SESAC
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SESAC Performing Rights has chosen the private company Soundreef to manage its offline performing rights in Italy, withdrawing them from SIAE, the Italian collective management organization. Although the EU rights collections market has been open for a decade – the national societies are no longer national monopolies, especially when it comes to online rights – this is one of the larger moves so far. SIAE was founded in 1882 – Soundreef in 2012.
“It’s very rational,” Alex Wolf, president of international of the SESAC Music Group, tells Billboard. “What made us change is, we were very convinced about their IT, their administration and their management.”
This is the first time one of the ten biggest performing rights organizations (PROs) has withdrawn its repertoire from one of the major European societies in favor of a relatively young, private company. Italy is the sixth largest rights collections market in the world, according to CISAC’s data from 2021, the last year for which information is available.
This shows how competitive the rights market is becoming – especially, but not only, in Europe. SESAC is the third-biggest rights collection entity in the U.S., and it is building an international operation – much of it international. Some of this is through MINT, a joint venture with the Swiss society SUISA that manages Soundreef repertoire online in much of the world. Although that deal is completely separate, Wolf says he respected how Soundreef operated.
“You get a good insight into how a company works,” he says.
Soundreef is a Rome-based private company that initially focused on background music, then raised investment money to expand in 2016. It now has 40,000 affiliates, 26,000 of whom are Italian.
“We thought we could create a different system where technology was at the center of the operation,” said Soundreef CEO Davide d’Atri. “That means three things: analytical distribution, where what is played is paid; transparency, and quick payment.”
Analytical distribution essentially means reducing the amount of royalties that are distributed statistically, as opposed to tracked directly. D’Atri says that Soundreef distributes 85% of its payments this way, while some societies pay out as much as 60% based on statistics – extrapolating which songs are played in bars and restaurants by tracking which are played on radio or television, for example.
“Some of the bigger societies are very efficient,” d’Atri says, “but others sit on a lot of money” that can’t be directly attributed to specific rightsholders. Soundreef, he added, is now trying to attract other Anglo-American companies.
Jack Harlow was named songwriter of the year at the 2023 SESAC Music Awards, which were held at the Highlight Room in Hollywood on Tuesday (Sept. 19). This is the third year in a row Harlow has taken that title. “First Class,” which was his first unaccompanied No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, took song of the year.
The event was attended by top executives, artists, songwriters and publishers including Bryan-Michael Cox, Dixson, Papiyerr, Dontae Winslow and Kenyon Dixon, among others.
Sony Music Publishing was named publisher of the year for the second year in a row, taking home a total of 12 awards for songs including “First Class,” “We Go Up” recorded by Nicki Minaj and Fivio Foreign, “Count Me Out” recorded by Kendrick Lamar and “Mercury” recorded by Steve Lacy.
Micah Otano won the SESAC Resurgence Award for “Lost,” which was recorded by Frank Ocean. The song was published by Music 4 Mataya and Tunes of Reach.
“We are honored to celebrate our songwriters and publishers across multiple genres,” Sam Kling, chief creative officer, SESAC Performing Rights, said in a statement. “SESAC is proud of its affiliates who continue to write chart-topping hits and we enjoy every opportunity we get to celebrate their achievements.”
Additional award-winning writers include Daniel Lopatin, who took home four awards for his work with The Weeknd; Dez Wright, for his work with Young Thug and Drake; and Jimmy Napes for songs he wrote with Sam Smith.
Artist and SESAC songwriter Tamara Jade, who appeared on Season 19 of NBC’s The Voice, served as the MC for the evening. This marked the second year the awards were held in Los Angeles.
For event highlights, visit @SESAC on Instagram. A full list of winners is available at www.sesac.com.
Steve Butler was named head of legal & business affairs, North America at Warner Chappell Music. Butler will support the publisher’s U.S. (including Nashville and U.S. Latin) and Canadian markets while working closely with various departments to ensure cohesion across its North American operations. He will continue reporting to Warner Chappell executive vp/global head of legal & business affairs Peter Rosenthal. Butler was previously senior vp of legal & business affairs; among other deals, he oversaw the company’s purchase of David Bowie‘s catalog.
