Executive Turntable: Universal Music Canada Names EVP/GM; Kobalt Hires Global Creative Head
Julie Adam was named executive vp/general manager at Universal Music Canada, where she will lead frontline operations, overseeing marketing, digital strategy, commercial affairs and brand partnership portfolios. Adam joins from Rogers Sports & Media, where she was most recently president of news & entertainment.
Alison Donald was promoted to head of global creative at Kobalt, where she will be based between London and Los Angeles. She previously oversaw A&R and creative in the U.K. and Europe for Kobalt Music Publishing as well as AWAL’s U.K. and Europe creative team prior to its sale.
Jennifer Blakeman joined Seeker Music as chief rights & royalties officer. She comes from boutique music publisher one77 Music, where she served as president/chief creative officer. In her new role, she will lead and oversee the expansion of Seeker’s rights management, administration and royalty platforms. Blakeman can be reached at blakeman@seekermusic.com.
Michael Allen was named vp of marketing strategy at Republic Records, where he will develop and execute campaigns for artists across pop and K-pop. The New York-based executive joined Republic in 2020 as a digital marketing consultant.
Gabe Fleet joined law firm Latham & Watkins as partner in the connectivity, privacy & information practice. Fleet, a prominent music licensing lawyer, joins from iHeartMedia, where he served as executive vp of business affairs and chief music licensing counsel. He anticipates being part of Latham’s New York office upon admission to the New York Bar; he is currently licensed to practice in Georgia and Alabama. He can be reached at Gabe.Fleet@lw.com.
Merlin announced several promotions. They include Ryan McWhinnie to vp of business and legal affairs, Shrina Patel to senior director of business and legal affairs, Chris Tarbet to senior director of commercial partnerships, Chaida Kapfunde to senior director of business and technology solutions, Pavan Vasdev to director of strategy & growth, Quentin Martins to senior manager of commercial partnerships and Grace Styles to senior finance assistant.
Big Machine Label Group promoted Courtney Daly, Bekah Digby and Marie Wapelhorst to director of streaming and Anna Scott Welch to manager of streaming. Sam Featherstone also joined the company as director of streaming; he was previously at Sony Music Entertainment, where he served as associate director of commercial partnerships. Daly can be reached at courtney.daly@bmlg.net, Digby can be reached at bekah.digby@bmlg.net, Featherstone can be reached at sam.featherstone@bmlg.net, Wapelhorst can be reached at marie.wapelhorst@bmlg.net and Scott Welch can be reached at annascott.welch@bmlg.net.
Red Street Records hired several new team members, including Brooklynn Gould-Bradbury as manager of publicity and communications, Dottie Chamberlain as executive assistant/operations manager and Riley Cooper as digital marketing coordinator. Gould-Bradbury joins from CMT and can be reached at brooklynn.g@redstreetrecords.com. Chamberlain joins from Universal Music Nashville, where she served as executive assistant to chairman/CEO Mike Dungan (for whom she worked for nearly three decades). She can be reached at Dottie.c@redstreetrecords.com. Cooper, who is coming off internships with companies including Sweet Talk Publicity and Triple 8 Management, can be reached at riley.c@redstreetrecords.com.
Universal Music Group senior vp of business and legal affairs Aaron Harrison was appointed to the SoundExchange board of directors; he replaces Sony Music’s Jeff Walker. Harrison also serves on the SoundExchange licensing committee.
Hannah Babitt, CEO/founder of Los Angeles-based boutique management company BABZ, announced the opening of BABZ Nashville. Babitt will oversee BABZ in both Los Angeles and Nashville, with Jacklyn Figueiredo and Eden Lytle based in Los Angeles.
Claudia Russo was named senior vp of corporate communications at UTA. She joins from Verizon Business Markets, where she served as head of communications. Beginning in the role immediately, she will relocate to Los Angeles from New York this summer.
Sweden-based label A-P Records rebranded to Overtone Studios and named producer/songwriter Rami Yacoub as director of music development, North America. Based in Los Angeles, he’ll help spearhead the company’s international expansion.
Adam Sachs was named senior vp of entertainment, comedy and podcasts programming at SiriusXM. The executive first joined the satellite broadcaster following its acquisition of Team Coco, where he served as president.
First Artists Management hired Zoe Hart as agent in its London office and promoted Hailey Flame to agent in Los Angeles. Hart, who joins from Faber Music, can be reached at ZHart@firstartistsmgmt.com. Flame can be reached at Hflame@firstartistsmgmt.com.
Nigel Elderton was named chairman at music technology company Audoo, which is focused on improving accuracy, transparency and reporting in public performance royalty data collection and payment distribution.
Chris Eggertsen
Billboard
