in the newly-created role of CEO of Concord Label Group last August, he arrived with a background split between the record labels — first as a label executive in New York, then later in Nashville, ultimately as COO of Universal Music Nashville — and management, where he had spent the prior seven years at Red Light under. That gave him a view into both sides of the artist equation.
You mentioned your focus on frontline. Several of your frontline labels have had significant success lately. What do each of them bring to your portfolio, and what sets them apart? We have Easy Eye, our venture with Dan Auerbach, and we have this band Hermanos Gutierrez, which is an amazing talent; I just saw them at the Ryman last week and that was an incredible show, in terms of what they can deliver on that front.
This is a process that’s evolved since I’ve gotten here with the catalog, and it’s really about taking a portfolio approach, not unlike from the financial world where you have marketing experts and teams responsible for delivering for a group of artists, whether it’s a reissue, whether it’s on Spotify. But they’re in tune with each artist within their portfolio.
We take a very boutique approach. Each label has their A&R staff and their core marketing staff, and it’s small, it’s intimate, they can ask the artist, “Where do you want to go?” And then I’ve created a team in the middle that can deliver on that question, with Jill Weindorf leading the marketing efforts, Brad Clark leading the streaming and data efforts, Karen Kloack on the sync side. And we have a global reach. If you’re signed to Concord, you have a global company.