bmg
BMG Announces Restructuring, Ups Thomas Scherer to Repertoire & Marketing President
Since Scherer signed on to lead the Los Angeles marketing & repertoire team in 2014, the company has seen success on the recording side with releases from Run the Jewels, Jason Mraz, KSI and Curtis Waters, among others. He also launched a long-term partnership with Dark Horse Records and has led the charge on developing a stable of rock-focused acts in Los Angeles. A number of other executive promotions were also announced as part of the restructure. Monti Olson and Dan Gill have been promoted to executive vp roles and will be responsible for U.S. publishing and recorded music in Los Angeles, respectively, reporting to Scherer. In his new role, Olson will lead BMG’s Los Angeles, Nashville and New York creative teams, in addition to creative services for the company’s film and TV p...
BMG Launches Record Label With French Soccer Club Olympique de Marseille
BMG has struck a strategic partnership with French Ligue 1 football (soccer) club Olympique de Marseille (OM) that includes the launch of OM Records, a new hip-hop, rap and R&B label. OM Records will be headquartered in Marseille, France, which has been a hotbed of French hip-hop since the 1990s and served as a proving ground for artists including BMG publishing clients IAM and Fonky Family. Emile Hauck will manage the new imprint and all of the club’s other music activities as OM Records’ A&R and project manager. He will report to BMG France general manager Sylvain Gazaignes. Under the agreement, BMG will be the exclusive partner for all OM music projects and activities; it also includes a licensing deal for BMG’s production music library, which OM will use for all inte...
Thomas Coesfeld to Succeed BMG’s Maximilian Dressendörfer as CFO
Thomas Coesfeld has been named deputy chief financial officer at BMG, effective Oct. 15. He will assume the role of CFO on April 1, 2021, succeeding Maximilian Dressendörfer, who is taking on new responsibilities at the company. Since June 2019, Coesfeld has served as chief strategy officer on the executive committee of the Bertelsmann Printing Group, a division of BMG’s parent company Bertelsmann. He also serves as CSO at Mohn Media. In his new role, he will report to BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch and Bertelsmann CFO Bernd Hirsch. Coesfeld began his career in 2014 as a management consultant at McKinsey in Munich, Germany, where he gained experience in sales and strategy with a focus on the insurance, logistics, and automotive industries. He joined Bertelsmann at the top of 2016 and spent a year ...
Executive Turntable: WMG Names Head of Investor Relations, FUGA Makes Key Leadership Hires
Warner Music Group has hired Kareem Chin as senior vp head of investor relations effective immediately. Chin arrives at WMG from iHeartMedia, where he served in the same role. Chin, whose appointment follows WMG’s recent IPO, will lead the company’s investor relations efforts and work closely with the company’s finance and corporate communications teams. He will also oversee key events, including quarterly earnings calls and attendance at investor conferences. At iHeartMedia, which he joined as it was emerging from bankruptcy, Chin developed and built out the company’s investor relations function as it explored listing options and later made its debut on the Nasdaq exchange. Prior to that, he was vp investor relations at Viacom, a role that followed over a decade in investment banking. Mus...
BMG Posts Solid First Half of 2020, With Revenue Jumping 4.8% and Streaming Up 26%
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the company says it just had its best first half since launching in 2008. The pandemic-causing economic downturn didn’t slow down BMG as the music company posted a 4.8% increase in revenue to €282 million euros ($310.8 million) at the mid-year point ended June 30, up from €269 million ($303.9 million) in the year-earlier period. The music operation of German conglomerate Bertelsmann also managed to hold its own in terms of profit, posting €49 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the same amount it had in the first half of 2019. But with profit levels holding steady while revenue grew, that resulted in EBITDA margin falling to 17.3% from 18.1% in the prior half year results. The results represent the company’s “...
BMG Commits to Review of Historic Contracts, Diversity Shakeup In Pledge Against Racism
In the wake of international protests against the death of George Floyd and other Black men and women at the hand of police officers, BMG has committed to action. And timeframes. One week on from “Black Out Tuesday,” BMG has set out its stance on racism and inequality. The music company circulated a message to thousands of its artists and songwriters with a pledge: “We need to play our part in addressing historical injustices inflicted on black people.” Mindful of the music industry’s “record of shameful treatment of black artists,” the message reads, “we have begun a review of all historic record contracts. If any inequities or anomalies are found, BMG will create a plan to address them within 30 days.” BMG also promises to address diversity within its workplace. “...
Songwriter Diane Warren Signs With BMG Ahead of ‘Historic’ New Album
BMG has signed Diane Warren. The music company will represent Warren for publishing and recording, and will release a collection of the legendary songwriter’s new works, performed and recorded by a starry lineup of guests, Billboard can confirm. Under the new arrangements, announced this morning, BMG will administer Warren’s entire songwriting publishing catalog (excluding the U.S. and Canada) under her Realsongs umbrella and release the album of new material, at a date yet to be announced. Several other projects are in the planning phase, a rep tells Billboard. “I’m thrilled with my new deal at BMG. I love the BMG team. They have hit the ground running,” Warren says in a statement. “There is so much already happening that I know this year is going to be ...
- 1
- 2
