umg
Universal Music Group, the owner of Republic Records, has reached a settlement to resolve a trademark lawsuit the music giant filed against a music investment platform called Republic.
The deal will end a case in which UMG accused the smaller company of confusing consumers by expanding into music royalties investing – a move UMG warned could dupe people into thinking Republic Records was involved in the project. But a judge later ruled that the case would be difficult to win.
In an order last week (Dec. 13), the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit said that all claims had been “settled in principle” and ordered the case dismissed. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and neither side immediately returned requests for more details.
Trending on Billboard
Launched in 2016, OpenDeal Inc.’s Republic platform lets users buy into startups, cryptocurrency projects and other investments across a wide range of sectors. In October 2021, the company announced it would start allowing users to invest in music royalties by purchasing NFTs (non-fungible tokens), calling itself the first to “bring music investing to the masses.”
That quickly sparked the lawsuit from UMG, which acquired Republic Records in 2000 and now operates it as one of its top imprints, home to Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Drake, Post Malone and many others. In a November 2021 complaint seeking an immediate injunction, UMG called OpenDeal’s new service a “wanton effort to usurp plaintiff’s Republic name and trademarks for itself.”
“The artists, labels, managers, agents, and fans who currently know of plaintiff’s Republic label would be presented with two different companies offering identical services under identical names in the same industry,” UMG’s lawyers wrote at the time. “Confusion is inevitable.”
But in July 2022, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that that UMG was unlikely to be able to prove such allegations in court. She said the evidence of potential confusion was “extremely minimal,” since the services and consumers of the two companies “differ significantly” — and that a shared connection to the music industry was “not enough.”
“It is conceivable that there may ultimately be some overlap between the parties’ consumers—for instance, fans of a popular artist may both purchase that artist’s music through Republic Records, and make crowdfunded investments in recordings by that artist through the Republic Platform,” the judge wrote. “But, such scenarios remain hypothetical.”
That ruling – denying UMG’s request for a so-called preliminary injunction that would have forced OpenDeal to change its name while the case was litigated – was not a final decision on the case. But it indicated that UMG was unlikely to win, and such trademark cases often settle after such early skirmishes.
After that decision, UMG later filed an updated version of its allegations, and the case proceeded into discovery – the process of exchanging evidence in a civil lawsuit. But the lawsuit has largely been paused for more than a year as the two sides engaged in settlement talks that ultimately resulted in last week’s agreement.
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Joe Budden has made a career out of dissecting music and Hip-Hop culture with his popular eponymously named podcast, and the latest episode found him aiming his sights at Drake. After the news went wide that Drake launched a pair of lawsuits against Universal Music Group, Joe Budden proceeded to heave heavy critique upon the Canadian superstar, which has social media reacting.
On episode 779 of The Joe Budden Podcast, Budden and his cohosts bumped into a conversation regarding Drake’s lawsuits against UMG, the label he’s currently signed to and accusing of boosting Kendrick Lamar’s scathing “Not Like Us” single. Since this episode exists on a Patreon subscription service, we’ve only seen clips that surfaced online, which we’ll share from X below.
Joe Budden telling the unfiltered truth about Aubrey Drake Graham. pic.twitter.com/K2hMLZFuII
— Busby 🏁 (@MrBusby4o8) November 27, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The Joe Budden Podcast cooking again sheesh
🦉 “was disrespecting someone’s dead mom” “ idc about his dead mom tell him send a beat”
( I wonder if this why metro booming got upset)
🦉 “is more scared of Not Like Us being played at the SuperBowl”
Kendrick Lamar GNX out now pic.twitter.com/GsQ7fU141K
— Whooping feet (@WhoopingFeet) November 27, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
As the clips highlight, Budden believes the industry has conspired in some regard against Drake due to alleged shady dealings with the personal affairs of his foes up to the business side of things. Fans online are taking note of Budden’s jabs as he’s been known to be friendly with Drake over the years but fell out of favor with the entertainer after Budden was critical of his musical direction For All The Dogs.
On X, formerly Twitter, the JBTV community space and others are sharing their thoughts about Joe Budden using the pod to air out his grievances against Drake. We’ve got the reactions listed below.
—
Photo: JBP/Screengrab
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty
Drake is doubling down. After initially accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify of boosting Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” to his detriment, in a second filing, Drizzy claims that UMG and iHeartRadio defamed him in the process of making the song massive.
