominations announcement in November. Columbia claims three of the most-nominated artists for the awards in February 2023: Adele, Beyoncé and Harry Styles, who have a combined 22 nods. An album of the year win seems especially likely for the label, with Adele’s 30, Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Styles’ Harry’s House considered the three front-runners to take home the award, according to betting site GoldDerby.
And the albums’ commercial performances easily matched their industry plaudits. Each debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales charts during the same weeks that their respective lead singles (“Easy on Me,” “Break My Soul” and “As It Was”) also led the Billboard Hot 100, as part of their combined 27 weeks atop the chart.
Meanwhile, the gains Columbia made in 2021 with The Kid LAROI and Lil Nas X — artists who had found commercial success before Columbia signed them, but who the label helped establish as A-level hit-makers — carried over, with the radio success of their respective chart-topping singles “Stay” (with Justin Bieber) and “Industry Baby” (with Jack Harlow) spilling well into the new year and helping Columbia earn Billboard’s Top Radio Songs Label distinction for 2022. And the label kept an eye on the future, aggressively signing up-and-coming sensations like Nicky Youre (“Sunroof”), Megan Moroney (“Tennessee Orange”) and Yahritza y Su Esencia (“Soy El Unico”), helping those acts get footholds in the industry following their early TikTok virality.
“We’re always focused on two things, really: One, breaking new artists, and two, elevating the careers of superstars,” says Peter Gray, executive vp/head of promotion at Columbia. “We don’t control the timing of the calendar, or the tides or the moons or the stars — the material flows as it flows, and we’re certainly happy to deliver it as it comes. But to see both of those things happening simultaneously — turning new young talent into household names, and then finding superlative moments for the world’s biggest stars — are equally gratifying and exciting for our team.”
Captaining that team are chairman/CEO Ron Perry — installed in the position in 2018 to take over for his mentor Rob Stringer after the latter’s move to run parent company Sony Music Entertainment — and Jen Mallory, the label’s executive vp/GM. Though label veterans like Adele, Beyoncé and Styles predate the duo at Columbia, Perry and Mallory have helped to expand those artists’ reaches and keep them vital to the contemporary pop mainstream, while also signing artists like LAROI, Lil Nas X, “Boyfriend” breakout Dove Cameron and recent Latin Grammy album of the year winner Rosalía, developing them to new levels of stardom.
Described by his staff as a master of A&R, Perry is known as an executive with a unique understanding of artists’ perspectives. It helps that he’s a musician himself, as well as a producer and songwriter — he even landed production and writing credits on BTS’ Columbia-released 2021 megahit “Butter.” “He’s the only major-label chief who’s also a musician and truly in the studio,” Gray says.
He also brings an artist’s pure passion for music to his position as Columbia’s lead decision-maker. “My favorite thing in this entire job is getting a song from an artist that’s just incredible — that excites me more than anything else,” Perry says. “Things are changing, things are evolving, things are always going to be different. But at the end of the day, great music is the biggest factor.”
Meanwhile, Mallory is a marketing specialist, approaching Columbia’s album campaigns from a global perspective (previously, she served as Sony’s senior vp of international marketing). Sitting together and talking to Billboard, it’s also clear that while Perry takes the lead, he relies on Mallory to fill in the gaps in his thinking — even down to a single word. As he searches for the most precise adjective to describe the nature of musical successes in 2022, Mallory offers options — “Transient, like they don’t last very long? Ephemeral?” — as Perry racks his brain.
“There’s not really one answer to [who does what between them] — it’s very fluid, it’s by project,” says marketing senior vp Erika Alfredson. “But that’s the beauty of the two of them: They’re able to sort of see that in real time — and they’ve gotten in a great rhythm of being able to kind of know where each of their places is, and where they can be the most effective.”
Ron Perry photographed on November 22, 2022 at Columbia Records in New York.
Aaron Richter
The combination of Perry’s expert touch with artists and Mallory’s global marketing vision has allowed Columbia to both land and grow successful artists at all levels of the industry — and while their 2022 success has a classic feel, both remain fixated on securing the label’s future. “We’re constantly trying to evolve and be better, honestly,” Perry says. “And we’re always learning… we’re never satisfied with the way a thing is done. We always want to improve, and…”
“Improve the status quo,” Mallory finishes. “I mean listen, [the market] is just all so fractured now, it’s all so…”
“That’s the word I was looking for earlier — ‘fractured’!” Perry interjects.
When you start a year like this, do you get the feeling that it’s going to be one when everything aligns?
Jen Mallory: I mean, you never know. But all the artists that were [Grammy] nominated, and of course the top three that we’re talking about [Adele’s 30, Styles’ Harry’s House and Beyoncé’s Renaissance], they’re incredible bodies of work. So it’s thrilling.
Ron Perry: And it’s well-deserved. We’re happy with the outcome.
And in the meantime, you’re still aggressively going after new artists like Yahritza, Megan Moroney and Nicky Youre. Is it important to keep stockpiling up-and-coming artists while you’re enjoying those successes up top?
Perry: I definitely wouldn’t call it stockpiling. We’re very deliberate in what we sign. I don’t think we sign that much, to be honest with you. Columbia’s just an amazing place to be, both historically and currently. And I think — Rob [Stringer] taught me this — that people that come in here, we give them a lot of love, a lot of attention, a lot of strategy. And we’re pretty careful in who we sign, to make sure that’s the right fit.
I’ve heard that you’re very aggressive in going after the artists that you’re really excited about.
Perry: Yeah, when you’re passionate, and you want something… I’m very aggressive about doing that. If it’s someone that I feel belongs here, then I really want them to be here.
Those three artists — Yahritza, Moroney and Youre — all had early success on TikTok. Is that where most of Columbia’s artist scouting is happening these days?
Perry: All these platforms, it’s always changing. We’ll be talking about something else a couple years from now. At the end of the day, you have to sign incredible talent. The platforms will always change and the talent won’t. So if someone is working on TikTok, you want someone because they’re great. Because… look at Twitter right now. If something happens [to the platform], you want to be able to have a great artist no matter what the situation is. Not necessarily because they’re great on one platform.
I actually prefer to avoid a viral hit early on in someone’s career. It’s too difficult to overcome that, if it’s too early.
Nicky Youre’s management told Billboard that one of the main reasons they decided to come to Columbia is because you have such a great reputation for radio. Do you take pride in that? Is it something you feel you can offer to up-and-coming artists?
Perry: Well, first of all, I think our reputation is that we’re artist-first. And that comes from Rob Stringer. And Rob, who’s really my mentor, taught me how to go from being an A&R person to being a chairman/CEO, and that the reputation of this company is really the artistic integrity and the amazing artists that this company has had… since the beginning of this company until today.
