Innholdsfortegnelse for Feb-01-14 i Billboard Magazine

What is power? At its base, it’s the ability to reshape the world around you according to your vision. And who in the music industry did so better in the last year than this power couple? Leveraging their star power to release new albums in unprecedented ways—Jay Z through Samsung and Beyoncé through iTunes—they instantly changed how the industry and fans thought about interacting with music. He gave his album away; she charged a premium price for hers. But they both used the element of surprise to restore the excitement that used to accompany a new release, before that impact was dulled by the endless thunder of carefully plotted promotion. In short, they proved that content truly is king. Or, in this case, king and queen. For years, Jay Z…

People talk about Big Data. He makes it pay off: With concert attendance up 27% to 55 million, Live Nation Entertainment’s stock price more than doubled, adding $2 billion to its market cap “We had an epic, record year for ticket sales, and that in itself is the big overall takeaway picture of 2013,” Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino says. “Every country, every genre of music, every size ofivenue had strong year-over-year growth, which testifes to consumer demand and the supply of great artists.” That growth in concert attendance also speaks to another area where Live Nation and its Ticketmaster operation are on the leading edge: digital and mobile marketing. By Rapino’s mandate, the company has doubled down on gathering and analyzing consumer data, an opportunity aforded by the…

He’s back and he’s ready to change the game again, with the new Azoff MSG Entertainment buying up companies and readying a challenge to ASCAP and BMI Irving Azof is one of the few on this list whose influence is measured not by the company he’s associated with but by the charisma, savvy and sheer chutzpah of the man himself. Azof’s well-earned reputation for changing the game precedes him to such a degree that, whatever his current gig, the music industry always wonders what his next move will be. A year after he resigned as chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, Azof’s influence remains pervasive, even as the direct impact of Azof MSG Entertainment (AMSGE) unfolds. As this new era generates headlines, when asked about recent highlights Azof leads with the…

He’s got the market covered—from the music you hear to the way you hear it—and wants it all to be one thing: great Power is not a word Jimmy Iovine will use. He prefers “great.” To back up his point, he quotes Bruce Springsteen’s statements in 2010 documentary “The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story.” “I never say someone is powerful. I think of what Bruce said: ‘I wasn’t looking to be famous, I wasn’t looking to be rich. I was looking to be great.’ To me, it’s all about being really good. All I ever really work for is to be a really good engineer, a good producer, a good executive, good in the world of Beats. That’s power to me.” Iovine’s 2013 included hits from…

Robert Kondrk VP OF ITUNES CONTENT APPLE Running the country’s biggest music retailer, they helped steady Apple’s stock Apple’s Eddy Cue and Robert Kondrk have served as officers of a ship that navigated rough waters in 2013 as investors wavered in their faith in CEO Tim Cook, driving the company’s stock down a stomach-churning 29.5% between its Jan. 2 opening price of $553.82 to a low of $390.53 on April 19. But thanks in part to the continued doubledigit growth in the revenue of iTunes , Apple ended the year in solid shape—its stock up a hair at 1.3% to close at $561.02 on Dec. 31. The iTunes Store generated $9.3 billion in net sales during its 2013 f scal year that ended Sept. 28, up 24% from $7.5 billion…

Led the Beyoncé album cycle buzz months before the singer herself ever confirmed it with Pepsi-exclusive video for “Grown Woman” Pepsi has been battling it out with rival Coca-Cola (see No. 79) for decades for market share and brand awareness. But when it comes to an industry-leading music strategy, Pepsi’s Frank Cooper has his sights set on a much broader spectrum of companies. “For me it’s any non-endemic consumer products company in the music space, whether you’re coming from the electronics business, the beverage business or the car industry,” he says. “We’re in this amazing period where the right consumer- products brand can really add value to an artist as well as their products, without the artist having to sacrifce their integrity or artistry in any way.” In 2013 Pepsi’s…

