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NAMED CO-PRESIDENTS OF RCA 
Sony Music Entertainment UK has announced the promotions of highly respected executives Stacey Tang and Glyn Aikins as Co-Presidents of RCA UK, starting with immediate effect. Both executives will report into Jason Iley, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music UK & Ireland.
Both Tang and Aikins have worked together at RCA UK since 2018, and between them combine decades of experience across marketing and A&R.
Stacy Tang & Glyn Aikins
Aikins joined Sony Music in 2018 as Co-President of Since 93, a label partnership with RCA. Since its launch, he has signed, developed, and nurtured a new era of talent including Aitch and multi-BRIT nominated Cat Burns, who had the biggest selling single from a female artist in 2022 with “Go.” Aikins also co-signed Tems with RCA US and has overseen her international rise. Prior to joining Sony Music, he signed and developed the careers of artists including Artful Dodger, So Solid Crew, Roll Deep, Lethal Bizzle, Naughty Boy and Emeli Sandé, who went on to sell five million albums. Stacey Tang, Co-President, RCA UK commented, “I feel privileged to lead the next chapter of RCA’s story alongside Glyn and the most passionate and dedicated team of music fans in the business. We will channel our creative energies into delivering further successes for our artists and have fun whilst doing it. Thank you to Jason for his support and trusting Glyn and I to be custodians of such an iconic label.” Glyn Aikins, Co-President, RCA UK, said, “I’m very excited to lead RCA into the future, alongside Stacey, and build a truly supportive and nurturing culture, which develops the careers of creative talent over the long term to global success. This philosophy of artist development will be at the centre of everything we believe in, coupled with delivering brilliant artists and music. Big thanks to Jason for giving Stacey and I this fantastic opportunity.” 
Burgeoning independent Los Angeles-based Seeker Music has signed Australian born, Los Angeles-based songwriter/producer, DJ, and recording artist Kito to their publishing roster.
Pictured (L-R) are Fann Lurie, Seeker Music Sr. Director of A&R; Evan Bogart, Seeker Music CEO; Kito; and Steven Melrose, Seeker Music Head of Creative (Photo Credit: Hannah Osborne)
Since hitting the scene as a DJ in 2010, Kito, whose work is as unique as it is genre-less, has remixed, written, and produced with the biggest names in electronic music, R&B, and pop, as well as developing a successful career as an artist in her own right. Remix-wise, she’s brought her playful touch and skipping drums to the likes of Beyoncé’s “Run the World,” Saweetie and Doja Cat’s “Best Friend,” and MARINA’s “Venus Fly Trap.” She’s produced and written with Mabel, BANKS, Tinashé, and Jorja Smith, and “Bitter” (her song with FLETCHER) has now earned her her first RIAA Gold-certified single. On her own, Kito’s EP Blossom includes features from the likes of Jeremih, ZHU, and Terror Jr. 
BMG has announced a new catalog recordings agreement bringing the acclaimed solo recorded works of George Harrison to Dark Horse Records/BMG together with his music publishing catalog for the first time ever, under one roof, solely at BMG. In celebration of Harrison’s 80th birthday, Dark Horse/BMG have released the entire catalog in Dolby Atmos surround sound exclusively on Apple Music.
Harrison’s recorded catalog features 12 studio albums of solo works including his debut Wonderwall Music (soundtrack to the film Wonderwall), the US and UK chart-topping critically acclaimed, 7x Platinum-certified triple album All Things Must Pass featuring the No.1 single “My Sweet Lord,” “What Is Life,” “Isn’t It A Pity,” “All Things Must Pass,” and the US No.1 Living In The Material World featuring the No.1 single “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth),” through the Platinum-certified Cloud Nine featuring his No.1 charting cover of “Got My Mind Set On You, to his final studio album Brainwashed featuring the Grammy award-winning “Marwa Blues.”