According to Billboard, Drake filed this latest petition in Texas, and he alleges that K. Dot “falsely” accused him of being “a sex offender” in his megahit diss song “Not Like Us.” But his label promoted it anyway.
Per Billboard:
A day after filing an action in New York accusing UMG of illegally boosting Lamar’s track on Spotify, Drake’s company leveled similar claims in Texas court regarding radio giant iHeartRadio. The new filing, filed late Monday and made public on Tuesday, claims UMG “funneled payments” to iHeart as part of a “pay-to-play scheme” to promote the song on radio.
But the filing also offers key new details about Drake’s grievances toward UMG, the label where he has spent his entire career. In it, he says UMG knew that Kendrick’s song “falsely” accused him of being a “certified pedophile” and “predator” but chose to release it anyway.
Part of the backlash to Drake’s initial filing was that he had all this energy to question Kendrick Lamar’s ht song getting all these spins, but none for the accusation of being a pedophile. However, the way he addresses it in this filling is not earning him any points. Instead, the Toronto rapper sounds sour that UMG dared to make money at his expense—when considering they surely made cash off his own diss tracks.
“UMG … could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” Drake’s lawyers write. “But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
While Spotify and iHeartRadio have yet to respond, UMG did so on Monday (Nov. 25). From the tone of its statement, the entity is not to happy with their superstar rapper and the nefarious actions he is insinuating.
“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” said the company in a statement to Billboard. “We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”
This is only going to get more interesting, while Drake is going to continue getting cooked online.
Universal Music Group (UMG) is firing back at a lawsuit from Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst claiming the label owes the band more than $200 million, calling the allegations “fiction” and demanding they be thrown out of court.
The blockbuster lawsuit, filed last month in Los Angeles federal court, claimed that Durst had “not seen a dime in royalties” over the decades — and that hundreds of other artists may have been treated similarly under “systemic” and “fraudulent” policies.
But in UMG’s first response on Friday, attorneys for the label said the lawsuit must be dismissed immediately because it is “based on a fallacy.”
Trending on Billboard
“Plaintiffs’ entire narrative that UMG tried to conceal royalties is a fiction,” writes Rollin A. Ransom, an attorney with the law firm Sidley Austin who represents UMG in the lawsuit. “Plaintiffs’ complaint fails as a matter of law and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
The key problem with Durst’s claims? According to UMG’s attorneys, it’s that documents included in his own lawsuit “eviscerate” his allegations. They specifically cite emails in which a UMG exec appears to have reached out to get royalties flowing, but was rebuffed by the band’s own business manager.
“Over a year before plaintiffs’ ‘discovery’ of allegedly ‘concealed’ royalties, UMG affirmatively and unilaterally reached out to Limp Bizkit’s representative so that it could begin making royalty payments to the band, and was instead informed by him that all members of Limp Bizkit but one (including plaintiff Durst) had assigned their royalty shares to others, and were therefore not entitled to any royalty payments from UMG,” the company wrote in Friday’s filing.
Durst’s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday. They will have a chance to file a formal response in court opposing UMG’s motion to end the case.
Durst and Limp Bizkit sued UMG in October, claiming the band had “never received any royalties from UMG,” despite its huge success over the years: “The band had still not been paid a single cent by UMG in any royalties until taking action.”
That claim was something of a stunner. How had one of the biggest bands of its era, which sold millions of records during the music industry’s MTV-fueled, turn-of-the-century glory days, still never have been paid any royalties nearly three decades later?
According to Durst, the answer was an “appalling and unsettling” scheme to conceal royalties from artists and “keep those profits for itself.” He claimed the company essentially kept Limp Bizkit in the red with shady bookkeeping, allowing it to falsely claim the band remained unrecouped — meaning its royalties still had not surpassed the amount the group had been paid in upfront advances.
But in Friday’s response, UMG said such claims of “concealment” were undercut by those emails. UMG says the message show a senior royalties director reaching out on his own initiative to Paul Ta, the band’s business manager, to “start making royalty payments,” but being rebuffed.
“Mr. Ta rejected that proposition, responding that all the Limp Bizkit members but one (including Plaintiff Durst) ‘have … sold/assigned their share [of the royalties] to various companies,’ such that no royalty payments were owing to any of those individuals (including Plaintiff Durst),” UMG wrote in Friday’s motion.