Avery Lipman PRESIDENT/COO REPUBLIC RECORDS Broke Lorde and became “Royals” of their own by becoming the No. 1 label by current plus TEA market share Avery Lipman can best encapsulate Republic’s 2013 in the month of September. “We had an album of major consequence for six weeks straight,” he says of the time period that had new releases from Ariana Grande, Jack Johnson, the Weeknd, Drake, Lorde, Cassadee Pope and Pearl Jam. “I can’t say you necessarily plan like that, but it represented a combination of a lot of hard work over the last couple years. It was a nice moment.” In a challenging year for music, current album sales were still up 3.5% year over year across all formats, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to 63.3 million units from 60.2…

Tom Corson PRESIDENT/COO, RCA MUSIC GROUP Backed by two blockbuster surprises, RCA’s top two gave the label a new look A rebranded RCA Records’ 2013 comeback was bookended by two seismic occurrences: Justin Timberlake’s return and the reinvention of teen star Miley Cyrus. Those and other projects helped Peter Edge and Tom Corson deliver on their early 2013 pledge: to boost RCA’s 2012 6.4% market share of total albums with TEA. And the pair did just that, vaulting the label from sixth to third place with 7.3%. “Justin selling 1 million in one week in today’s record business, Miley game-changing the culture and becoming a Time Person of the Year finalist—you want things like that but never expect it,” Edge says. “It was an exciting year,” Corson adds. “Everyone worked…

Under her watch, ticket sales for Citi’s tour sponsorships had a 22% jump Through the years, music has scared of some major marketers from making deep investments because the industry’s planning cycles aren’t as fxed as, say, broadcast TV or national sports leagues. How has Citi responded to the challenge? By building a team dedicated to music partnerships and tour experiences for its card holders under the banner of Citi Private Pass. The initiative has helped sell millions of concert tickets along the way, as part of a long-term deal with Live Nation. “We have an enormous customer base with a fnger on the pulse,” says Jennifer Breithaupt, who oversees Citi’s music and entertainment strategy. Citi offered access to more than 60 of the top 100 tours (according to Billboard…

Inked multiyear deal with YouTube, while also persuading Google to invest nearly $50 million for a 7% stake in Vevo Within five years of launch, Vevo’s views have grown to 5.5 billion per month in 2013, up from 4 billion in 2012. Much of that has been driven by Vevo’s international push. It’s now available in 13 countries, up from four in 2012. About 80% of its monthly views come from outside the United States, up from 75% in 2012. Those views have translated into hundreds of millions in advertising revenue. Industry estimates put that figure at around $300 million in 2012. The privately held company didn’t disclose its 2013 revenue. This year, Rio Caraef plans to bring the music video business full circle with a greater push toward linear,…

Emerged as unheralded key player in growing digital royalties for songwriters in changing landscape Since assuming the helm of Universal Music Publishing Group, chairman/CEO Zach Horowitz has not only improved proftability and grown revenue but also emerged as a key player in shaping the changing music publishing business model. During the year, UMPG made two significant acquisitions: the BBC’s music catalog, which includes material from British TV programs like “Dr. Who” and “Planet Earth,” and the Criterion catalog, which includes Lee Hazlewood classics like “These Boots Are Made for Walking”; Jackson Browne songs like “Doctor My Eyes”; and tunes from Charlie Parker, Rosanne Cash and Rodney Crowell. Beyond that, the company handled the publishing for the year’s biggest-selling artists, including Mumford & Sons, Adele, Eminem, Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus,…

ARTIST MANAGER; OWNER, SB PROJECTS The “Young Irving Azof” raised funds to make him one of the music business’ most powerful managers for years to come There’s more to Scooter Braun than Justin Bieber, whom Braun signed in 2009 when the YouTube child star was barely 15 years old and helped turn him into a global superstar. Then, in 2012, he snagged the Wanted, Carly Rae Jepsen and K-pop phenom PSY. And last year Braun showed that he could work his mojo on other stars, breaking Ariana Grande, Martin Garrix and Tori Kelly. Grande’s debut album, Yours Truly, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in September, selling 138,000 copies (according to Nielsen SoundScan), while Kelly’s second EP, Foreward, bowed at No. 16 in November with sales of 16,000.…