Have we done well at radio? I think we’ve done great. Peter Gray has come in, and I think we’ve gone from No. 9 to No. 1 in market share over a four-year period. I call the shots of which record to go with. I think we have a very high batting average with what we go to radio with. And I think Peter has done a tremendous job across all formats to make those records a big success.
In 2022 and 2023, I’m not sure that radio’s the No. 1 selling point in an artist’s career. It is a selling point, it is part of the picture, but we offer a lot of strategic help, and creative support, and with so many things that go just beyond this one thing.
So when you’re talking to those younger artists, telling them what Columbia can offer them that they can’t do on their own, what are you telling them?
Perry: Um… Jen?
Mallory: I think, again, it goes back to artist-first, and I think Rob has set us both up for success. What we do is we help an artist amplify, and help an artist build a world, right? Obviously radio’s a part of it, international’s a part of it, figuring out how to create a kind of community, fan-building… But no one campaign is like the other, and it’s all bespoke to the artist. And at the end of the day, artists need to find teams that they feel comfortable around, that they feel understand them. I think, ultimately, we’ve built a team here that does that.
Jen Mallory photographed on November 22, 2022 at Columbia Records in New York.
Aaron Richter
When you talk about the evolving landscape, what’s the biggest evolution that you’ve noticed over the last year or two that has really changed the way you think about how business is done here, or just the industry in general?
Perry: Obviously in the past year or so, catalog [consumption] has gone up. And with TikTok, the older records are climbing the charts, so front-line records take a little less space right now.
So are you taking a more open-minded view to what could be promoted, or what could be considered a new release, in light of the fact that songs from five to seven years ago are basically being treated like new hits?
Perry: Absolutely. We put everything on the table.
Mallory: Good music is good music, right?
Perry: There’s really no rules anymore.
And is that exciting to you?
Perry: Oh, it’s exciting to us.
Mallory: Super exciting.
Perry: We talk about that all the time. I mean… listen, two to three years ago we started teasing records [online], and that was an exciting time. And now as it’s happening within the entire marketplace, we’re looking at the next thing. What’s the next thing that’s going to be groundbreaking? So we love being challenged, and right now, the market’s interesting.
Going back to the bigger artists that you’ve had this year — each of them had immediate impact. Big first-week numbers, not just on the albums side but on the songs side, with each of those albums having an accompanying Hot 100 No. 1 single the same week the album was No. 1. Is that something that’s a priority to Columbia, to come out of the gate screaming and capture those big moments and headlines with the first-week performance?
Mallory: I mean, with those three artists? Absolutely. Again, each one is different. I think all the work that was done on [Styles’ 2019 album] Fine Line for Harry brought his fans into Harry’s House in a big, big way. So we had a huge, seismic kind of launch. And “As It Was” is an incredible song, and the album is fantastic front-to-back. So all of that played a part in such a big week one.
Perry: And with Harry, Beyoncé, they’ve been in this company for a long time. And Rob Stringer is extremely involved creatively with them. Very helpful.
Mallory: And Beyoncé, I think the way that she welcomed people back outside [with “Break My Soul”] off the back of the pandemic — that song was just a celebration of being out of the mask and back outside and with people again — from a narrative perspective, that played a part in [its success]. I think this lives in the streets, this lives in culture. Not only with “Break My Soul,” but now again with “Cuff It” — it has been beautiful to watch.
I talked to a couple of people in your promotions and marketing departments, and they said, “Well, yeah, the first week’s great and important, but we’re looking at 12 to 18 months on an album.” Is that harder to do in 2022? What’s most important to keeping the album fresh for that long?
Mallory: I also think it’s about building a long-term narrative and strategy and world for a fan to celebrate and step into, right? With Harry, we’re continuing to roll [out] singles and new kinds of chapters of this Harry’s House that stay fresh every time. And same thing with Beyoncé. We have so much more coming, obviously. Even Adele, I mean [30] is a year old and she just launched [her Las Vegas residency] and was incredible.
Perry: The [residency debut] was insane. One of the best things I’ve ever seen.
Jen, you mentioned “Cuff It.” TikTok is very unpredictable as a marketing tool, but is it a powerful thing to have in your back pocket when it helps a song like “Cuff It” take off?
Mallory: I mean, it’s just exciting to see people celebrating this music the way they are, right? This album has landed in culture, and people have just made it their own, in a way. And that hasn’t been the case before. And this is all Beyoncé — this is rolling out exactly how she wanted it to.
Perry: TikTok is a mirror of culture, you know? And therefore, if you’re impacting culture, people on the app are going to use the sound.
You mention more coming with Beyoncé — I think everyone basically knows that to be the case but isn’t sure when or what or where. Is it challenging to keep that balance between fans paying attention and listening to the album but also waiting for more to come?
Perry: I think nine Grammy nominations kind of speak for themselves in terms of what’s happening right now with Beyoncé.
Is there anything you can tell me about what Beyoncé has coming up?
Perry: No. She’s nominated for the Grammys, though!
Do you look to your artists’ live shows to not only raise awareness of an album but also give a boost to their entire catalog? Are you looking at the numbers there?
Mallory: Yeah. I mean, specifically, I think Rosalía is a good one to talk about. As she made her way through Europe — she started in Spain, and we kept a close watch on how that was lifting [her 2022 album] Motomami. It had a tremendous effect, because it’s probably one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. And so people saw it and then engaged with the music again.
Perry: Another show you have to see. We’re going to give you a whole list of shows! (Both laugh.)
Rosalía
Kevin Winter/GI
Let’s talk about some experiences you’ve had with artists who are still more up-and-coming. I find Dominic Fike particularly interesting — there were reports about a bidding war and a $4 million offer to sign him. And he has had success, but I’m sure you would agree that there’s still potential to be reached there. Meanwhile, he’s on maybe the hottest TV show in the world right now, Euphoria. How do you convert that sort of buzz and success into eyes on his music career?
Perry: I think 2023 will be the year that… musically, all the stars align [for Fike]. He’s on tour right now, his new music is unbelievable. And obviously the show has done a lot for him. He’s just naturally gifted in almost everything — and incredibly good-looking. I really believe that this is the year that he could be one of the big, big breakthroughs across the industry.
And you had success like that with The Kid LAROI last year. I think people were looking for him this year to take even a step further, and it has been a bit rocky — he had a high-profile management switch, and his single “Thousand Miles” did well but didn’t quite take him to the next level. How do you see his 2023?