UMG says Ta later emailed back that his statements had been incorrect, at which point the label paid out roughly $3.4 million to the band and its companies – a fact that contradicts the lawsuit’s claims of “never received any royalties.”
“Plaintiffs concede thereafter receiving millions of dollars in payments from UMG,” the label wrote Friday. “Plaintiffs nevertheless brought this suit alleging breach of contract and fraud on their ‘suspicion’ that they are owed more royalties, and seeking rescission of the parties’ agreements.”
Universal Music Group made a pair of announcements on Wednesday that signal the global leader in music is getting more and more serious about China.
Universal Music Greater China and Modern Sky, a leading independent music label in the country, pressed send on a strategic distribution agreement giving the domestic label’s catalog and artists access to UMG’s global distribution network, fostering collaboration and promoting Chinese music and youth culture internationally.
Additionally, UMGC announced a pact with iQIYI, China’s leading online entertainment platform, to distribute new releases from contestants of reality show The Rap of China 2024 worldwide. This agreement includes support for the rap artists and opportunities for the top three finalists of the iQIYI-produced show to visit UMG’s global music labels and studios, with a goal to foster international collaborations with other artists and producers.
Modern Sky, founded in 1997 by Shen Lihui, has been a key player in China’s indie music scene, producing over 500 albums and working with influential bands and artists. The label’s roster includes over 150 acts, featuring Matt Lv, Aflou, DOUDOU and other established and emerging talents across diverse genres. Modern Sky is also known for organizing the Strawberry Music Festival, China’s first large-scale outdoor music festival, and hosting over 30 festivals and 1,000 performances annually. The label has expanded internationally with divisions in New York, Liverpool and Tokyo, with plans to debut the Strawberry Music Festival in Tokyo in 2025.
Trending on Billboard
As for The Rap of China, a hit since its debut in 2018, UMGC will dedicate a team to support the narrative-driven show’s artists in A&R, management, marketing and merchandise development.
Timothy Xu, chairman and CEO of UMGC, expressed excitement about both collaborations, highlighting their potential to amplify Chinese music on the global stage. He said the Modern Sky agreement “not only broadens the global reach of Chinese music but also highlights the distinct energy and creativity that define China’s young generation today,” and noted the alliance with iQIYI’s The Rap of China 2024 “reaffirms our commitment to nurturing Chinese rap talent but also extends their global reach, bridging cultural gaps and enriching the international music landscape with the dynamic culture of Chinese rap.”
Modern Sky founder Shen Lihui said his label has “always embraced an independent spirit and a forward-looking vision,” adding they hope to “bring a fresh side of Chinese originality to the world, inviting audiences everywhere to experience the unique energy and cultural depth of China’s youth.”
Earlier this year, UMG expanded its partnership with China-based Tencent Music Entertainment, parent of streaming platforms QQ Music, KuGou, Kuwo and WeSing. In 2021, UMGC became the first major music company to establish multiple frontline label operations across China with the launch of Republic Records China, and the re-launch of historical labels Polygram Records China and EMI China alongside Universal Music China.
This story was published as part of Billboard’s music technology newsletter ‘Machine Learnings.’
Sign up for ‘Machine Learnings,’ and Billboard’s other newsletters, here.
Last week, Universal Music Group filed a $500 million lawsuit against TuneCore and its parent company Believe over alleged copyright infringement of UMG’s recordings. The lawsuit presented two core issues: first, that bad actors used TuneCore to upload songs to streaming services that were simply sped up or remixed versions of UMG-copyrighted recordings, often listed under slight misspellings of the real artist, like “Kendrik Laamar” or “Arriana Gramde.” Second, it claimed that “Believe has taken advantage of the content management claiming system” on YouTube “to divert” and “delay… payment of royalties” that belong to record labels.
If you’ve been following the issues in this case over the last few years, this lawsuit feels like a long time coming, and the issues that UMG raises are certainly not just a TuneCore-specific issue — they’re an industry-wide DIY distribution issue. With the vast scale of songs being uploaded through these companies, and staffs that are too small to catch every bad actor, infringing material has, according to just about everybody, flooded onto streaming services.