George Harrison
Previously in 2022, BMG announced it had entered into a global publishing agreement with the George Harrison Estate to administer the Harrisongs catalog comprising more than 200 songs written with The Beatles, The Traveling Wilburys and Harrison’s solo career. The partnership expands on the relationship with Harrison’s legendary Dark Horse Records as the boutique music company with BMG serving as its global partner and infrastructure across recorded music, music publishing, and merchandise, while developing further areas of business. Harrisongs Limited, the music publishing entity created by Harrison, contains his nearly two dozen songs written with the Beatles including the band’s most popular song on streaming services, “Here Comes The Sun,” as well as “I Me Mine,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and the US No.1 single “Something,” his songs from the two albums recorded by supergroup The Traveling Wilburys featuring “End of the Line,” “Handle with Care,” “She’s My Baby,” and “Inside Out,” as well as the 12 studio albums of solo works. ONE OF THE WORLD’S FASTEST GROWING MUSIC MARKETS 
MUSEXPO 2023 www.musexpo.net the highly regarded annual global music business conference and showcase event will return to the “Media Capital of The World,” Burbank, California from March 19th – 22nd. MUSEXPO joins a week-long series of events that includes the Global Sync / A&R Summit, the esteemed 20th year anniversary A&R Worldwide gala dinner event, and more, as it brings together the international music community for key insights and discussions on the evolution of the worldwide music business.
The event has unveiled dozens of new speakers for its forthcoming “United Nations of Music” event from within the various touchpoints of the worldwide music business from A&R, music publishing, management, digital, streaming, radio, booking and live, distribution, marketing, technology, synchronization (film, TV, videogames, eSport, trailers, promos), performance rights and so much more.
This year MUSEXPO will also focus on the opportunities across India’s vast music eco-system; something that MUSEXPO first highlighted with an in-depth analysis back in 2006 when most of the music world was unaware or uninterested in the potential of the market.
India is one of the most burgeoning music markets in the world, as well as the world’s fastest-growing economies, largest English language-speaking territories, and home to the biggest population of millennials, as well as a growing streaming/digital, talent management, live, multi-media, sync (film, TV, interactive gaming, on-demand), mobile and traditional (recorded and publishing) music business. There seems to be an abundance of opportunities and possibilities in India.
The esteemed panel of experts from India will give an overview of the current and future potential of this vast market, and the realities of creative and commercial possibilities.
Some of the executives from India speaking at MUSEXPO include Hiba Irshad - former Head of A&R, JioSaavn; Mandar Thakur – COO, Times Music; Mansoor Rahimat Khan – Co-Founder & CEO, Beatoven.ai; Oum Pradutt - Founder & Managing Director, Phase1 Events & Entertainment Pvt Ltd; Saurabh Abbi - Partner & CEO, TM Ventures, and Vikram Mehra - Managing Director, Saregama and others. The Spotlight On India panel will be moderated by Ralph Simon - Founder & Chairman, Mobilium Global who has an extensive history within the Indian music, media and technology sectors.
In addition, India’s Times Music, Saregama and TM Ventures will be co-hosting a number of networking mixers for MUSEXPO delegates at this year’s event.
For more information, and to register to attend MUSEXPO click HERE.
GLOBAL NEWS UPDATES…
THE STEREOTYPES SIGN WITH PEERMUSIC: Global independent publisher peermusic has signed Jonathan Yip and Jeremy Reeves of The Stereotypes, the hit-makers behind Cardi B and Bruno Mars’ “Please Me”, Justin Bieber’s “Somebody to Love” ft. Usher, Chris Brown’s “Beg for It”, Lil Yachty’s “Better”, and Silk Sonic’s “After Last Nite” (with Thundercat and Bootsy Collins) to a worldwide, go-forward, publishing administration deal. The deal was announced by Kathy Spanberger, President & COO, peermusic and Tuff Morgan, Vice President, A&R peermusic. The highly coveted, Grammy Award-winning, multi-Platinum Los Angeles production and songwriting team—Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, and Jeremy Reeves, have cast a palpable influence over pop, hip-hop, and R&B, architecting the backbone of one successive smash after another.
DISTROKID LAUNCHES AI-POWERED MASTERING SERVICE: DistroKid, the global distributor of independent music, recently unveiled Mixea, an AI-powered mastering tool that helps artists instantly make their music “radio ready.” The service allows users access to mastering one complimentary track, then $99 (USD) per year to master unlimited tracks. “For artists who are short on time or resources, Mixea is a powerful tool to help make their music sound great in a hurry,” Philip Kaplan, Founder & CEO of DistroKid. Additionally, another tool recently brought on by the company is DistroVid, which enables members to upload unlimited music videos to streaming services including Tidal, Vevo, Apple Music, and others.
