Changes in the global A&R personnel
Over the last several weeks in the A&R world, there are a few changes to report as always. Interscope is opening a new office in Nashville and has hired A&R rock veteran Kevin Williamson. Exiting Interscope is Tunji Balaban. Warner Bros. has also had some significant activity with the hiring of three new A&R staffers; Jon Chen, Quinn Coleman, and Carlos Cancela have all been promoted within the A&R Department along with Cheryl Jenets who is now Director Production Operations at Warner Bros. Over at Epic, Jermain Pegues joins the A&R Department while Sha Money, Jeff Juin, and Isaac Heyman exit the Department. Also within the Sony Label Group, Gary Overton exits Sony Nashville while Adam Fujiki exits Sony Canada. Ben Gill, aka Party Ben, a DJ, producer, and radio host whose mashups and remixes have been viral hits, joins Pandora as Lead Curator-Programmer-Electronic Dance.
Live Nation has named Jordan Zachary their new Chief Strategy Officer who will report to President/CEO Michael Rapino. ASCAP has re-elected Paul Williams as Chairman and President for the fourth time, Jody Gerson, Chairman/CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group, becomes a Publisher Board Member while Doug Wood, composer and producer of music for television, is the newly-elected Writer Vice Chairman. BMG has appointed Frank Ströbele as Vice President, Continental European Repertoire. Ströbele joins BMG after running management company Eye Sound for over a decade. Wendy Saunders has been hired as Music Director at Australian radio station Nova 96.9, working across its key programs and national shows. Universal Music has appointed Florian Jungbauer as Senior Vice President Marketing, Consumer Engagement & Digital Partner Management, South-East Asia and will join Universal in their Hong Kong office. Jane Dyball is taking over as acting CEO of the UK’s Music Publishers Association (MPA) on an interim basis following the announcement that former CEO Sarah Osborn has left the organization effective immediately. Apple has reportedly poached four producers from BBC Radio 1, including Zane Lowe’s former producer James Bursey. It is also rumored that Natasha Lynch and Kieran Yeates are also on Apple’s poach list. Finally, for this newsletter at least, former Verizon executive Erik Huggers has been appointed president and CEO of online video platform Vevo.
Source: A&R Registry