The distributors know it’s a problem, too. It’s why TuneCore, DistroKid, CD Baby, Symphonic, Downtown and more formed the Music Fights Fraud coalition in 2023 and say they have increasingly invested in preventing fraud and infringement. Unfortunately, Beatdapp, the industry leader in identifying streaming fraud, believes the problem has only worsened since then. UMG is also not convinced that TuneCore is doing enough, saying that the company’s business model incentivizes them to “turn a blind eye” to this damaging activity.
Below, I’ve condensed some of the arguments I’ve heard among industry leaders both for and against DIY distribution continuing just as it is today. I’ll let you judge which outcome is better.
Trending on Billboard
Argument #1: Why its essential to protect DIY distribution as is
It’s easy to take for granted today that anyone who wants to release a song can do it themselves, but that wasn’t always the case. When physical records reigned supreme, record label contracts often favored the companies involved, and seldom went the artists’ way. At the time, artists were essentially forced to sign to a record label if they wanted a chance at shelf space in stores — especially worldwide. This left artists vulnerable to unequal label deals that locked them in for many albums while the label took the lion’s share of the royalties and the copyrights, often in perpetuity.
When Distrokid, CD Baby, TuneCore and the like emerged in the 2000s, they let anyone sign up for distribution services to digital outlets like the iTunes Store for a flat fee and forever altered the power dynamic. Today, the playing field has leveled significantly: hobbyists can get their music out to the world and artists with professional aspirations can wait as long as they want before they have to give up a single percentage point of their master recordings to a label. These companies helped shift negotiating power to the artists, and for the first time, started the process of allowing music fans to decide what songs would pop, rather than the labels that pulled favors with the gatekeepers who worked in radio, retail and the press.
The shift also presented a new, lucrative business opportunity. Music companies no longer need superstars in their catalogs to make their numbers. In fact, they don’t need catalogs at all. A company can now make money by providing services, like distribution, to the masses of previously-overlooked musical hopefuls instead, relying on volume to make up the numbers.
But that volume allowed for the proliferation of fraud, which is a problem that evolves every day, and bad people will always find loopholes. Already, most distributors have implemented common-sense regulations and checks to curb fraud and invested money into quality control teams. But for many experts, it feels impossible to totally solve the problem. As it’s commonly said, this is an endless game of “wack-a-mole.”
But if the barriers to DIY distribution are too significant — like limiting the number of releases, gating who can use it, hiking the platform fee, adding a streaming threshold, or slowing down release time — it could take power away from indie musicians that they have become accustomed to. Such a move would be a step backward for artistic freedom, and the cost of implementing these regulations could threaten to put some of the smaller distributors out of business. Less choice and competition in DIY distribution isn’t better for users.
It’s impossible to put the DIY distribution genie back in the bottle. Artists, who have become used to the current system, would still find ways to get their music out there quickly and cheaply — whether fraudulent or not. Likely, that music would go out on social media or to social-streaming hybrids like YouTube and SoundCloud, both of which pay out royalties and can still be cheated. Streaming services, like Spotify, Apple and Amazon, would risk losing listenership and music discovery to social media platforms — something they already struggle with in today’s TikTok era — and it might not even solve the problems it targeted.
Argument #2: Why the DIY distribution system is in need of serious reform
Currently, over 120,000 songs are uploaded to streaming services every day, a rate that has rapidly increased for years and will likely continue to do so. This is mostly due to DIY distributors. While it is great that aspiring artists can get their music out there cheaply and easily, this has also led to rampant fraud and copyright infringement that puts excessive burdens on rights holders to police their own catalogs online. What happens when we inevitably get to a point where 1 million songs are uploaded every day? We can’t keep going as we are now, and we are in need of serious reform.
While DIY distributors have announced initiatives like Music Fights Fraud and have hosted panels at industry conferences to explain the new methods they are using to stop bad actors, some people say these companies have an incentive for at least some of it to slip by their watch, given their business models rely on receiving fees in exchange for uploading as many songs as possible. Self-policing is not enough, considering this problem only seems to get worse.
The introduction of generative AI has made this matter even more pressing. While it’s impossible to know how much of the music being uploaded today is AI-generated, and to date the streaming services have no regulations against this, it is certainly contributing to the rising number of songs released to streaming services per day. AI songs are believed to be exploited by bad actors to commit streaming fraud, as we saw in the September lawsuit which alleged a musician named Michael “Mike” Smith stole $10 million in streaming royalties by uploading AI-generated songs using a distributor and then used bots to stream them. Bad actors upload AI songs en masse to spread out artificial streams and make their schemes tougher to detect.