Perry: LAROI’s got great new music that he’s working on as well. He toured for most of the year. He toured everywhere, really for the first time. “Stay” is one of the biggest songs of all time. I think you can’t really compete with that record. Just like Lil Nas X couldn’t really compete with “Old Town Road,” you know what I mean? And I’ve heard the [new] music, it’s unbelievable. And so I think sometimes we have perceptions that actually aren’t accurate. It’s a touring year, and he’s got a real fan base. And so I think that he’s going to come back big this year.
You’re known to be a sort of artist whisperer when it comes to dealing with younger acts. What’s the most important thing in communicating with a younger artist?
Perry: Communicating! That’s exactly what’s important. You communicate — again, our job is to support [the artists]. Not everything we deal with with them is positive. Not every record is going to work for every artist. So I think it’s having a long-term plan, having the artist knowing that the label is there for a long time to support them.
Mallory: Not just when you’re in cycle, right? So just making sure that there’s communication, always.
Perry: And not just when it’s positive results. And that’s why Jen is so great, because Jen has amazing relationships with our artists, our managers — and not just amazing ideas, but also execution.
When you’re both communicating with these artists, do you play different roles? Is there a contrasting style in your strengths at dealing with artists in these respects?
Perry: Um… (Indicates Mallory should answer first.)
Mallory: I mean, listen… he’s an incredible A&R guy. His superpower is the music. But he’s also very, very involved with everything else. He’s an incredibly creative person generally, so very much involved in marketing and digital, very good with numbers, the rest of it. So yes, he probably spends more time talking about the music, and I talk about other things… the rollout, the marketing, the strategy. But again, he’s not not involved with that — he’s very much involved with every facet of the campaigns.
Perry: And I play Jen music all the time, and she’s got great ears. We just have an amazing collaboration and friendship, and I think that it makes what we do and how much time we spend here really fun, honestly.
Mallory: I would agree with that… I mean, listen, we both have very strong personalities, I would say. But we see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. I think that’s accurate. I don’t think there’s a lot of infighting.
Can you remember a time when you disagreed on a best path forward with someone or something? Or philosophically…
Perry: I can’t recall anything. I can’t recall right now.
Mallory: No, I can’t recall right now. For the most part, we’re a really good team. Not “for the most part” — we are a really good team.
And who else is in the inner circle of trust when making the bigger decisions? Who do you lean on when it comes to areas where you don’t feel yourselves the strongest?
Perry: I think we’re really good at collaborating with our senior staff. The reality is I could get ideas from really anywhere.
Mallory: That’s a benefit of the culture here… to his point, ideas can come from anywhere. There maybe isn’t that same sort of hierarchy that there used to be in an old-school system. We very much want to hear from every person. And we play to people’s strengths.
What are you looking forward to in the future? What trends are we going to see go even further, or what are we not talking about yet that we will be in years to come?
Perry: Future trends. Wow. Well, I have ideas, as we always have ideas, but I will not give them away. Because they’re our ideas. (Laughs.) So we’re always thinking about the future. We’re always trying to do things differently. We’re always trying to innovate. We’re trying to always think ahead. I think what we’ve accomplished here as a company in the past several years has shown that.
Mallory: I mean, it’s all so niche now. Niche communities, right? So we have to figure out how to knit those communities together and create importance and a long-term narrative and build out worlds. And that’s what we love to do here, and we have so many incredible artists that we get to work with to do that. But there’s always going to be disruption. Every year, we’re saying, “What’s going to be around the next bend?”
This story will appear in the Dec. 10, 2022, issue of Billboard.
Julie Greenwald, Atlantic Music Group chairman/CEO, and Craig Kallman, Atlantic Records chairman/CEO, will receive the 2023 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons award. The award will be presented at the Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. The annual event is presented jointly by industry legend Clive Davis and the Recording Academy.
This will be the first time since 2020 that the event will take place. Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer was announced as the recipient last year. He was scheduled to receive the award on Sun, Jan. 30, 2022, the night before the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, but the event was canceled because of a surge related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Grammys telecast itself was pushed back to April 3, 2022 and moved to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The award was presented to Stringer in Las Vegas by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. Stringer was also acknowledged as the Icon honoree on the Grammy Awards telecast. But he missed out on the gala.
The Recording Academy and Davis will celebrate Greenwald and Kallman’s accomplishments at this year’s event, set for the night before the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, which will return to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (formerly the Staples Center) on Feb. 5, 2023.
“Respected across the music community, Julie and Craig have fostered the careers of an incredible range of talent,” Mason said in a statement. “They both have a passion and love for music, and they are constantly pushing the music industry forward with their transformative work with the artist community. We are so honored to celebrate these two industry titans at this year’s Pre-Grammy Gala.”
“I’ve personally known Julie and Craig for many years and it’s so very exciting to celebrate their exceptional creativity and achievements at this year’s Pre-Grammy Gala,” said Davis, a previous honoree at this event. “What a special night it will be spotlighting them and their incredible music and artists!”
Greenwald and Kallman first joined forces in 2004, when Greenwald moved to Atlantic from Island Def Jam. Greenwald and Kallman will be the first pair to receive the Grammy Salute to Industry Icons Honor since Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss, the co-founders of A&M Records.
In addition to Davis, Alpert & Moss and Stringer, the roster of previous Pre-Grammy Gala honorees includes Clarence Avant, Irving Azoff, Martin Bandier, Sir Richard Branson, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter, Ahmet Ertegun, David Geffen, Berry Gordy, Lucian Grainge, Debra L. Lee, Doug Morris, Mo Ostin, and Antonio “L.A.” Reid.
The recently formed Atlantic Music Group, which includes the Atlantic and 300 Elektra label families, garnered nearly 40 Grammy nominations this year. Its top nominees this year include Lizzo, with five nods, including album, record and song of the year; Coldplay and Jack Harlow, with three nods each; and GAYLE with a nod for song of the year.
The Atlantic Records site has a list of nearly 200 “active artists” for its various labels, including Big Beat Records, Canvasback, Elektra Records, Fueled By Ramen, Maybach Music Group, and Roadrunner Records.
The site also lists more than 60 “legacy artists” and six Broadway cast albums, including the blockbusters Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen.
Atlantic Records is celebrating its 75th anniversary. The label was founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group. In 2004, Atlantic and its sister label Elektra were merged into the Atlantic Records Group.
The invitation-only Pre-Grammy Gala has become one of the most exclusive Grammy Week events. Sometimes, the event makes news, as it did three years ago when Combs put the Recording Academy on notice that he wanted to see major changes in the way it operated.
“Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys,” Combs noted in his acceptance speech. “Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be … And that stops right now. I’m officially starting the clock. You’ve got 365 days to get this sh-t together. We need transparency, we need diversity.”