ROCK DUO LOVELESS SIGN GLOBAL DEAL WITH BMG: Los Angeles rock duo Loveless have signed a global recordings partnership with BMG. Loveless, comprised of multi-instrumentalist Dylan Tirapelli-Jamail and vocalist/producer Julian Comeau, offer a unique blend of emo, alt-pop, and high-velocity hard rock. The duo first met in 2019 and released their debut single “Better” in April 2020 just as COVID lockdown restrictions began to go into full force. The limitations prevented any touring plans and found Loveless embracing social media to connect with fans globally. Loveless has built an active and very supportive community online with two million TikTok followers, two million+ Spotify monthly listeners, over 200k YouTube subscribers, five million monthly streams on Pandora, and over 300k followers on Instagram. The duo frequently releases videos on TikTok responding to their audience as well as directly engaging their community via their other social media channels. Loveless embark on a headlining North American and European tour this spring with multiple dates already sold out and many others having their venues upgraded to accommodate more fans following the huge demand they’ve seen.
YMU NAMES NEW HEAD OF LATIN MUSIC: YMU has announced the appointment of highly respected music executive Yvette Medina to the position of Head of Latin Music. Yvette whose appointment is effective immediately, will work with the YMU Los Angeles-based team and joins the company after running her own successful artist management company, Creative Management Firm (CMF). She will continue to manage the careers of Latin artists, alongside the global YMU team, across all divisions while overseeing the company’s activities for Latin America and with the wider Latin music community. With over 18 years of experience in the music industry, Yvette has worked at a senior level for a number of high-profile companies including CAA, WME, and Sony Latin and held the position of Head of Marketing for Pitbull. In 2016, she was appointed General Manager of Roc Nation Latin and in 2018 returned to artist management with her own company managing Argentinian urban star Ecko, Grammy-winning and Platinum-selling producer De La Cruz, Paloma Mami, and singer-songwriter latenightjiggy, who she co-manages.
ROBIN GODFREY-CASS JOINS PRIMARY: Primary Wave Music has announced the addition of UK music executive Robin Godfrey-Cass to its team. Based in the UK, Robin is joining Primary Wave to focus on catalog acquisitions of iconic and legendary songwriters for the independent publishing giant. Robin Godfrey-Cass’s diverse experience in the music industry has spanned over 40 years. He was appointed Warner Chappell Music UK’s Managing Director, making history as the youngest ever appointed MD for a major publisher. During his time at Warner Chappell, Robin was responsible for the worldwide signings of Eric Clapton, Michael Bolton, Howard Jones, Whitesnake, Bush and Radiohead, among many others. Promoted in 1990 to Sr. Vice President (Europe), and in addition to his MD duties, Robin coordinated European Acquisitions for Warner Chappell. During his reign as MD, Warner Chappell Music was the number one music publisher for 10 out of 11 years in the UK. This has never been matched.
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GERMANY PRESENTS OFFICIAL GOLD & PLATINUM AWARDS ON THE BLOCKCHAIN: Universal Music Germany, in cooperation with the German Music Industry Association (BVMI) and the Web3 music platform twelve x twelve, will present official Gold, Platinum and Diamond Awards as digital tokens, in addition to the celebrated physical awards which will continue to be part of recognition ceremonies. The first recipients of the digital awards are Universal Music Germany artists Lena, Nico Santos and DJ Robin & Schürze. Lena and Nico Santos receive a Platinum award for their single “Better,” Nico Santos also receives triple Gold award as a solo artist for “Rooftop” and four Gold awards for “Safe,” “Play With Fire,” “Unforgettable” and “Like I Love You,” and DJ Robin & Schürze receive triple Gold and Platinum for their smash hit “Layla.” The digital awards are effectively certificates of authenticity linked to the video and image versions of the awards. Unlike conventional digital files, the tokens on the blockchain are limited and in this case, non-transferable.