It’s hard to argue that it makes a user’s streaming experience better when a platform has a vast number of AI songs and tracks that not a single person has streamed, and it’s clear that these songs, largely stemming from DIY distributors, are diluting the royalty pool at the expense of what some stakeholders have called “professional artists.” The negligibly low payments earned by hobbyists who have accrued hundreds or just a few thousand streams are sometimes lower than the fees one would incur from transferring the royalties into their bank account.
These distributors, the argument goes, should be penalized for the bad actors they let through. This has been proposed in many forms so far, including a financial penalty instituted by streaming services, requirements for significant “know your customer” checks to slow down uploads and verify users’ identities, a minimum stream count threshold before artists can be eligible for royalty collection, a limit to the number of songs a user can upload at a time, an additional fee for storing massive uploads to streaming services, and more.
It’s not a viable business if you rely on a massive scale of song uploads but can’t afford the proper staffers and tools to police them.
Universal Music Group wants a federal judge to dismiss a copyright lawsuit claiming Mary J. Blige’s 1992 hit “Real Love” used a famed 1973 funk sample without a license, arguing the accusers have popped up “out of the blue” to sue over two tracks that “sound nothing alike.”
The case, filed in earlier this year by Tuff City Records, claims Blige’s track borrowed from “Impeach the President” by the Honey Drippers — a legendary piece of hip-hop source material with a drum track that’s been sampled or interpolated by Run-DMC, Dr. Dre, Doja Cat and many others over the years.
But in a response on Tuesday, UMG argues that Tuff City’s case is deeply flawed and must be tossed out of court at the outset.
Trending on Billboard
“Now, more than 30 years after ‘Real Love’ was released, plaintiff appears out of the blue alleging that ‘Real Love’ contains an uncleared sample from ‘Impeach the President,’ with no allegations concerning the works’ substantial similarity,” the music giant wrote. “The absence of that allegation is fatal.”
One key claim in Tuff City’s lawsuit is that UMG’s recorded music unit (UMG Recordings, Inc.) has already reached a settlement regarding the use of the “Impeach” sample on the “Real Love” sound recording, but that UMG’s publishing arm is unfairly refusing to do the same for the musical composition.
In Tuesday’s response, UMG confirmed the existence of that earlier settlement over the sound recording, but said it was entirely separate and complete “irrelevant” to a dispute over the composition. UMG’s attorneys said the settlement did not admit that “Real Love” infringed “Impeach” — but that even if it had, Tuff City was “confusing” a basic distinction that lies at the heart of music copyright law.
“Plaintiff … insinuates that defendant infringes simply because non-party UMG settled plaintiff’s claim of infringement [over] the sound recording,” the company wrote. “Because there exist two separate copyrights in music … a work can readily infringe one without infringing the other.”
Blige’s “Real Love” spent 31 weeks on the Hot 100 in 1992 and reached a peak of No. 7 on the chart. It has remained one of the star’s most enduring hits, with more than 105 million spins on Spotify and a movie adaptation released by Lifetime last year.
Tuff City sued UMG over the track in April, claiming it had “advised defendant repeatedly” about the allegedly uncleared sample, but that Universal had done nothing about it: “Defendant has repeatedly refused to engage plaintiff in substantive negotiations to rectify the foregoing, let alone agreed to compensate plaintiff for the past infringement or on an ongoing basis.”
The lawsuit did not name Blige herself as a defendant nor accuse her of any wrongdoing.
Tuff City, which owns a large catalog of old songs, is no stranger to copyright litigation – filing cases over tracks by Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Christina Aguilera, Frank Ocean with claims that they featured unlicensed samples or interpolations. The company has even already sued over “Impeach the President,” claiming in a 1991 complaint that it had been illegally sampled on the LL Cool J tracks “Around the Way Girl” and “Six Minutes of Pleasure.”
The company has won plenty of rulings and settlements, but the litigation process has not always gone smoothly. In 2014, a judge dismissed one Tuff City case over Jay-Z’s “Run This Town” on the grounds that any alleged sample was “barely perceptible” after multiple listens. In that ruling, the judge chided Tuff City over its approach to the case, saying it “incorrectly … assumes that every copying of any part of another artist’s protected work is infringement.”