Deanie Parker was a high-school glee club member aiming to be a star when she first met Stax Records co-founder Jim Stewart in 1962. Instead, she ended up occupying a front row seat as one of Stax’s longtime executives, witnessing the storied label’s rise, fall and rise again. Appointed publicity coordinator in 1965, she advanced to director of publicity in 1967, director of publicity, artist relations and public relations in 1968 and then vp of public affairs in 1973. Now retired as the founding president/CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, located at the original site of the Memphis-based label, Parker pays tribute to Stewart in this as-told-to reflection.
When I first met Jim Stewart in 1962, it had everything to do with my wanting to be on the road with Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Tina Turner — and to rival them. Of course, that never happened. Fortunately, both Jim and I were smart enough to know that I lacked the power and the tenacity. I also didn’t have Tina’s legs [laughs].
In the early ‘60s in Memphis, there was at least one talent show a week, mostly on Beale Street. A male group that was part of our high school glee club with me was looking for a lead vocalist. After we got together, the glee club teacher decided that we were good enough to enter one of the talent shows — the first prize being an audition for this new studio, Stax. We won first prize and auditioned for its founder, Jim.
He signed us and we later had a regional hit, but nothing beyond that. At any rate, it wasn’t long after Jim signed us that he provided me with an opportunity to experience firsthand what it was like for a Black artist to be on the road and the conditions under which they had to perform. That’s when I recognized that I was never going to compete with Stax’s queen Carla Thomas or other women artists. I was no threat at all. So I decided to pursue the administrative side of the business, publicity and marketing.
Fortunately for me, Stax was in its infancy. We were viewed as a backwater town on the Mississippi River and didn’t have anyone to publicize or promote what the organization was doing or to help groom the artists for the wonderful media inquiries that we started receiving as the hits rolled out. We were with Atlantic at the time. Jim provided the opportunity for me to learn that skill set while getting on-the-job experience.
I didn’t realize how much Jim was despised for what he was doing. People couldn’t get over the fact that he was providing opportunities for [Black] people who were being demeaned in every way that you could imagine. But the Stax philosophy was a welcoming one. Jim and Estelle [Axton, Jim’s sister and Stax co-founder] were not judgmental. Instead, they took the time to hear what it was we wanted to do, what we thought we could do and the commitments that we were prepared to make in order to make Stax better, to be part of an incredible organization that gave us this inimitable music.
Again, remember we’re in the South. Not only doesn’t anybody understand what the hell we’re doing, they don’t have any respect for it. Jim never talked about the hatred verbatim. But he was always very clear about the fact that as a country fiddler, when he first heard a Ray Charles song — I don’t remember which one now — his taste in music was never the same again. He knew then that what he wanted to do in Memphis was devote his time, attention and energy to recording his own music that would rival Charles’. He never hid that.
In terms of the racism and all of its tentacles that we were experiencing, what Jim did was take a very inflexible position about what was acceptable behavior and what would not be tolerated. He never ceased to remind us that anything that could be misconstrued as illegal would destroy us. Because the authorities and power structure in Memphis were waiting on an opportunity to take something that was uncommon in other places, perhaps, and use it against us to shut Stax’s doors.
That was his way of acknowledging that he was experiencing the same things we were. Like one day when he was standing outside underneath the marquee, talking to Isaac Hayes. A policeman came along and said, “You can’t be out here talking to Black people on the streets.” Jim tried to reason with him. But the policeman said, “I’ll take your ass down and lock you up.”
During the last 10 years, I had the opportunity to talk to Jim about how he dealt with all of that.
And he said, “My mother and father taught me something that worked and still works today that enabled me to press on and survive.” And that was the golden rule: treat people the way you want to be treated. Jim paid a hell of a price for his belief and determination in living up to that.
His ability to assimilate into an environment that was predominantly Black was because he respected the fact that all of us have something that we can bring to the table. That’s part of what made Stax great. So was the fact that perhaps it was the only place in Memphis that was totally integrated — another lesson. Forget all the BS about why we shouldn’t get along or not like each other. If you find something that you can enjoy together, that makes you happy and you could make a living from it? Then throw away everything else and run to that something. The artists may not have been polished but they were authentic. Jim accepted them in all of their rawness. He appreciated, respected and loved them for allowing him to record what they had because he knew what they had was infectious.
What Jim looked and listened for with an artist was his big secret. Watching him trying to keep time to the beat was embarrassing [laughs]. Yet Jim had impeccable hearing and precise timing. When he got behind that console, he knew exactly what he was trying to hear and what he was trying to feel. It was innate; something that God placed in him when he was born. You couldn’t touch it. He could look through the control rooms’ glass window at Booker T. & the M.G.’s on the floor and he knew if you weren’t in the right tempo or out of key. The one thing you could see about Jim was that he was in his element being outside of his element. The test of time shows that he had a freaking secret formula that nobody has been able to emulate. Even today the music just blows you away.
When Atlantic threw him a curve [a contractual stipulation that Atlantic owned the masters to the Stax albums being distributed], I don’t know if he kicked the dog when he got home or not. You know what I’m saying? But in my presence, he never cursed about it. He was a soft-spoken person; reserved. I just know that he was unhappy. I’m sure that he was miserable; that his level of confidence in people, especially in the music business, was crushed. And I’m sure that he blamed himself in some ways for not having been more attentive and less trusting. There’s no way on God’s earth that you can make me believe that Atlantic’s legal department and Jerry Wexler didn’t know what they were doing. Jim was a handshake-on-the-deal kind of man. It was a bitter lesson.
However, if Jim hadn’t been a do-right man, the good Lord would not have introduced him to Al Bell. There wouldn’t have been a solution to the dilemma. Jim could have saved his own behind and forgotten about us but that’s not what he did. His attitude was that we were all in the boat together. And his solution was to get up, dust himself off, learn from it and find a plan. That’s when we moved away from Atlantic and began building a catalog. We turned Stax into a factory, working day and night to release the soul explosion of singles and albums that became the rebirth of Stax.
My most touching memory of Jim happened after my stepfather’s mother died in Chicago. He and my mother had just moved to Memphis and didn’t have the money to transport his mother’s body to Memphis for burial. So I asked Jim if Stax could loan me $300-$400 to transport her body. And he made it happen, which he didn’t have to do. I wasn’t making enough with my writer royalties or anything else for him to feel secure that I’d pay it back. But I did. He trusted me and I’ll never forget it.
Sony Music has added Christel Kayibi to its Africa & Continental Europe team, which she will join as director of repertoire strategy, Africa.