PARLOPHONE UNVEILS KEY PROMOTIONS & HIRES: Parlophone Records has announced a number of key promotions and hires that will strengthen its position as a leading label for discovering and developing ground-breaking talent in the UK. Jack Melhuish has been named the label’s new General Manager, reporting into its Co-Presidents Nick Burgess and Mark Mitchell. Jack joined Parlophone as Director of Marketing, Partnerships and Strategy in 2018 and has played a vital role in the label’s success since then, leading innovative and culturally significant campaigns for the likes of Ashnikko, Coldplay, David Guetta, Gabriels, Gorillaz, Kano, PinkPantheress and Sam Ryder. In his new role, Jack will continue to oversee and strategize boundary-pushing campaigns for Parlophone’s diverse roster of artists, while also taking on wider responsibilities within the label. Parlophone also announced four key hires which will strengthen its A&R team. Arina Logacheva, Molly McNulty and Seb Smith have been appointed as Senior A&R Managers, while Jason Ngimbi has been brought in as a Junior A&R Manager.
WISE MUSIC GROUP HIRES MANAGER FOR ASIA: Wise Music Group has announced a new addition to its APAC team with the hiring of Hong Kong-based executive Aggie Ng to the role of Asia Manager. Aggie, previously held the job of Licensing Manager at BMG Rights Management (Hong Kong) and Executive Officer of Music Publishers Association. Aggie stated, “It is an honor and pleasure to be joining the Wise Music family! I look forward to contributing my licensing experience gained from the SE Asia market to help Wise Music's songwriters and composers expand their presence in the APAC region.” The Wise Music catalog includes copyrights by a wide range of writers and composers including Ludovico Einaudi, Tan Dun, Dustin O’Halloran, Phillip Glass, Hania Rani, Olafur Arnalds, Ross Edwards, William Barton, and others.
AUDIUS UNVEILS TIKTOK IMPORT VERIFICATION: Audius the decentralized music association and discovery platform for artists and fanbases, has unveiled that users can now sign up using their TikTok account, which includes importing their verified status right into Audius. Launched in 2018, Audius anticipates a music industry that allows the artist at its center, empowering them with innovative ways to share their music and other experiences with their fans. Users can autofill their profile with their TikTok account allowing for instant verification on Audius. Additionally, Audius users will be able to share their songs directly to the video sharing app. Audius is powered by its own crypto token, $AUDIO which is available on Coinbase.
ADA WORLDWIDE NAMES HEAD OF PHYSICAL SALES & MARKETING: ADA Worldwide, the independent label and artist services arm of Warner Music Group has announced that Cathy Bauer has been appointed Head of Physical Sales & Marketing for the company. In this newly created role, Bauer will manage ADA’s global physical sales and marketing division with a focus on growing partners’ businesses and establishing efficient and standardized processes. Bauer will also identify growth and innovation opportunities for ADA’s artists and partners including through direct-to-consumer initiatives, working closely with WMG’s artist services division, WMX. Bauer will report to ADA Worldwide’s President, Cat Kreidich.
ICE TEAMS UP WITH GAMING METAVERSE’S STYNGR: ICE, the pan-European hub for music licensing has announced a partnership with gaming metaverse start-up Styngr with deal that will cover the multi-territory use of the ICE’s Core members. Stynger is a platform that provides new uses of music to gaming and the metaverse, whereas gamers can choose in-game music channels, event-driven short musical clips to personalize and enhance their internal gaming experiences. In addition, developers can activate options for in-game monetization. ICE Core members will begin to garner royalty income from the new applications. The multi-year deal covers a wide range of territories and will support accurate, usage-based writer payments. Furthermore, composers and songwriters can also apply directly to access the Styngr creator fund, which provides bespoke musical experiences for game developers and metaverse lands.
