Record Labels
John Mayer to Leave Columbia Records After 21 Years
John Mayer is leaving Columbia Records after 21 years, the singer-songwriter revealed on Instagram Friday (March 4). “After 21 years, eight studio albums, and some wonderful personal and creative relationships, I have decided not to renew my recording agreement with Columbia Records,” Mayer wrote. “Hard as it is to say goodbye, I’m excited to pursue new avenues of making music, both of my own and with other artists. I love music more than ever, and I believe some of my best work still lies ahead.” Mayer arrived at Columbia via his original record deal with Aware Records, which at the time had a marketing and distribution agreement with the major label. Columbia went on to release a total of eight albums by Mayer, including the five-times platinum Room for Squares in 2001, three-times plati...
Virgin Music President Jacqueline Saturn on Navigating COVID, a Rebrand & the Distribution Craze
Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Caroline Distribution staffers were able to renovate their floor of the famed Capitol Tower to meet their particular needs: open floor plan, no offices, a collaborative environment where sharing ideas freely became paramount. So when office life shut down, president Jacqueline Saturn did what she could to try to preserve some of that open-air feel in which her team had begun to thrive: she invited the staff to her back yard, where a friend had a banner made with the division’s logo that hung above an area where her team could work outside. “People really needed a safe space, so that’s how it started — we could have people spaced here, people could wear their mask and be six feet apart and that was the beginning of it,” she tells Bill...
Breland Joins Warner Music Nashville Roster
Warner Music Nashville has teamed with Atlantic Records and Bad Realm Records to bring singer-songwriter Breland to the WMN roster. Breland is in the top 15 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart with his feature on Dierks Bentley’s single “Beers on Me” with HARDY, and will debut his new song “Praise The Lord” at the 57th annual ACM Awards on March 7. Breland is the second country artist to be recognized as part of Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Artist program. He’s on the road opening shows for Russell Dickerson. He becomes the latest in a long line of acts that pop divisions are partnering with their Nashville counterparts to work and vice versa. WMN and Warner Records’ pop division already work together on Gabby Barrett and Dan + Shay to garner pop airplay on certain releases. Universal Musi...
UMG Launches Def Jam India Amid Hip-Hop Boom
MUMBAI —Universal Music Group, already home to some of the biggest names in Indian hip-hop, are further seizing on the popularity of the genre there by starting a new label division, Def Jam India. The new sub-label, to be based in Mumbai, will feature some popular commercial names and up-and-coming artists, but not necessarily household names like Badshah, with whom Universal is working to engineer a definitive crossover to international stardom. Def Jam India “will be infused and inspired by local street and rap culture, Indian sounds and unique multi-lingual flows,” said Devraj Sanyal, managing director and CEO, Universal Music India and South Asia. Def Jam India’s first artist signings are rappers Dino James and Fotty Seven. “Lost” from James and Fotty Seven’s “Banjo,” both of which ar...
Universal Music Group Partners With Curio for Future NFT Projects
Universal Music Group and NFT platform Curio will partner together on future NFT projects from UMG’s labels, subsidiaries and artists worldwide, the companies announced Thursday (Feb. 17). Curio, which has released over 75,000 NFTs since last February, will launch its first project through the agreement with Capitol Records artist Calum Scott in March. “With Curio, our labels will have a secure and dedicated platform to host these premium projects and provide new opportunities for collectors and fans from around the world to acquire unique pieces, inspired by their favorite artists and labels,” said Michael Nash, UMG executive vp digital strategy, in a statement. “UMG is focused on developing new opportunities in this space that place our artists and labels at the forefront, working to ens...
Recorded Music NZ CEO Damian Vaughan Announces Resignation
After nine years leading Recorded Music NZ, Damian Vaughan is ready to the leave the job. Vaughan has served as CEO of New Zealand’s labels association since June 2013, following a years-long stint as NZ Licensing Manager at APRA, the Australasian PRO. In a statement distributed Thursday (Feb. 17) to the local music industry, Vaughan admits it’s time to “move on and find my next challenge.” The past decade, he notes, has been a transformative one for the domestic industry and music fans, one that finds itself in a much better place. Vaughan’s recruitment to NZ’s labels body coincided with the dawn of the streaming age. In 2013, he explains, wholesale industry revenues were NZ$67.4 million and were comprised predominantly of physical sales and digital downloads. Fast forward to 2022, and “t...
