In top music industry jobs, who got hired, fired, promoted, and retired?
In music industry jobs, ASCAP released the results of its biennial election for the board of directors. They named Michelle Williams, Desmond Child, Marilyn Bergman, Richard Bellis, Bruce Broughton, Dan Foliart, Alf Clausen, Marcus Miller, Jimmy Webb, and Doug Wood. These members will serve as writers and publisher members on the performance-rights board of directors.
Spotify acquired MightyTV and tapped founder and CEO Brian Adams as its new VP of technology. Adams will help the Swedish streaming service with its audio advertising business.
Following an aggressive UK festival acquisition run, Global hired Live Nation’s Debbie Ward. Global appointed her as Commercial Director. She’ll join and lead a seven-member team that will develop strategic campaigns for brands across Global’s portfolio of events. She joined Live Nation in 2015 as VP of Marketing Partnerships after the company bought MAMA.
iHeartRadio programmer Geoff Gamere joined United Talent Agency (UTA). Gamere spent the last 16 years at iHeartMedia as an influential radio programmer and on-air talent. He’ll work out of UTA’s New York office and help in signing new talent at UTA and creating tour packages. He’ll also work on tour packages, label and artist relations, and also develop artist and brand strategies for acts. Acts include Guns N’ Roses, Mariah Carey, Jacob Sartorius, Rachel Platten and Jussie Smollett.
Warner Music Group named Max Lousada to CEO of Recorded Music, effective October 1, 2017. The new position will require him to continue as chairman and CEO of Warner Music UK. Now, he’ll have to manage all WMG global operations, including recorded music properties. These include Atlantic, Parlophone, Warner Bros., Warner Music Nashville, Global Catalog/Rhino, Warner Classics, and international affiliates and the Artist & Label Services divisions, WEA, and ADA. He’ll report to WMG CEO Steve Cooper and will divide his time between London and New York.
The Production Music Association (PMA) has appointed Adam Taylor, President of AMP Music, as Chairman of the PMA. He previously worked as Vice Chair of the PMA Board of Directors. Taylor replaces Randy Thorton of Amphibious Zoo Entertainment. Thorton will retire from serving on the PMA Board of Directors. The association also appointed Joe Saba as its new Vice Chair. Saba co-founded PMA and serves as a current board member. He also co-founded VideoHelper, a leading independent creator and supplier of production music.
SoundCloud promoted Megan West to Vice President, Content Relations. West heads up a global team of artist relations and content experts. She’s also responsible for the management of SoundCloud’s relationships across the industry. Relationships include labels, artists, managers, and audio partners.
The Kurland Agency (TKA) named veteran booking agent Gunter Schroder as company VP of the International Division. Schroder will oversee the agency’s bookings operations in all international territories outside of North America. The South Africa native attended Berklee College of Music where he degreed in music business/management and songwriting. He quickly rose through the ranks at TKA to an international agent position and spearheaded growth in many territories.
Spotify’s Premium Director, Robert Lamvik, left the company to work with meditation app Headspace as head of growth. He’ll join Dr. Megan Jones Bell, former Chief Science Officer at mental health startup Lantern, who also left to join Headspace. Lamvik spent nearly four years at Spotify working on growth and revenue initiatives. Lamvik’s addition highlight’s Headspace pursuit to turn its app into a subscription leader like Spotify.
CD Baby has built its network of representatives in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico. Now, to expand its Latin American presence, CD Baby has hired Martin Liviciche. Liviciche will serve as the first Argentinian representative. He previously founded his own label and publishing endeavor. He has also managed publicity for major government cultural initiatives and festivals in Buenos Aires.
The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) hired iHeartMedia veteran Darren Pfeffer to oversee MSG’s slate of live events. In the newly created role of Executive Vice President of MSG Live, Pfeffer will oversee events and programming at the company’s venue and Radio City Music Hall. He’ll also oversee The Forum near Los Angeles and the Chicago Theatre. Pfeffer will directly report to MSG President and CEO David O’Connor.
Pandora promoted Susan Panico to its senior leadership team as Senior Vice President, Strategic Solutions. At Pandora, she previously worked as Vice President of B2B marketing, where she oversaw the company’s marketing strategy. Prior to Pandora, she worked at Sony Playstation, holding senior digital entertainment roles. Panico replaces Heidi Browning, who left Pandora to become Chief Marketing Office of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Becca Gatrell, former Head of Film & Television at Universal Music Publishing UK, launched Wow & Flutter. The new music publishing, sync, and supervision services company provides a full-service platform for songwriters. Wow & Flutter will be a worldwide joint venture with Universal Music Publishing. The joint venture recently signed three emerging artist/writers: Sean Gadd, Tommy Ashby, and RINNGS. The company will announce more signings in the near future.
Donna Pickett has joined iHeartMedia as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Digital Products. Pickett will oversee the drive to boost the company’s digital streaming business to new levels of success. She’ll work as a close partner to iHeartRadio’s Chief Product Officer, Chris Williams, to align marketing and product/programming offers. Marketing and Business Intelligence teams will report to Pickett, and she’ll report to Darren Davis.
Loton Corp subsidiary LiveXLive appointed Jerry Gold as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Gold had joined LiveXLive in March 2017 as Strategical Financial Advisor to the Chairman. He had also served as Executive VP and CFO of Warner Music Group for nearly a decade.
Youth-skewing digital news and lifestyle media startup Mic has hired Jonathan Carson as its first president. Carson previously worked at Vevo as its Chief Revenue Officer and at Niesel Digital as CEO. Carson will oversee sales, business development, content licensing, finance and other operations. He’ll also lead efforts to expand native-advertising partnerships, boost video production, and cut deals with video distributors for premium content.
Warner Music Group has hired Michael Drexler and Allan Coye. Drexler will work as Vice President, Digital Strategy and Corporate Development. Coye will serve as Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development. Both will report to Ole Obermann, WMG’s Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development.
Kirkland Alexander Lynch has partnered with former electronic music executive George Karalexis to launch full-service entertainment company Mouvement. Management clients include McFly’s Danny Jones and Dougie Poynter and photographer Thomas Elias Wood. Lynch previously worked at Universal Music Group as Associate Director of Global Business and Legal Affairs.
Genius welcomed Letty Martinez as its first on-air correspondent and host for the Genius News video series. She’ll assist in helping expand the company’s video footprint and exposure of artists and music. Martinez previously worked as a host and radio personality of L.A.’s hip-hop station, REAL 92.3.