RESERVOIR ACQUIRES SONNY ROLLINS CATALOG: Reservoir Media has announced the acquisition of both the publishing and recorded rights of renowned saxophonist and living jazz icon Sonny Rollins. Born in New York in 1930, Rollins is widely regarded as one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time and earned the monikers “The Saxophone Colossus” and “The Greatest Living Improviser.” He is both a prolific artist and songwriter, recording over 60 albums across seven decades, with numerous compositions of his becoming jazz standards, including “St. Thomas,” “Oleo,” “Doxy,” and more. Throughout his career, Rollins deftly adapted to various innovations in jazz and added his own improvisations that drove the genre forward. He also collaborated and recorded with countless notable jazz musicians from the last century, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie, among many others. Today, Rollins continues to carry on the legacy of his fellow jazz visionaries who revolutionized jazz in the 1950s. 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Dave Jordan, Alistair Goldsmith, Mark Holland Iain Taylor, Carianne Marshall, Saurabh Abbi, Allison Kaye, Billy Mann, Daryl Berg, Areli Quirarte, Kaylin Frank, John Fleckenstein, Rebecca Rienks, Lonny Olinick and Jason Flom.
JACKASS OF THE WEEK
Have you ever sent a text message you regretted, clicked on the wrong link, posted an inappropriate message or image on social media, accidentally replied “send all” on an E-mail, or made a total ass of yourself? Yes, we’ve all had a jackass moment at one time or another in our lives. The weather around the world seems to have become more extreme and unpredictable in recent times. Click HERE to watch Mother Nature throw some weather curve balls to unexpecting humans across the globe.
After years of relentless writing and recording, the world is getting closer to hearing the debut mixtape by Brooke Combe. The Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter is set to release the Black Is The New Gold (Modern Sky) mixtape on April 21st, with a healthy dose of funk, soul and retro rock. During the pandemic Brooke would record and upload covers online, and two of them took off. The first was a jazzy remake of the Arctic Monkeys’ “Why’d You only Call Me When You’re High” and the other was her take on a disco classic “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” by Baccara. Once she uploaded it, she left her phone for nearly thirty minutes and when she came back, she had 10k new followers. Her vocals drew the attention of The Coral’s James Skelly, who invited her to the legendary Parr Street Studio and introduced her to Charlie Salt of Blossoms in her first studio session. Through her collaborations with the likes of Skelly, Blossoms, Miles Kane and Jamie Webster, she showed her ability to win over even casual audiences, which became one of her greatest strengths. Between 2021 and 2022, she performed at the likes of TRNSMT, Glastonbury and Neighbourhood Weekender festivals, and recently in support of Blossoms. The title song from the upcoming mixtape is the most mature song Brooke has written to date; a smooth Amy Winehouse-styled melodic ballad, reflecting on her roots. Listen to “Black Is The New Gold” by the 23-year-old “Breakthrough Artist” at the Scottish Music Awards in 2021 HERE, and contact Alfie Skelly at alfie@modernsky.uk for all inquiries on behalf of Brooke Combe.
PASSPORT APPROVED™ PLAYLIST – 2/26/2023 
“PASSPORT APPROVED” PLAYLIST FOR Sunday, February 26th, 2023: The weekly
import show. Heard on more than 50 radio stations on six continents weekly including: Flux FM
Berlin, Germany; NINETYSIX Radio (Indonesia); JioSaavn
(India); Radio Doble Nueve, Lima, Peru; WZRH–FM New Orleans, LA;
KWSS “93.9FM”; Phoenix, AZ; KRML “102.1FM”; Carmel,
CA; KFRR “New Rock 104.1FM”; Fresno, CA; Radio 1,
Mumbai, India; WCNR Charlottesville, VA; KIWR “The
River”; Council Bluffs, IA; 2XM Ireland (national radio);
96.2 ZFM The Netherlands; WAPS–FM “The Summit.FM”;
Akron–Canton, OH; WKTL–FM Youngstown, OH; 105.5FM XFM
Nairobi, Kenya; PUK–FM Johannesburg, South Africa; Rock
96.5FM Zambia; 897 FM Bratislava, Slovakia; WITH
“90.1FM”; Ithaca, NY; UCFM 87.8FM Australian Capital Territory,
Australia; WRUR 88.5FM Rochester, NY; WCRU–FM Hamilton,
NY; KZND Anchorage, AK; KQCJ Quad Cities, IL;
Allgauhit–FM Bavaria Germany; Indie Xfm Los Angeles and on
The Independent FM (iHeartRadio) in the United States, as well as many
others internationally.
Listen to this two hour show by clicking HERE: CAESARIA – “Hope” (Colligence Records, France) |
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