From The Desk Of
NFL’s First Head Of Music On Halftime Show Planning & Why They Don’t Pay Performers
Even before the National Football League announced that Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem would perform during the Pepsi-sponsored halftime show at Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13, Seth Dudowsky knew he had a crucial sound issue to solve. One of his many responsibilities as the point person for the production at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., which would be seen by 103.4 million television viewers (and rack up more than 121 million YouTube views), was keeping the set list under wraps. The problem, however, was the venue, which is next door to the NFL’s Los Angeles-area headquarters where he works and is anything but soundproof. “It’s technically an outdoor stadium with a roof,” Dudowsky says. “So sound blows out the [open] sides of the stadium.” Knowing that medi...
Jon Batiste’s Grammy Noms Are Validation for Verve and the ‘Exciting’ State of Jazz
On Nov. 23, Dahlia Ambach Caplin was walking through her Brooklyn neighborhood, listening as a series of artists announced the nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards. Over the course of an hour, as the genre categories and Big Four honors were revealed, one name kept surfacing again and again: Jon Batiste, the Late Show With Stephen Colbert bandleader whom Ambach Caplin had signed to the Verve Label Group in 2018. In all, Batiste scored 11 nominations, the most of any artist, including nods for record and album of the year for his single “Freedom” and We Are album, respectively. “I was [multitasking] on a Zoom call, on a completely different subject, as all the album and record of the year stuff started coming out, and I was just like, ‘I can’t stay on the phone right now!’ ” she says...
Sony US Latin President Alex Gallardo Is Leaning Into Data and Diversifying Deals
Gallardo has been doing that by trying new things, both musically and commercially. Encouraging artists like Rauw Alejandro (“Todo de Ti”), Farruko (“Pepas”) and Camilo (“Kesi”) to venture outside of reggaetón has paid off with the biggest hits of their respective careers. And building out Sony Latin’s business intelligence department — which parses data to help inform A&R, marketing and sales strategies — helped identify Rochy RD’s “Ella No Es Tuya” as it was gaining momentum on Dominican independent label Vulcano Music. The Sony Latin remix hit No. 30 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, and was an even bigger sensation in Spain and South America. With each step, Gallardo is keeping an eye on the future. “As a label, we need to reinvent,” he says. “Nowadays, artists can ...
