Record Labels
Jessica Mauboy, Superstar Australian Pop Artist, Signs With Warner Music
Her performances on Idol landed Mauboy a contract with Sony Music Australia, her label home until now. “I have had an incredible journey with Sony, for which I will forever be grateful,” she remarks. “It’s now time for the next chapter of my career and I’m very excited to be joining the team at Warner Music. I have been spending my time in studio lately and looking forward to releasing new music in the new year”. Along the way, Mauboy has bagged a string of platinum-selling records, awards and movie roles. Mauboy appeared in the 2009 feature film Bran Nue Dae and turning heads with her starring performance in the 2012 feel-good flick The Sapphires, her soundtrack for which went to No. 1 in Australia. Along the way, she won the ARIA Award for female artist of the year, and she has...
Label Look: Hopeless Records On 20 Years of Giving Back
The venture grew out of Posen’s desire to, in his words, “do more than make bands rich and famous” — an undertaking that feels prescient in light of today’s developments, when seemingly every major music company (particularly in the wake of this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests) now makes a point of touting its social action initiatives. But Hopeless stands as one of the earliest labels, major or independent, to make giving back not just a side project but a core part of its mission. Running a record label was never a part of the plan for Posen, who as a film student at California State University, Northridge had his mind set on becoming a director. But that dream circuitously led him to establish Hopeless after the punk band Guttermouth — who had hired him to direct a musi...
Sony Music Names Jean-Sebastien Permal Director of A&R in Continental Europe & Africa
Permal, who was born in Mauritius, moved to Vienna in 2014 to pursue a career in music management and publishing. He joined Sony Music Germany’s label Four Music in 2017 before expanding his A&R role to encompass all of Sony Music’s labels across Europe and Africa the following year. “With his deep roots in African and European music, Seb is well positioned to connect the dots among our A&Rs across the world to help artists succeed on a global scale,” said Sony Music president of Continental Europe and Africa Daniel Lieberberg, whom Permal will directly report to. “He is one of the most creative and well connected executives in both regions and a most valuable source of expertise for our artists and creatives.” Since 2018, Permal has worked with Sony Music’s labels on a number of a...
Capitol Music Group Looks to Larry Mattera to Lead Flagship Label
Mattera comes from more than 25 years of experience in digital marketing and music strategy. Most recently, he served as general manager and executive vice president of commerce and marketing at Warner Records since 2016. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing label operations and all artist and new release campaigns, including projects from artists like Dua Lipa, Bebe Rexha, Lil Pump, Jason Derulo, Gorillaz, Gary Clark Jr, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day. Before Warner Records, Mattera spent eight years as the senior vp of global digital accounts at WEA, Warner Music Group’s global artist and label service arm. He has also served at Amp’d Mobile, Island Def Jam (where he pioneered its digital marketing efforts with the creation of a New Media Department), Po...
H.E.R., Ella Mai, Brandy and More Bring the Sizzle to the 2020 Soul Train Awards
H.E.R.’s acceptance speech was just one in a series of memorable show moments. Taking place at The Lot Studios in West Hollywood, Calif., the telecast mixed videos with live performances, the latter on a stage resembling an intimate club setting complete with a small band and a few socially distanced tables and sofas occupied by no more than two people — and all wearing masks. Tichina Arnold and Tisha Campbell, former co-stars on the TV series Martin, returned for the third time as hosts. While keeping the show on pace with quick and easygoing banter, T and T also lit up the proceedings with their own brand of fireworks beginning with the opening sequence. In prefacing the opener, the pair proclaimed 2020 “the year of Black women” in the wake of the country being ravaged by racial injustic...
BMG Acquires Catalog of Cheyenne Records, Including Songs by Germany’s No Angels
“The catalogue of Cheyenne Records is among the crown jewels of German pop music of the 2000s, and we are delighted to bring them back to the public,” Maximilian Kolb, BMG managing director GSA, said in a statement. “The acquisition shows BMG’s commitment to delivering the best service to artists and songwriters in the digital world.” BMG says the deal will bring back streaming availability to No Angels, which has been absent from digital streaming platforms for five years. The company notes the group had sales of more than five million, making it the biggest-selling German girl band of all time. No Angels’ 2002 debut single, “Daylight In Your Eyes,” sold more than 500,000 copies within a week after its release, according to BMG. Other hits that will now be available on digital platf...