In her new London-based role, Kayibi will be one of the few executives to focus on both Anglophone and Francophone Africa, where she will develop Sony Music’s roster and network; identify catalog, label and other investment opportunities; and drive Sony Music’s entry into new markets across the continent. Kayibi will also work closely with the label’s regional and local Africa teams to assist with the signing of artists in partnership with Sony Music labels worldwide.
For her first project, Kayibi forged a partnership between Sony Music Africa and Afrochella’s parent company, Culture Management Group, along with the streaming service Audiomack, to give unsigned African talent an opportunity to compete for global distribution deals and record contracts through the Ghana-based music festival’s expanded “Rising Star Stage” competition. She will report directly to Daniel Lieberberg, president of Continental Europe & Africa, for Sony, in coordination with Sean Watson, managing director of Sony Music Africa.
Kayibi’s hiring reinforces Africa’s position as a hotbed for global talent that all three major labels want to develop. In September, Def Jam signed an exclusive worldwide joint venture with Native Records, a Nigeria- and U.K.-based label. In June, Universal Music Group also launched Virgin Music Label & Artist Services Africa, which includes over 15,000 music titles, with more than 50 label partners from 25 countries, and releases from more than 100 of Africa’s leading artists. In the last couple of years, Warner Music Group has partnered with Chocolate City, one of Nigeria’s leading independent labels that includes Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti‘s son Femi Kuti and “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)” hitmaker CKay on its roster, and appointed Temi Adeniji as managing director of Warner Music South Africa and senior vp strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa, a post — similar to Kayibi’s — that’s meant to enhance the company’s presence in the region.
Before moving up at Sony Music, which she joined in 2019, Kayibi previously worked as the senior legal and business affairs manager and A&R at Columbia Records in the U.K., where she worked closely with finance, sales and marketing to ensure successful day-to-day operations of labels, including Columbia Records, 5K Records, Robots + Humans and Dream Life Records.
Before joining Sony Music, Kayibi worked as a lawyer at Slaughter and May, White & Case and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.
In 2017, Kayibi became the global legal counsel for Nigerian artist and entrepreneur Mr. Eazi and worked with him on building up his label Banku Music — which expanded its roster beyond its founder with the addition of Nigerian singer Joeboy, Ghanaian singer J.Derobie and Ghanaian DJ/producer GuiltyBeatz –as well as his African talent incubator, emPawa Africa, which currently distributes audio and video content for 100 artists across the African continent. Earlier this year, Kayibi won the best lawyer award at the 2022 Young Music Boss Awards in London, which recognizes the achievements of rising music executives under the age of 35.
New year; new vision.
As 2023 draws closer, Alex Sholler — known to many as the mega-successful producer/singer/songwriter/instrumentalist/party-starter Alison Wonderland — is revving up the engines of her latest venture: FMU Records.
With the label, Sholler intends to spotlight left of center electronic music made by up-and-coming artists along with her own Dark Electronic genre currently coming into greater focus via her Whyte Fang project.
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This Thursday (December 8), FMU Records will drop its debut release, “I Surrender.” A collaboration between Argentinean producer Dabow and South African artist Jon Casey, the track is a play-it-loud tapestry of percussion punctuated with trap bass and wavy synths that serves as a mood setter for FMU.
With the label, Sholler hopes to use her global platform to give shine to rising stars and provide a place where artists can release music without bowing to the kinds of craven, algorithm-based marketing strategies many begrudgingly endure.
“For FMU, we are just going to push good music,” she tells Billboard. “Artists won’t have to do TikToks to ensure their tracks do well. I just want to get cool, good music out there.”
Distribution for FMU is being handled via Ingrooves, while Alison Wonderland music will continue to be handled by EMI/AUS — which released Alison Wonderland’s three studio albums, including 2022’s Loner, which hit No. 3 on Dance/Electronics albums this past May.
But early 2023 sees Sholler putting her focus outside of Alison Wonderland, with FMU Records set to drop the debut album from her Whyte Fang project this spring. After spending six years on the backburner while Sholler took over the scene as Alison Wonderland, the project soft-launched earlier this year with a trio of singles — “Girl,” “333” and “TIDES” — that showcased a hypnotic, hard-edged sound well-suited for late nights in dark clubs.
Dropping March 31, 2023, the Whyte Fang album will include that trio of previously released singles and come in tandem with a warehouse launch party happening in New York earlier that month. The event will feature a Whyte Fang performance, which Sholler calls “not just a musical, but a whole artistic experience where the lighting, visuals, set, and live listening experience is all very cohesive.
“I’m just excited for people to see what’s going on in my mind,” she adds, “and [I’m excited] that I have complete creative control over it.”
The launch of this label was described in a press release as “one of the most important steps” in your career thus far. Does that feel true for you and if so, why?
Yes, this does feel true to me. I have always felt like I should take advantage of my reach as an established artist and give up-and-coming artists a chance to use my platform and keep control of their music — it’s something I feel very passionate about now.
I think that currently, artists feel a lot of pressure to be content creators, marketing managers, and promoters. I don’t want artists to feel like a statistic, I want them to feel like humans. I’m finding it hard to navigate myself in this world, with the pressure of only looking at numbers rather than the music. I just want to throw cool parties and hope things grow organically. I want to use my platform to give these young artists exposure.
My understanding is also that the label is intended to give you yourself more freedom. What does that mean to you? What will it look like in practice?
My Alison project is not able to be signed to FMU Records, but Whyte Fang is, so I’m able to really do what I want, without the opinion of teams of people. I guess I also have the freedom to sign whatever track I want, which is really exciting.
Do you feel like you haven’t had as much freedom as you would have liked in prior label relationships?
I 100% didn’t have as much freedom in past relationships, but I don’t think anyone does with big record labels. Don’t get me wrong, I have always had the freedom to release the music I wanted, but in terms of getting marketing budgets or singles supported you have to play ball with what the label wants to spend money on. Things like being told to do TikToks for my songs to get more budget makes me sad; it feels sterile and not the type of creative I am, and I’m sick of it. It’s archaic.
What’s the tone for FMU? Is there one song that sort of sums up your ethos?
I’m all about people being open-minded. Dark Electronic music is really what comes to mind; it’s what I gravitate towards and with this label, I’m really going to be able to showcase that. I used to run warehouse parties, and I really find the dark, minimalistic vibe very appealing.
Will FMU release future Alison Wonderland projects and if so, where does that put your relationship with EMI/AUS?
For the record, EMI/AUS have always been incredibly supportive and always has let me do what I want. I love that team, they support this [new project], and they are aware of this. I love the people that work there, and they have done an incredible job. They have always given me freedom and fought for me — they are the rare exception of people in this industry who are decent and care about the artist, and I mean that with all my heart. There should never be any negativity toward that team. I love them. My previous comments are about the larger record label machine, not about any particular individuals.
