Executive Turntable: iHeartRadio Appoints New Product Chief; Warner Names Legal Head for Catalog

iHeartMedia named Uta Knablein chief product officer at iHeartRadio; she was previously executive vp of iHeartRadio’s flagship products and user experience. Knablein succeeds Chris Williams in the role and will report to iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group CEO Conal Byrne.

Tracie Parry was named senior vp, head of business & legal affairs at Warner Recorded Music‘s global catalog division; she was previously senior vp/head of U.S. legal shared services for Warner Music Group’s Center of Excellence. Based in Nashville, Parry will continue much of her previous oversight in the shared services role, with those responsibilities now shifting to the global catalog team. She will additionally bring several members of her current legal team to the global catalog team, including vp of legal affairs Jeff Allen. Parry will also run the legal and business affairs department for the global catalog, recorded music division, overseeing all U.S. catalog artist and production deals, catalog acquisitions, joint ventures and all licenses and trademarks, in addition to all catalog deals in the Web3 arena. She will also collaborate with business affairs teams at Warner frontline labels to activate catalog initiatives on behalf of their artists.

Niels Walboomers was named president of Warner Music Benelux and Warner Chappell Music (WCM) Benelux effective Nov. 1; he succeeds Warner Music Benelux president Martin Jessurun and WCM Benelux managing director Arno Van Berkel, respectively. Walboomers will oversee both companies, whose teams will continue to operate separately from each other. He’ll report jointly to WCM co-chair and CEO Guy Moot and Warner Recorded Music president of international Simon Robson. Additionally, he’ll work with the team at Spinnin’ Records as Warner Music Group finalizes plans to move all three teams to a new creative hub in Amsterdam. Walboomers was previously Benelux managing director at Sony Music Publishing for 12 years.

Steve Gringer was promoted to vp of A&R at Pulse Music Group in Los Angeles; he was previously senior creative director. Gringer’s responsibilities in the role include signing and developing songwriters and producers and helping oversee international creative affairs. He reports to Pulse Music Group president Ashley Calhoun.

UMe promoted Meg McLean Corso to vp of media and artist relations in Los Angeles. Her roster includes The Black Crowes, Bob Marley, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Soundgarden, Tears for Fears and U2. She can be reached at meg.mcleancorso@umusic.com.

Wasserman hired Marisela Rodriguez as vp of brand creation & licensing and Todd Palmerton as vp of event creation & management. Both formally began their roles last week. The Brooklyn-based Rodriguez will oversee consumer product and brand licensing strategies for Wasserman while the San Francisco-based Palmerton will focus on conceiving, developing, launching and managing live events on behalf of Wasserman’s music artists and sports talent clients across the globe. Rodriguez comes from Major League Baseball and Palmerton comes from Live Nation.

Sam Wale has added the role of director of the London-based ALIBI Music Library to his purview at ALIBI Music, where he will continue to serve as vp of production. In the new role, he joins the company’s core management team alongside founder Jonathan Parks and COO Jeffrey Parks. He can be reached at sam@alibimusic.com.

Nic Bestley joined Huxley as associate director of publicity. In the role, he will work with Huxley founder and director Anna Meacham, culture director Jemma Litchfield and strategy director Tanya Keogh to oversee publicity for the company’s talent and brands. His roster includes The 1975, Diplo and Master Peace, as well as Three Six Zero, Perron-Roettinger, A24 Music and Daniel Arsham’s Objects IV Life.

Jody Williams Songs promoted Carolin Bouldin from coordinator to creative manager. She can be reached at Caroline@jodywilliamssongs.co.

Joel Zimmerman (a.k.a. deadmau5) and Richie Hawtin‘s (a.k.a. Plastikman) music metaverse gaming platform PIXELYNX brought on visual effects and film producer Ed Ulbrich (Ender’s Game, Suicide Squad) as a strategic partner and advisor.

Three Six Zero CEO Mark Gillespie has joined collaborative rights platform Chordal as an advisor.

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