Radiohead, Elbow Members Call for Better Streaming Royalties at Opening of UK Parliament Probe
Garvey and Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien were among a group of four artists and two industry analysts that provided evidence on the first day of the inquiry, which is anticipated to stretch for several months and will call upon executives at major labels and streaming platforms to answer questions. The Parliament probe — which so far is being done with witnesses testifying virtually, as the U.K. is in lockdown — is also addressing a lack of transparency in record contracts and opaque accounting practices, safe harbor provisions and the European Copyright Directive, which will hold online user-generated services like YouTube liable for unlicensed content. The inquiry comes at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has decimated income from touring, focusing artists’ attenti...
Som Livre, Brazil’s Largest Domestic Label, Put Up for Sale
Mass media conglomerate Grupo Globo is exploring a sale of Som Livre, Brazil’s largest domestic record label. Globo says the decision to try to sell the label doesn’t signal any concerns about the label’s performance in the world’s 10th-largest music market, but rather resulted from a strategic review of the assets in its portfolio. “Som Livre is an extremely solid and profitable business,” Jorge Nóbrega, Globo CEO, says in a statement. “Music remains very important in Globo’s portfolio, but we believe it is a good time to get out of the traditional label business and focus on the D2C (direct to consumer) strategy.” {“nid”:”9486080″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Will Investors Have Faith in Believe? French Music Company Is Latest t...
Sony/ATV Acquires River House Artists Catalogue of Country Works
Sony/ATV Nashville has acquired the catalogue for country specialist River House Artists, which includes Luke Combs’ hits “Forever After All,” “Beautiful Crazy,” “When It Rains It Pours,” and “Lovin’ On You.” In addition, the major music publisher signed a joint venture with River House Artists to provide creative services to its talent. The independent label and music publisher River House Artists was established in 2016 by veteran executive Lynn Oliver-Cline, who co-manages Combs. “Lynn’s intuition for identifying singer-songwriters who speak right to the heart of Country Music is second to none, and she knows how to turn their dreams into reality,” comments Sony/ATV Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston on the deal. “We’re proud to partner with Lynn and the River House team as we build a long and ...
5 Questions With Depeche Mode Ahead of Their Rock Hall Induction
MG: I think that we have always had a very electronic foundation, but we embraced a lot of rock traditions a long time ago. We used to be electronic purists, but that changed at some point during the ‘80s when we started using guitars and other instruments, so I have no problem with being called rock. Despite deals with majors, Depeche Mode has maintained a long-standing loyalty to Mute Records. How essential was Mute to the success of early Depeche Mode? MG: I think we were very lucky to bump into Daniel very early on in our career and to get to work with him. He was like a father figure to us, really. Even though he wasn’t that old, he had a lot more experience than us. He’s really helped to guide our career from day one and is still part of the story today. He’s still involved in all as...
Does TikTok Have More ‘Dreams’ Up Its Sleeves?
Serendipity and all of these efforts made “Dreams” the first catalog hit revived by TikTok, which over the past year-and-a-half has consistently broken new songs, such as recent Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers “Mood” by 24kGoldn (featuring iann dior) and “Savage Love (Laxed — Siren Beat)” by Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo. The 1977 single, which also topped the Hot 100 over 40 years ago, has now been used in nearly a half-million TikTok videos, and on-demand audio streams on Spotify and other services have almost quadrupled (while Fleetwood Mac’s overall catalog of streams doubled). Warner may have made over $250,000 in incremental revenue on “Dreams” — plus another $250,000 on the increased popularity of the rest of the...
Capitol Music Group Chairman/CEO Steve Barnett Announces Retirement, Taps New Leadership Team
Capitol Music Group chairman/CEO Steve Barnett has announced his retirement, effective Dec. 31, 2020, the company announced today (Nov. 5). Barnett, a 50-year veteran of the music business, had spent the past eight years at the helm of the Universal Music Group-owned company, which he joined in 2012 after a stint as chairman of Columbia. As part of the announcement, Barnett announced that current Capitol Records president Jeff Vaughn and current Capitol Music Group COO Michele Jubelirer will take over atop the company. Vaughn will serve as chairman/CEO of CMG, while Jubelirer will become president/COO of CMG. “This has been an incredible journey, and I’ve been tremendously fortunate to work with such amazing people along the way,” Barnett said in a statement. “I am indebted to ...