Tell me about the Whyte Fang album and why 2023 is the right time to release it?
Because I’m f–king ready! I’ve been bursting at the seams, and I’m going to go so hard. I’m putting my heart and soul into this album. I feel like so much of the experimental music I make is overshadowed by what my record label has picked to put into the forefront, and I need a home for that, because I really gravitate towards those beats.
Critics who complain that all country music sounds the same should check out the artist rosters at the genre’s most successful labels, teeming with what appears to be a broader range of artists than at any time in history.
Warner Music Nashville (WMN) recently signed Giovannie & The Hired Guns, a rock band with country and Tejano shadings; and Madeline Edwards, whose blend of country storytelling with pop and R&B sonics is an engaging test of stylistic boundaries. Big Machine’s 19-year-old Kidd G fuses twang and hip-hop with a rebel flare. And Universal Music Group’s Boy Named Banjo and The War and Treaty weave bluegrass/Americana and soul/gospel elements, respectively, into their own left-of-center takes on country.
The proliferation of boundary-pushing artists for the future represents a distinct philosophical change for Nashville labels who historically have played it safe, routinely stocking their rosters with acts that fit established norms. In one of the most-derided examples, country followed its golden era of the early 1990s with “hat acts,” overloading the system with male country artists whose sound and imaging were clear attempts to copy the successes of Garth Brooks, George Strait and Alan Jackson.
“We tend to chase the path of least resistance,” Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) president Cindy Mabe says. “A lot of times there’s money that follows that, but what happens is you end up alienating audiences that don’t want to hear just that. There has to be more than one thing happening, [with] appeal for more than one audience. That’s how we grow.”
This expansive approach to rosters is part of an uphill climb for country music, which was considered a Southern-based niche genre for rural white audiences in its infancy. Over time, the size and location of that audience has changed — it remains a dominant force in farming communities across the United States, though its largest fan cluster is likely in the suburbs.
A ream of cultural, technological and organizational changes have required the business to rethink its parameters, widening the potential definition of the format as well as the makeup of its target audience.
“Things that might have been considered left of center, even just two years ago, would be considered more mainstream now,” says WMN senior director of A&R Stephanie Davenport, “because I think our fan base’s horizons have broadened quite a bit.”
Indeed, new and recently developed acts across rosters include trap-country figure Blanco Brown (Broken Bow), pop/R&B-flavored Tiera Kennedy (Valory), bilingual duo Kat & Alex (Sony Music Nashville), piano-based/pop-influenced Ingrid Andress (WMN), multigenre singer/songwriter BRELAND (Atlantic/WMN), moody and elegant music-maker Sam Williams (Mercury Nashville), rock-shaded Elvie Shane (Wheelhouse) and rock-/hip-hop-threaded Lily Rose (Big Loud).
Plenty of developments influenced that level of musical fence-busting:
• Country’s wide-ranging sound: The current chart accommodates Carrie Underwood’s arena-rockish “Hate My Heart,” Kane Brown’s slow-jammin’ “Thank God” and Parker McCollum’s solid country “Handle on You,” so there’s precedent for roster variety. “There’s been a lot of diversity of sound on country radio, and the things that you hear back-to-back-to-back are more varied than you’d hear on top 40,” says WMN senior director of A&R Rohan Kohli. “So I think the signings are a reflection of the diversity that we’ve been hearing for a while.”
• The proliferation of radio chains: When country stations were locally owned, management tended to be more provincial about the genre. Now that chains frequently have programmers overseeing four or more formats, radio is more receptive to artists such as Jelly Roll or Dan + Shay working beyond their home base. “A big hit for one of those executives is something they’re going to be aware of,” says Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta. “You don’t have to go and reeducate everybody because it’s the same people.”
• DIY technology: With budding artists able to learn music-making at home and promote themselves on social media, a la UMGN’s Priscilla Block, they arrive in the business with built-in knowledge that makes them less apt to bend to accepted norms than previous generations. “We don’t try to fit any of our artists into a box,” Kohli says. “We tell them to go make the music, and we’ll follow it.”
• Digital consumption: Streaming sites have given the consumer easy access to music on country’s margins, allowing fans to find outside-the-box artists such as Corey Kent or Bailey Zimmerman, while they’re still indie acts, forcing labels to be more nimble in reacting to the marketplace.
• Precedent-setting change artists: A wide range of acts — from Willie Nelson to Chris Stapleton to Florida Georgia Line — have made the mainstream bend to their style instead of conforming to the format’s preexisting sound. The genre has been rewarded for pushing the limit in the past: Sound-alikes, as in the hat-act era or the bro-country era, have actually hurt the format, and the business is more committed to widening the playing field instead of just staying inside of it.
• Better inner-division cooperation: Music can still get lost, but the Nashville offices of major labels and publishers are generally working better with coastal pop divisions. That means greater potential for nontraditional acts, which also makes them less risky to sign.
• Expanding demographics: Music Row is more interested than ever in expanding its core audience, intent on attracting more young fans and minorities, especially Blacks and Latinos. In particular, the increase in Black artists — most of whom blend country and R&B influences — means more acts are stretching the sound of the genre.
• Faster trends: In the entire 1980s, country had two trends: the Urban Cowboy movement and New Traditionalism. The last 10 years have seen bro-country, Motown country, boyfriend country, ’90s retro country and, now, the lightly produced, gruff Yellowstone country (think Warren Zeiders and Zach Bryan). The format changes quicker than ever, and labels have to be prepared to shift with it. “If you don’t diversify in some regard, you’re going to have to scrap a whole roster really quickly,” Mabe says. “You have to have a vision of where you’re going.”
• The next big thing: While ’90s-style country and Yellowstone country are current, labels are already looking to the future, unpredictable as it is. “We always are fighting to stay on the edge of what’s next,” Borchetta says. “You want to be early, you want to figure out if there’s more to it than just a TikTok moment. You’re always looking for the next one that has all the right parts and pieces or could grow the right parts and pieces.”
Ultimately, those new artists are stepping into a genre that already has consistent hitmakers with Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban. Thus, predicting the format’s future direction is only part of the challenge; the new acts also have to be capable of making a difference when matched against the genre’s established voices.
“New artists are competing against artists who’ve had many, many No. 1s,” Davenport says. “It’s not enough to have a good story. You have to have the best story as new artists.”
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When Motown Records chairwoman and CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam announced on Tuesday she would be stepping down to “pursue new endeavors,” the news was met with surprise, concern and the one inevitable question: What’s next for the storied label founded by Berry Gordy?
