Brian Harris Frank, formerly EVP of Marketing & Strategy at Warner Bros. Records, has been named President of Interlude Music. ASCAP has named Brian Roberts as EVP and COO. Roberts was previously EVP of Corporate Strategy & Operations at Warner Music Group. Meanwhile, Warner Music Group has announced changes to their executive reporting structure. Stu Bergen, International Recorded Music President, will now also oversee WEA Corp. and Mike Jbara, formerly President of ADA has been assigned the new position of Executive VP of WMG Technology & Business Processes. Both moves were in response to the departure of Brian Roberts, Executive VP of Strategy and Operations. Also at Warner, James Steven has been promoted to EVP of Communications & Marketing and will be based at the company’s NY headquarters and will report to CEO Steve Cooper. Simon Rattle has been named Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra commencing in 2017. Currently the Director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, no successor has been named for Rattle.
Ashley Tabor’s Global Entertainment has announced a round of executive hires to its teams in London and Global’s recently launched LA office led by former AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips. Monti Olson, most recently EVP & Head of A&R at Universal Music Publishing, takes on the role of EVP & Managing Director of Worldwide Music Publishing. London-based Paul Adam is now the new SVP A&R, increasing his A&R responsibilities across the company’s US and UK recorded music and publishing operations. Bob Semanovich joins the LA-based team as SVP of Marketing from Capitol Records where he oversaw and executed the marketing strategy for Katy Perry, Beck, Rod Steward and Coldplay among others. Reporting to Semanovich is Ben Karter who joins Global Entertainment as General Manager, Recorded Music U.K. Karter was most recently Director at James Grant Management. Nicola Carson joins the LA team as VP, Artist Management from her previous role at Modest! Management. Carson will partner with four-year Global executive Rachel Wood who will take on the VP, Artist Management role in the U.K.
Rick Krim, most recently EVP of Artist Development at Republic Records, has been announced as the new Co-President of A&R at Sony/ATV, Christina Wighton, formerly at Kobalt, has been hired as the Office Manager at Indie Music Publishing Company Creative Nation, and Epic Records has promoted Courtney Lowery to VP of Publicity. Bryon Prescott has been announced as the new Head of Urban at Epic Records. Prescott will also bring his Chameleon Entertainment imprint to Epic. Verve Music Group has announced the promotion of Mike Rittberg as their new GM. Patch Culbertson, part of Republic Records A&R Department since 2009, has been named Republic’s Director of A&R effective immediately. Republic Records also promoted Naim McNair to Senior VP of A&R. Jake Wisely has been promoted to CEO of Bicycle Music and will oversee all music publishing, licensing and rights management at Bicycle and well as Concord Music Group while reporting to group CEO Scott Pascucci. Rob Wells resigned as Universal Music’s President of Global Digital Business after fifteen years at the company.
Good Ear Music Supervision, a music supervision company that has worked with Apple, Google, and others, has hired Jackie Shuman as Music Supervisor. Shuman was previously Head of Sync at Crush Management. Richard Dinnadge has been hired as International Business Development Director by Schott Music. Dinnadge was previously head of music and video at Reader’s Digest. Def Jam Recordings’ Gabe Tesoriero has been promoted to EVP of Media and Artist Relations. Tesoriero was formerly SVP of Media and Artist Relations at Island Def Jam Music Group and is Kanye West’s publicist. Viacom is restructuring after the announced departure of MTV Networks Music & Logo President Van Toffler. The company will split into the Viacom Music & Entertainment Group, headed by Doug Herzog, and the Viacom Kids & Family Group, headed by Cyma Zarghami. Ashley Tabor’s UK-based Global, The Media and Entertainment Group, launched a new division in the US being headed by longtime AEG Live Chief Randy Phillips. Kobalt, the number two publisher in the US, has raised a $60 million Series C funding round with investment from Google Ventures, Michael Dell’s private firm MSD Capital (already a Kobalt investor) and MSDC Management.
