Executive Turntable: Warner Records Names Marketing SVP; Primary Talent Brings on a New Partner

TJ Landig was promoted to senior vp of marketing at Warner Records. Based in Los Angeles, he reports to executive vp of marketing & artist development Dionnee Harper. Among other duties, Landig manages the labels’ partnership with 88rising. He can be reached at tj.landig@warnerrecords.com.

Pete Nash joined Primary Talent International as a partner, effective immediately. Nash is the eighth partner to join the company since it regained its independence from CAA in March via a management-led buyout. Nash joined ICM in 2020 and worked closely with the Primary Talent team until CAA’s acquisition of ICM in June 2022. Nash brings clients Kings of Leon, Pet Shop Boys, Regina Spektor, Steve Winwood and Travis to the agency.

Roberto Neri joined Believe as CEO of Believe Publishing following the company’s acquisition of Sentric Music Group in March. Along with Sentric founder/CEO Chris Meehan, Neri will “build a service for songwriters and publishers, in a way that is both innovative and complementary with Believe’s core recorded music offering,” according to Neri’s post on LinkedIn announcing his hire. He was most recently CEO at Utopia Music Services, Sentric’s former parent company.

Elsewhere at Believe, the company’s U.K. office announced several promotions. They include Malena Wolfer, upped from head of artist services to director of artist services; Ben Rimmer, elevated from label & artist solutions director, Believe UK to regional director label & artist solutions, Believe UK & Northern Europe; and Panos Polimatidis, promoted from head of artist relations to head of label & artist solutions. Wolfer will focus on high-profile signings and partnerships and explore joint venture opportunities, Rimmer will help grow Believe’s operations in Benelux and Scandinavia, and Polimatidis will be responsible for business development across both the label and artist distribution divisions while also overseeing the client relationship management team. Wolfer and Rimmer will report to Believe UK managing director Alex Kennedy while Polimatidis will report to Rimmer.

Leslie Rosales joined Rostrum Records as head of marketing. In the role, she will develop and lead marketing plans for the independent label — creating marketing opportunities across all digital service providers, securing brand partnerships and partnering with creative teams to develop content that supports artist and label goals. Rosales, who will report to Rostrum Records president Erika Montes, joins Rostrum from High Standardz, where she will continue as a consultant for the label’s emerging artists, including Coco Jones and Lady London. She can be reached at leslie@rostrumrecords.com.

Sofia Ilyas was named chief community officer at The Beatport Group, where she will oversee the company’s diversity, inclusion and social action efforts. She will also lead corporate communications, spearhead the strategy for emerging growth markets and manage Beatport’s partnerships with DJ and product community organizations globally. She most recently served as a director at headphone company Nura. Ilyas will be based out of Beatport’s London office and can be reached at sofia.ilyas@beatport.com.

Mark Collen has departed his role as executive vp of international operations at Sony Music to launch a new consultancy firm called Night Manager Entertainment. The new firm will offer strategic leadership and international marketing consulting to clients across the music industry. Collen can be reached at mark@nightmanager-entertainment.com.

The Country Music Association (CMA) promoted four employees: Tiffany Kerns to senior vp of industry relations & philanthropy, Catharine McNelly to vp of communications, Ben Balch to senior director of accounting & financial planning, and Michael Farris to senior director of business strategy & insights. Among other duties, Kerns will continue overseeing the direction and management of CMA membership including operations, programming, events and the organization’s newly launched membership structure; McNelly will take on a greater strategic role with communications and talent relations efforts across all of CMA’s events, programs and initiatives; Balch will continue to oversee reporting and financial standing for both CMA and the CMA Foundation; and Farris will lead the ticketing, data architecture and insights teams and serve as the lead ticketing strategist for all CMA events. Kerns can be reached at tkerns@cmaworld.com, McNelly can be reached at cmcnelly@cmaworld.com, Balch can be reached at bbalch@cmaworld.com and Farris can be reached at mfarris@cmaworld.com.