“Nobody saw this coming,” says one veteran label executive of the stunning announcement, stemming from the fact that Habtemariam was promoted to the chairwoman/CEO post in March 2021, only 20 months ago. Her groundbreaking appointment as the third woman — and only the second one of color — ever to hold that title at a major label was concurrent with other major news: Motown was being re-established as a standalone label after first being under the Island Def Jam umbrella and most recently under the Capitol Music Group banner.
During Habtemariam’s tenure — which also includes six years as president — she has rebuilt Motown into the strongest position it’s held in years. After overseeing the label’s relocation from New York to Los Angeles in 2014, Habtemariam announced her first major signing in 2015: a joint venture with Atlanta-based Quality Control. The alliance yielded such now-marquee names as Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Migos and City Girls for the label’s roster. Other entrepreneurial ventures ensued, including Blacksmith Recordings (Vince Staples) and Since the 1980s (Asiahn, Njomza), alongside roster mates Erykah Badu, Kem, Tiana Major9 and Nigerian star Tiwa Savage. This fall, Motown signed Youngboy Never Broke Again after inking a global joint venture with his Never Broke Again collective last year. Also new to the roster are Brandy and Sean “Diddy” Combs with a one-album deal for the first release from his R&B-focused label Love Records.
At the time of Habtemariam’s promotion to chairman in 2021, Motown’s overall U.S. market share was 0.85%, having grown from 0.4% in 2017 to 0.59% in 2020, and she’s since grown it further, to 0.95% to date in 2022. While catalog had primarily driven Motown’s performance in the past, its market share growth in 2020 and 2021 was largely due to its frontline commercial releases, thanks primarily to the QC roster, Staples and veteran R&B chart-topper Kem. In April 2021, its current market share — essentially the performance of music released in the 18 months prior to the measurement period — was just shy of 1%. That’s after averaging 0.14% from 2015 to 2019 and more than doubling that number to 0.32%, according to Luminate data. In 2022 so far, Motown’s current market share has risen to 1.30%.
Habtemariam has also wielded influence at the corporate level, too, having co-founded and served as co-chair of Universal’s Task Force for Meaningful Change, dedicated to supporting initiatives designed to support marginalized communities battling injustice, inequality and inclusion issues. Having spent 20 years at UMG in various roles, Habtemariam was well-respected internally, several sources note.
Habtemariam’s pending departure will leave only two people of color running major labels as chairmen/CEOs: Epic Records’ Sylvia Rhone, now in her eighth year at the label and third as chairman/CEO, and Def Jam Recordings’ Tunji Balogun, who will celebrate his first anniversary at the label in January. As to who will succeed Habtemariam, inside sources say nothing has been decided yet. And in talking to several other industry executives, no one had any contenders they wanted to suggest. Given past precedent, however, UMG could opt to have a senior executive oversee the label for an interim period, as happened in 2020 when Paul Rosenberg exited as Def Jam CEO and Universal tapped Jeffrey Harleston, its general counsel and executive vp of business & legal affairs, to temporarily oversee label operations while it conducted a search, which lasted almost two years and ultimately resulted in the appointment of Balogun. Universal Music Group had no comment when contacted.
Just as important as diversity and inclusion in the search for Motown’s next chief is what happens now with the label itself. Will it remain a standalone or be folded back into the Capitol Music Group or another sister label?
One senior-level executive notes that Motown “has never been set up to run on its own.” The label shares some services through Universal and still uses Capitol’s radio promotions team, while its market share still goes through Capitol Music Group, a setup similar to those at other UMG labels like Island, whose market share goes through Republic. Another label executive who agreed to talk on background said that while it’s too soon to predict what happens with Motown, bringing the label back under CMG isn’t an unrealistic scenario. In an uncertain economic climate that’s already sparked layoffs at CNN, Twitter and other companies, such a move would reduce overhead while strengthening Capitol’s R&B/hip-hop presence.
However, given the strides made under Habtemariam’s watch, one major label executive says Motown shouldn’t be viewed as “disposable.” They continue, “I would hope that Motown stays standalone. Its legacy remains an important part of Black culture and pop music, thanks to its generational talent then — and now.”
Additional reporting by Dan Rys.
What happens when you let 5,555 music fans make decisions at a major label? Warner Records is about to find out through its new Web3 imprint Probably a Label. After selling out a collection of NFT access-passes, the holders will now gather in a Discord server to help develop artists together, share the credits of any future awards such as a Grammy, and ultimately offer intellectual property rights in some of the projects to NFT holders.
The experiment is a collaboration between Warner Records UK and Web3 brand Probably Nothing, whose debut NFT collection fetched $500k in seven minutes in October. Each NFT comes with different rarity and label roles (4,000 scouts, 1,500 managers and 55 label heads), allowing holders to vote on certain decisions. The rarest — and most expensive, currently at $2,138 — come with priority voting and access to exec dinners.
“This is a vehicle for us to explore new ways of working as a label,” says Sebastian Simone — vp of audience & strategy at Warner Records UK. For the first time at a major label level, fans will be involved in artist development, starting with the creation of a virtual artist. “[The virtual artist] will be built in conjunction with the community of holders through a voting system on design, storyline and other creative.”
Holders have already been gifted a free music NFT — “Money on the Table” by Diddy and Jason Martin — but the label isn’t just focused on NFTs. It will also run traditional campaigns to help break emerging talent within the Web3 space. Simone envisions a future where Web3-native artists developed through the label are “Selling out global tours, winning awards and crossing over into the mainstream.” There will also be crossover from the existing Warner roster where Probably a Label will act as the first touchpoint for established acts to experiment with NFTs.
Warner has been an early-adopter in Web3, launching the Stickmen Toys NFT project in August — an early experiment in granting IP rights to fans from a major label. Stickmen Toys holders own the full rights to the music and can use it however they like. Warner Records also landed the UK’s first ever No. 1 with a chart-compatible NFT release through Muse’s Will of the People. “WMG is focused on ensuring that our artists are deeply embedded in this world of Web3 so that they are not just using the technologies but helping to define them,” says Oana Ruxandra, chief digital officer and executive vp, business development. “We are putting a lot of time and energy behind this burgeoning space.”
Courtesy Photo
Rather than keep everything inside the Warner machine, however, the label partnered with Probably Nothing — a Web3 brand founded by former restaurateur and TV chef Jeremy Fall. The brand already has a community of thousands and previous experience with NFT drops including the Probably Nothing Genesis Pass which generated 879 ETH (~$1.03 million) in volume since launching in May 2022. The idea is to co-sign Warner’s NFT activities with an established name in Web3. “We’re in a new market exploring and learning,” says Simone. “It’s crucial we partner with people who have a deep, early-adopter understanding of new technologies and the culture.”