In Tuesday’s motion seeking to dismiss the “Real Love” case, UMG directly cited that 2014 ruling – arguing that the two songs “sound nothing alike” and that Tuff City had failed to argue otherwise.
“Unwilling to learn from the lessons of its past, plaintiff again seeks to assert copyright liability without plausibly pleading substantial similarity with respect to the musical compositions at issue here,” the company wrote. “The copyright claim must accordingly be dismissed.”
An attorney for Tuff City did not immediately return a request for comment.
Billionaire hedge funder and Universal Music Group board member Bill Ackman called for UMG to move its stock listing and legal headquarters to the United States from Amsterdam after violent attacks on Israeli soccer fans overnight in the Dutch capital. Amsterdam’s Mayor Femke Halsema said fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked and “pelted with […]
Welcome to the latest spin ’round the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music.
We’ve seen the departure of Spotify’s global head of music and a changing of the guard at Verve, but otherwise it’s been a fairly quiet week. Read on for [mostly] good news and also check out Billboard‘s just-released annual list of Latin music’s most powerful executives, plus our weekly interview series spotlighting a single executive, our helpful calendar of notable events, and have you ever wanted to look at tchotchkes inside the office of an executive while reading their in-depth answers to the most important questions facing the biz? From the Desk Of is probably your jam.
Aric Steinberg has been elevated to executive director of Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, the 30-year-old non-profit that delivers a lifeline to musicians and industry types facing financial hardships due to illness, disabilities or other challenges. Founded by folk singer-songwriter Victoria Williams in 1994 following the release of a star-studded benefit album on her behalf, the charity offers financial assistance to artists, composers, road crew, agents and others in the form of grants to cover essential expenses ranging from medical bills to housing and food. The LA-based Steinberg joined Sweet Relief in 2010 and most recently served as executive vp of development and artist relations, though he has been essentially filling the role since the 2017 passing of former director Rob Max. “It is long overdue that in 2024 we are officially giving Aric the title of executive director … as he has been embodying that position for many years now,” noted fund president Bill Bennett. “I look forward to an extraordinary future with Aric where Sweet Relief will continue to help more and more musicians and music industry workers in need.”
Trending on Billboard
Sweet Relief has assisted a wide range of artists over the years, most recently Sick of It All frontman Lou Koller and singer-songwriter Jesse Malin — who both have benefit concerts planned for them later this year. “I see a bright future for Sweet Relief as we continue to grow and help more musicians and music industry professionals every year,” said Steinberg. “This 30th anniversary year has been our best ever, and I look forward to serving the community in the years to come.”
Meanwhile…
Alen Torosyan is promoted to general manager of Warner Music Emerging Markets, effective Oct. 1, while Jonathan Jules has joined as vice president of creative. Both will report to Alfonso Perez Soto, president of emerging markets. This division is home to artists including Calin, Diljit Dosanjh and Joeboy, and covers rapidly growing regions such as Africa, Eastern Europe, India, and the Middle East, which have expanded through strategic investments and partnerships. Torosyan, with over a decade at Warner Music, was previously vp of operations for the division. Jules, formerly vp of international marketing and operations at EMPIRE, will now drive strategic leadership to WMEM’s A&R and marketing teams. Perez Soto praised Torosyan’s “unflappable” ability to multitask and carry out detail-oriented projects “without losing his forensic focus on detail,” and lauded Jules’ entrepreneurial drive and “ability to read the shifting sands of culture and music, anticipating tomorrow’s trends.” Perez Soto added: “Together, they’ll help us superserve artists and rapidly grow our business.”
Sony Music Publishing hired Caroline Elleray as vice president of creative, songwriter services, effective immediately. In this role, Elleray will lead efforts to support songwriters, manage catalogs and collaborate with global creative teams to explore new growth opportunities. The London-based Elleray reports to co-managing directors Tim Major and David Ventura. With over two decades of experience in music publishing, including previous stints at UMPG and BMG, she has discovered and developed artists like Coldplay, Keane, Feist, Rex Orange County and Mumford & Sons. Alongside her new role at SMP, Elleray will continue managing Second Songs, a publishing and management venture she co-founded in 2022 with Mark Gale. Second Songs, in partnership with SMP UK, represents talents like Victoria Canal and songwriters Matt Hales and Dan Green. “Her track record, the songwriters and artists she has worked with speak for themselves, showcasing her immense and relentless dedication for music creators,” said Ventura, who is also SMP UK’s president and svp of international.