Anna Pittman was hired as vp of artist development at Warner Music Nashville. Pittman previously served as an artist development and marketing consultant for Warner Music Group and, prior to that, worked at Q Prime Artist Management for over 14 years.

FreshTracks Music UK, a new MCPS Production Music publisher, launched with John Clifford — former global head of BMG Production Music and managing director U.K. at Universal Music Publishing — serving as managing director. In the role, Clifford will be responsible for building the Martin Nedved-founded company’s U.K. team and label partners while continuing to run his consultancy business, True Road Music. Along with its own repertoire, FreshTracks Music UK will sub-publish select production music from international labels, expanding the wider FreshTracks Music network that currently operates in 10 European countries. Clifford can be reached at john.clifford@freshtracksmusic.co.uk.

Oak View Group (OVG) promoted Drew Gershenson to vp of content for Greater Palm Springs’ Acrisure Arena and vp of OVG’s Southwest division. Gershenson joined OVG in December 2021 and previously served as director of booking for Acrisure Arena. He will report to John Page, senior vp of Acrisure Arena, the Coachella Valley Firebirds and OVG360 Facilities. In his new role, Gershenson will continue to lead the day-to-day programming for the Acrisure Arena and support other OVG-managed properties including Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, Mullett Arena in Tempe and Tahoe Blue Arena, which is scheduled to open this summer in South Lake Tahoe.

Mike Reynolds and Norman Jacob launched MNJR, a new full-service artist and label management group based in Nashville where they will both serve as managing partners. The firm launches with a roster that includes The Mavericks and the solo career of the group’s frontman, Raul Malo, as well as their label imprint Mono Mundo Recordings; alt-country group 49 Winchester; and emerging artist McKinley James. The MNJR team at launch also includes Rudy Newman, who will serve as operations manager. Reynolds can be reached at mreynolds@mnjr.co, Jacob can be reached at norman@mnjr.co and Newman can be reached at rudy@mnjr.co.

Marni Greenberg joined Sofar Sounds as vp of communications. She was most recently head of music communications at YouTube, where she worked for six years.

Amy Van-Baaren was promoted to the newly-created role of chief impact and culture officer at Resident Advisor; her previous title was head of community. In her new role, Van-Baaren will continue overseeing the company’s philanthropic initiatives while overseeing the internal company culture, community partnerships and Resident Advisor’s non-profit jobs board, Doors Open. She can be reached at avb@ra.co.

Josh Miely was promoted to vp of content design and development at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), effective April 27. In his new role, Miely will lead the design, development and delivery of content programming for NAB Show events, while also supporting content and program development efforts for virtual events on NAB Amplify, as well as regional and community-based events for the organization. He’ll report to NAB executive vp/managing director, global connections and events Chris Brown. Miely was previously director of member experience, industry affairs.

Leading livestreaming firm Bulldog DM hired Gilad Gershoni as its new chief strategy officer. Prior to joining Bulldog DM, Gershoni served as Twitter’s live video specialist and as senior live streaming producer at MLB Advanced Media. Gershoni will work closely with Bulldog DM’s founder/CEO John Petrocelli, COO Simon Rust Lamb and chief technology officer Peter Kahn to deliver cutting-edge solutions that meet the needs of Bulldog DM’s clients. He can be reached at gilad@bulldogdm.com.

Megan Kleinschmidt was hired as director of regional promotion at Monument Records. She joins the company from Universal Music Group, where she worked on the Capitol Nashville promotion team. In her new role, she will be responsible for the West Coast, where she’ll represent the full Monument roster.

Southern California music festival Desert Daze launched the record label Desert Daze Sound in partnership with Partisan Records, which will distribute releases on the imprint; Desert Daze’s Phil Pirrone will lead the label’s curation. The first release on the label will be Zango, the first album in nearly 40 years from “Zamrock” legends (and Desert Daze veterans) WITCH, which is set for release on June 2. The label will additionally put out a vinyl compilation series titled LIVE @ Desert Daze!