Warner Music Group’s WMX announced several new hires: Karl Walsh as executive vp/head of global commerce; Brian Furano as global head of A&R; and Robbie Owens-Russo as senior vp of creative services. Additionally, the company announced the following promotions: Tracy Stone to head of artist and fan experiences, North America; Bob Workman to head of WMX artist & fan experience, UK & rest of the world/senior vp of international artist & brand partners; and Angela Nguyen to head of global commercial operations. The new appointments mark a major overhaul of WMX’s merchandise, commerce, partnerships and ops teams. Walsh can be reached at Karl.Walsh@wmg.com, Furano can be reached at Brian.Furano@wmg.com, Owens-Russo can be reached at robbie.owens-russo@wmg.com, Stone can be reached at Tracy.Stone@wmg.com and Workman can be reached at Bob.Workman@warnermusic.com.
David Loiterton was hired as president, Indo-Pacific at Primary Wave Music. Based in Hong Kong, Loiterton will be tasked with managing the company’s catalog while driving investment in music IP across the region, particularly in India, Japan, Korea, China and Australia as well as emerging Southeast Asian markets. He can be reached at dloiterton@primarywave.com.
SESAC Performing Rights promoted Erin Collins to senior vp of film/TV creative services. The Billboard 2022 Women in Music honoree will continue overseeing SESAC’s network of composers and publishers.
Independent dance label Armada Music announced several new hires and promotions: Madeleine van Schendel was named chief growth officer; Jop Bonnike was promoted to COO; and Michel Peek was promoted to GM of publishing. Additionally, Nadine van Bodegraven moved from Armada’s executive team to join its investment company BEAT as COO.
Attorney Kenneth T. Deutsch joined law firm Paul Hastings as a partner and global co-chair of its entertainment and media practice. He joins from Latham & Watkins, where he served as global co-chair of the firm’s entertainment, sports and media group.
Island Records announced the promotions of Hannah Colson to director of artist development and Sam Lunn to director of strategic marketing.
MNRK Music Group promoted Brandon Squar to GM and Ebrahim “Abe” Rasheed to senior vp of urban. Squar will oversee commerce, marketing, project management and publicity for the company’s artists while Rasheed will spearhead all efforts in A&R and artist development for MNRK’s urban roster.
Tamaya Petteway was named senior vp of partnerships at Dick Clark Productions, where she will be tasked with securing brand partnerships across the company’s live event programming, including the American Music Awards, the Country Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, the Streamy Awards, So You Think You Can Dance and The Golden Globes. Petteway joins the company from Endemol Shine North America, where she most recently served as senior vp of brand partnerships, licensing and digital.
Ariana White was promoted to vp of publicity at Atlantic Records. She currently handles publicity for Atlantic signees Kali, Mahalia, Rico Nasty, Ckay, No Cap and Quando Rondo, among others.
The Black Music Action Coalition and Audiomack announced a paid internship and mentorship program designed to discover the next generation of Black executives in the music industry and named several executives as mentors. They are: Artistry Group CEO Max Gousee, The Blueprint Group CMO/partner Al Branch, Biz 3 Publicity CEO Kathryn Frazier, CAA agent Yves Pierre, 10Q Management CEO Lydia Asrat and AEG talent buyer Marcus “Don Dada” Johnson. Prospective candidates to the program can apply here.
Troy Skabelund joined artist financing company beatBread as CFO. Skabelund is also founder/CEO of the small business consulting network Advisory Zone.
Boutique entertainment law firm Ritholz Levy Fields promoted three attorneys to partner: Cody Brown (New York), Jenna Harris (Nashville) and Dan Zupnick (New York). Brown can be reached at cbrown@rlfllp.com, Harris can be reached at jharris@rlfllp.com and Zupnick can be reached at dzupnick@rlfllp.com.
Lauren Kreisler was promoted to director of brand & digital for the Official Charts Company in the UK, a newly created role. Her expanded role comes ahead of the company’s refreshed brand identity and consumer-facing digital platform in the coming weeks. Kreisler can be reached at lauren@officialcharts.com.
Anna Desalu was named vp of commerce and sales at record label Blac Noize! (Big Machine/SB Projects), where she will lead streaming initiatives for the company’s roster, including by cultivating digital partnerships and editorial placement. She joins the company from Warner Music Group/Atlantic Records’ Asylum Records, where she was director of sales and commerce.
Audioshake co-founder/CEO Jessica Powell has joined the advisory board of digital music distribution platform Octiive, joining SoundCloud chief product officer Rohit Agarwal and Meta head of UK and Ireland venture capital & partnerships Rowly Bourne.