Def Jam Names LaTrice Burnette EVP
Def Jam Recordings has named experienced label veteran LaTrice Burnette as its new executive vp, the company announced today (Feb. 8). As part of her move, Burnette will also be bringing her label 4th & Broadway, which she relaunched as president in November 2020, under the Def Jam umbrella. Burnette moves to Def Jam from Island, which she had joined in 2018 as executive vp/general manager. In 2020 she led the relaunch of 4th & Broadway — originally an Island imprint that had been founded in 1984 as a hip-hop and dance label, most notably home to recordings by Eric B. & Rakim — and has since signed artists including Young Devyn, Lil Migo, Pap Chanel, Chiiild and Kidd Kenn to the label. The artists, the label and the core staff of 4th & Broadway will follow Burnette to Def J...
Rita Ora Signs Record Deal With BMG
Rita Ora has struck a partnership with BMG to release her future recordings, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 3). Under the new deal, Ora will own all of her future master recordings. “I’m THRILLED to announce that I am partnering with BMG!!! I couldn’t be happier that they will be my label family moving forward,” Ora said on social media. “Their approach to artist ownership and control is very much aligned with mine, and it’s so empowering to know that I will own all my master recordings that I make from now on. I also feel so motivated to be working with such a dynamic, creative, forward-thinking global company.” Ora is one of the largest pop acts BMG has added to its roster and follows the $10 million global deal the company signed with 5 Seconds of Summer in October. Ora has charte...
Sony Creating Joint Venture In India For Film and Music Ventures
Sony Group is leveraging its music and movie entertainment divisions to create a joint company focused on developing investment ventures for media talent in India. The new venture, to be named Sony Entertainment Talent Ventures India (SETVI), will draw from a “vast pool of commercial talent and star-power in India to build investment opportunities, partnerships, metaverse solutions and more,” the company says in a press release. Sony Music Entertainment is already a leading record label in India, with a strong presence in Bollywood and Tamil OST, across multiple genres that include national and regional pop. Sony Pictures Entertainment includes Sony Pictures Networks, a broadcast division with over 700 million viewers from 170 million households in 8,000 cities across India; Sony Pictures ...
Worldwide Independent Network Appoints Maria Amato as Chair
Maria Amato, CEO of the Australian Independent Record Labels Assn. (AIR), is appointed chair of Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), the organization that brings together local independent music trade bodies across the globe. Based in Melbourne, Amato becomes WIN’s first female chair and the organization’s first from the southern hemisphere. Amato is one of several new changes to the board of WIN for 2022. She’s joined by new directors Jeffrey Chiang (Fluxus Inc./LIAK, South Korea), Paul Pacifico (AIM, U.K.) and Sandra Rodrigues (ABMI, Brazil), who replace outgoing directors Carlos Mills (ABMI, Brazil), Chan Kim (Fluxus Inc,/LIAK, South Korea), and Kees van Weijen (IMPALA, Europe). “Today’s news marks the first time that WIN has been chaired both by a woman, and by someone from outside Eur...
Mike Alexander Named General Manager of Island Records
Universal Music Group veteran executive Mike Alexander has been named the general manager of Island Records, the label announced today (Jan. 31). Based in New York, Alexander will report to new Island co-CEOs Justin Eshak and Imran Majid. Alexander has spent the past year as executive vp at Island, helping the transition as former CEO Darcus Beese returned to his native England to take a job with Warner U.K. Prior to that role, Alexander was executive vp international at UMG, where his purview extended to Island, Republic and Def Jam. “Mike has a well-earned reputation as a successful global strategist,” Majid said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with him to build on the success of Island’s roster of new and established artists,” Added Eshak, “Mike’s experience gives hi...
Jay DeMarcus’ Red Street Records Launches Country Division
Rascal Flatts‘ Jay DeMarcus is expanding his Red Street brand with the launch of Red Street Country after launching the company as a Christian label, Red Street Records, in 2018. DeMarcus, who is Red Street’s owner/CEO, and owner/chairman Dan Crockett are celebrating the label’s expansion with a press conference Thursday (Jan. 27) at the label’s Nashville headquarters. DeMarcus and Crockett are funding both labels, which are self-distributed. Red Street Country’s first signing is singer-songwriter Ryan Griffin, whose self-released single, “Salt, Lime & Tequila,” reached No. 3 on Billboard‘s Country Digital Song Sales chart last year and No. 1 on SiriusXM’s The Highway. Griffin is working on a new album. Several notable music industry veterans have joined the Red Street Country tea...