On paper, it’s a smart move. Many music companies and major label artists have blundered into Web3 without engaging with the existing community or taking the temperature of the market, leading to disastrous results and backlash. Collaborating with native Web3 teams appears to be a winning formula for bigger corporate entities.
For Fall, the venture allows him to dive deeper into music, which he says has always been part of his identity. During his days as a TV chef, he hosted a “Beats for Breakfast” show with Miguel. “Anytime I can be creative in a new way gets me excited. I have a vision on how I could help impact the music industry … and having Warner Records help bring those ideas to life excites me the most.”
The label’s biggest promise of all, however, is to “redefine IP ownership in music.” Although specific details are still cloudy, Fall says “We will be granting IP rights to certain [label] projects, depending on how they are structured … disrupting the traditional label model by opening the doors to sharing ownership in valuable content.” The team can’t yet confirm whether this will extend to the virtual artist currently in development or any of the songs.
Some of this IP experiment will also be explored in an initiative called Studio A and Studio B. “Studio A is our IP incubator,” explains Fall. “It allows our holders to pitch their existing [NFT-related] IP to us.” For example, if a member of the community owns a Doodles, Azuki, Bored Ape Yacht Club or select other NFTs, they can pitch an idea to the label based around the NFT, such as a music video, virtual artist, song or short-film. If accepted, Probably a Label will help provide resources, financing and marketing.
Studio B is more like a pooled music library. Anyone with a label pass can submit tracks to Studio B, and someone else from the community could use that music in their own project, such as a movie or sample for a beat. “If someone from our community wants to use one of the tracks for a project,” says Fall, “We will broker the communication between holders that allows them to license it.”
Critics might ask whether any of this requires NFTs at all. Fan voting mechanisms and shared communities can be created without Web3. Fall explains, “The traditional Web2 model doesn’t allow us to … give [fans] any ownership in projects. NFTs are this exact core that give people emotional ownership and value in projects they are a part of.” Important to note, however, that owning an NFT does not automatically guarantee IP ownership unless it’s explicitly stated.
In terms of providing value, the NFT label pass could be expected to rise if the label and its artists are successful, rewarding holders for their participation. However, the label will have to contend with the fact that the current price of the NFT (0.03 ETH) is now worth less than half the mint price (0.09 ETH). Anyone that purchased on the day of launch is now underwater unless they pulled one of the 55 rarest passes. While this is not unusual for NFT projects in the current down-market, it is uncharted territory for a major label that will now have to manage expectations of thousands of music fans who may have lost money on paper. The team isn’t fazed yet, though. “We’re focused on providing the best experience and value to our community,” says Simone. “The rest will fall into place.”
For record executives, the story of Michael Jackson‘s Thriller begins in 1979, three years before the album came out, when disco crashed and record stores returned millions of unwanted LPs to major labels. That year, recorded-music revenues dropped 10% from the previous year prior, according to RIAA data, and vinyl sales were just beginning to decline after years of growth. CBS Records had massive layoffs that summer; Warner Bros. followed with 55 in December.
“When I came in on Monday, there were half-smoked cigarettes in ashtrays and half-typed memos in typewriters,” recalls Jim Urie, then CBS’ New York branch manager, who pink-slipped 40 on his staff. “It was really, really brutal.”
The industry-wide malaise, coinciding with a worldwide recession, lasted two or three years. “It was the first time all of us young people in the music business had business hit us in the face,” says Dan Beck, Epic Records’ head of publicity at the time, who recalls another “major” wave of company wide CBS layoffs in summer 1982. “One of the first things people cut back was the disposable income — so if somebody bought three or four albums a month, and now they only bought one or two, that was pretty dramatic to our business.”
Thriller, released exactly 40 years ago, on Nov. 30, 1982, helped usher in the music business’ comeback, along with the explosive growth of MTV and the adoption of the compact disc. Jackson’s follow-up to 1979’s Off the Wall took off instantly, beginning with the opening single, “The Girl Is Mine,” a duet with Paul McCartney designed to cross the album over to a white radio audience. All seven of its singles would land in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and the album would spend 37 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Thriller coaxed fans back into record stores to buy multiple copies, thus providing labels with resources to market Madonna, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and, later, hair-metal bands. At the end of 1981, CBS Records, which owned Epic at the time, took in $1 billion in revenue, its worst earnings since 1971; by the end of 1983, its net income increased 26% to $187 million.
“It pulled the music industry out of the doldrums,” says Larry Stessel, then Epic’s West Coast marketing vp. “It helped pull us out of the disco days and it became a whole new world.”
Stessel, who worked closely with Jackson on music videos, says the industry recession from roughly 1979 to 1983 helped his staff learn to economize — which made Epic and other labels leaner and stronger when the business came back.
“It allowed us to utilize our dollars more efficiently, develop local campaigns — if you could break an artist out of Kansas City, then obviously your next goal was to spread it to St. Louis, and maybe your next stop would be Milwaukee or Chicago or Detroit, depending where the airplay was,” he recalls. “It made us smarter marketing people when the doors opened up again after Thriller was released.”
Famously, Thriller‘s sales run kept going and going — it spiked after every new single and video, and surged after Jackson did the moonwalk during NBC’s Motown 25 anniversary special in May 1983. Today, Jackson’s label, Sony, claims Thriller as the best-selling global album of all time; in the U.S., according to the Recording Industry Association of America, it is 34 times platinum, behind the Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, at 38 times platinum. Even as Jackson’s legacy is tainted with allegations of child sexual abuse in HBO’s 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, the album has generated 3.87 million U.S. album-equivalent units in the past 10 years, including 1.2 million in physical album sales, according to Luminate.
“I knew then,” Stessel says of Thriller‘s staying power. “We started literally selling 1.2 million copies over the country every week. The album went from 4 to 6 million copies to 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.”
Thriller did more than reverse CBS Records’ fortunes in the early ’80s. It helped encourage Sony Corp. to buy the label home of Jackson, Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond and many other stars for $2 billion in 1988. The idea was to unite software (music) with Sony’s new hardware (compact discs), and Thriller was the most valuable content of all. “You don’t buy Michael Jackson because he sounds like somebody else. You buy him because he resonates with you,” says Mickey Schulhof, then Sony’s top executive in the U.S. “Having content, we knew, was going to be an important part of Sony’s future, and the largest content library in the record industry was CBS Records. It was an easy decision.”
Thriller made Urie, CBS’ New York branch manager back then, forget those painful 1979 layoffs — almost. “If you have a big enough record — and this is certainly true today — it throws off so much profit over its lifetime that it really can change things,” he says. “It cures all ills.”