Nashville-based record label New West Records promoted Tommy Robinson to general manager and vp of sales, while Brady Block was boosted to senior vp of media and reissues producer. Katie Keller has been upped to vp of project management, while Meg Barron rises to director of A&R and publishing. Brooke Nixon joins as vp of digital marketing, following a role as director of streaming at Big Machine Label Group imprint The Valory Music Co. New West’s current roster includes Aaron Lee Tasjan, 49 Winchester, Ben Folds, American Aquarium and more. –Jessica Nicholson
Universal Music Finland appointed veteran executive Petri Mannonen to CEO, effective immediately. Mannonen joined UMG in 2010 as a commercial director and in 2017 expanded his responsibilities to include overseeing operations in the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Prior to Universal, he was CEO of Viasat Finland (now Viaplay), a pay television company. The UMF roster includes KUUMAA, Mirella and Robin Packale, among others. “The Finnish music market is in a really interesting situation at the moment,” said Mannonen. “Music is now easier to release than ever, and as the selection grows, the role of major record labels is also emphasized. Our job is to focus on building long-term artist careers while taking care of artists. We want to offer our current and future artists a creative and professional place to grow and develop while making sure that their music reaches the right audiences.”
FUGA, the Downtown-owned B2B music distributor, promoted Renato Vanzella to general manager of LATAM, expanding his previous role as GM of Brazil to oversee operations in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Vanzella will focus on business development, client relations, and partnerships with DSPs, reporting to Sarah Landy, the senior vp for the Americas. Since joining FUGA in 2019, Vanzella has significantly grown the team and secured key clients, including Elemess, MJC Music, Beeside Records, and Radar Records. Landy praised Renato Vanzella’s promotion, highlighting his “exceptional strategic vision and leadership” over the years. “Renato consistently has demonstrated a deep understanding of the local music landscape, and his passion for collaboration and client service has earned him the respect of our team and our partners,” she said.
Armada Music appointed Susanne Hazendonk as head of catalog, bringing over 15 years of industry experience from Spinnin’ Records and Warner Music Benelux. Having worked with top dance artists such as Lucas & Steve, Sam Feldt and Afrojack, as well as hitmakers like Bruno Mars and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hazendonk is well-versed in both dance music and big ol’ hits. She’ll report directly to COO Jop Bonnike, leading marketing and storytelling efforts and overseeing the expansion of Armada’s catalog department and acquisitions through the BEAT Music Fund. Bonnike praise Hazendonk’s “unwavering passion and infectious enthusiasm for dance music, adding, “As we continue to prioritize the growth and evolution of our catalog department, we’re looking forward to working alongside Susanne to seize new opportunities in the market.”
Big Loud Rock added Zach Siegal-Eisman as vice president of digital and viral marketing, overseeing the imprint’s digital marketing strategy and execution, as well as artist growth and digital presence of both upcoming and catalog record releases. Earlier this year, Siegal-Eisman launched the marketing consultancy Amplify Legacy and previously worked at social media agency Crowd Surf and at Artist Network Management. –J.N.
BOARD SHORTS: The Music Managers Forum appointed Niamh Byrne as chair and Jill Hollywood as vice chair, succeeding Paul Craig and Kwame Kwaten, respectively, who recently stepped down after serving two three-year terms. Byrne, co-founder of Eleven Management, has made a mark with artists including Damon Albarn, Blur and Gorillaz. She brings a wealth of experience, having held roles at Universal Music UK and her consultancy firm The Engine Room. Hollywood, founder of Echo Beach Management, has managed both legendary producers and emerging talents, including current roster Jacknife Lee, Ash Howes and Ash Workman. Hollywood previously spent over a decade at Big Life Management. MMF also said that Theory Management’s Hide Whone is joining the board, replacing Clare Wright … Newport Folk launched the Newport Folk Stewardship Program, designed to recognize individuals who have significantly contributed to Newport’s legacy and challenge the “Folk Family” to innovate for the future. The first appointee is St. Louis-born Americana artist Nathaniel Rateliff, who’ll focus on artist advocacy, mentorship and fellowship, both within the Newport Folk community and beyond. He’ll serve a three-year term, with two years as an active steward and one as an advisor to his successor.
Nettwerk welcomed Ruth Wyatt as director of sync for UK and Europe, bringing her experience from Warner Music UK, where she successfully placed artists in various sync opportunities. Her notable achievements include Sam Ryder’s “Christmas To Me.” Wyatt said she’s looking forward to helping Network build out its sync opportunities across the UK and Europe, adding, “It’s never been a more exciting time to be in the sync space, with more productions being made than ever before and we’re witnessing breakout productions from the Nordics, Spain, Germany, France Australia, all of which are attracting overwhelmingly international audiences, subsequently creating global impact for our artists.” Nettwerk co-founder Mark Jowett, said Wyatt’s “expertise in achieving syncs is matched only by her passion for supporting great music and artists.”
Alphabeats, a startup using music and neurofeedback tech to help athletes improve mental acuity, announced that chief commercial officer and U.S. president Jorrit DeVries will assume the role of global CEO. Current chief Han Dirkx, one of alphabeats’ three co-founders along with DeVries, will move into the role of chief operating officer and lead the company’s product, research and development, and technology teams based in The Netherlands. As U.S. president, DeVries has overseen sales, marketing, product development and fundraising. Prior to joining alphabeats, he was global head of category development at Spotify, and he has also held senior roles at Samsung, Vodafone and Warner Music, leading teams in the U.S. and Europe.
ICYMI:
Jeremy Erlich
Verve Label Group promoted Jamie Krents to CEO and president, and Dawn Olejar to chief operating officer … Harvey Mason Jr. isn’t going anywhere … Republic appointed Mary Catherine Kinney as executive vp of artist & label strategy … Alicia Arauzo and Luis Fernández are the new co-managing directors of Universal Music Spain … Jeremy Erlich will be leaving his position as Spotify’s global head of music … and Narcís Rebollo has been appointed CEO and president of UMG’s spun-out Global Talent Services. [MORE]
Last Week’s Turntable: An Old Friend Returns to Budd
Alicia Arauzo and Luis Fernández have been appointed co-managing directors of Universal Music Spain, the label announced on Tuesday (Oct. 1).
According to a press release, Arauzo and Fernández will “work closely” in shaping and implementing the company’s business strategy and creative direction, “focusing on the nurturing of the division’s solid artist roster,” as well as the development of new talent. Both executives will be based in Madrid, reporting directly to Jesús López, chairman/CEO of Universal Music Latin America & Iberian Peninsula.
“It is an honor for me to take on this new role, alongside such a great team of professionals,” Arauzo said in a statement. “Luis and I have many challenges ahead of us and I am sure that as a team we will work tirelessly to achieve new milestones for Universal Music Spain, especially in artistic development, which is the DNA of UMG globally. I would like to thank Jesús López for his trust, leadership, and constant encouragement to pursue new goals.”
Arauzo began her career in 1982 working at Spanish record label Hispavox and joined Universal Music Spain in 1996, where she started as manager of international marketing. Her most recent role was general manager. Meanwhile, Fernández joined Universal Music Spain in 2023 as head of A&R. Prior to joining UMG, he was CEO & founder of Sonido Muchacho, the independent record and music publishing company he launched in 2014.
Trending on Billboard
“It is a great opportunity to assume this new position at UMS, where I have grown professionally, and where I have felt so supported since my arrival,” added Fernández. “It is a wonderful challenge to take on this responsibility alongside people I have known since I started in the industry, as we all grow towards a promising future. I would like to thank Jesús, Narcís, and, above all, Alicia, for the trust they have placed in me, as well as the entire A&R team, with whom I have shared the last year of learning and professional growth.”
About the new appointments, López expressed: “Alicia possesses extensive experience, knowledge, immense work capacity and an unquestionable love for Universal Music, among many other qualities, while Luis brings innovation, entrepreneurship, and a deep artistic knowledge. Together, they are the perfect team to lead the continued development of our artists and take Universal Music Spain to the next level of success, that the music market demands of us. I wish them both huge success in this new stage of their careers, and I am certain that the entire team will join me in these wishes.”