The big got bigger, sweeping up syndicator Westwood One and taking a significant stake in streaming service Rdio How do you follow a year when your radio company more than doubled its size? For Cumulus’ Lew Dickey, after completing the acquisition of Citadel Broadcasting in 2012, it was business as usual, starting with another acquisition: syndicator Westwood One. Add the launch of the Nash-FM country brand, a partnership with digital music service Rdio, and, just as 2014 began, the purchase of Merlin Media’s two Chicago stations, and one can understand why Dickey’s excited about what lies ahead. “We’re focused on creating a large platform for content creation and distribution across broadcast and digital,” he says. “As consumers ultimately are becoming more distribution-agnostic, we like how we are positioned to move…

CHAIRMAN, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, GREENBERG TRAURIG The dealmaker who thinks outside the box Joel Katz is a lawyer who loves the music industry— which is a good thing, because he’s using his decades of music experience and insight to play a key role in helping reshape facets of the business by counseling a string of ground-breaking deals. A leading lawyer for both artist talent (Justin Timberlake, Kenny Chesney, Jimmy Bufett) and top executives, as well as industry groups like the Recording Academy, Katz pulled together the pact in which Scooter Braun sold a stake in his management business and created a new $150 million fund to roll up other artist management firms. As general counsel to the Michael Jackson estate, in partnership with Shot Tower Capital, he worked on…

Chip Hooper spent a lot more time shuttling between New York and his Beverly Hills Office than ever before this past year to oversee the integration of EDM agency AM Only into Paradigm’s already thriving roster of alternative, rock and pop. That included spending more time with head of music Marty Diamond, who runs the East Coast, and AM Only partner Paul Morris and his growing team. In total, Hooper oversees more than 40 agents and 700-plus artists. But despite the extra miles and longer hours on both coasts, “everyone’s having fun,” he says. “If we’re not having fun, there’s no point doing it. It was a really positive, fun year.” Fun, indeed. “We Are Young” trio fun. finished its biggest year yet on the road with a long run…

Hits are the heart of her business, but nontraditional opportunities are the lifeblood During a year marked by the continued integration of EMI Music Publishing within its ranks, Sony/ATV scored phenomenal success with songs by Pharrell Williams (“Blurred Lines,” “Get Lucky” and “Happy”), A$AP Rocky (“F***in’ Problems”), Mozella (Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”), Drake (“I’m Coming Home”) and Pitbull (“Timber”). Plus, “90% of the songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 list last year were written by writers other than—or in addition to—the artist who performed the song,” co-president Jody Gerson says. “That’s a great thing for songwriters.” Hand in hand with those highlights came what Gerson calls hers and the industry’s biggest lesson of the past year: that every crazy deal out there isn’t worth making. “I looked at a lot of…

Staged Michael Jackson’s second posthumous comeback with the debut of “Michael Jackson One,” a permanent Cirque du Soleil residency in Las Vegas It’s been a busy year for John Branca. The music super-lawyer, best-known as the co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate, negotiated the sale of Elvis Presley’s intellectual property to Authentic Brands in November and helped Carlos Santana extend his residency at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas through the end of 2014. As head of the music practice at Zifren Brittenham, Branca also oversees a cadre of lawyers who represent such acts as Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Linkin Park, Selena Gomez, Rick Rubin, Trent Reznor, David Guetta and numerous other A-listers. Branca also wears a second hat: executive producer. Last year, he produced “Michael Jackson One,”…

Notched third-biggest sales week for an album in 2013 with Drake’s Nothing Was the Same. Cash Money artists had 1.3% U.S. market share Cash Money Records, the hip-hop heavyweight that minted crossover superstars in Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj, deftly expanded beyond that triumvirate in 2013 with a pair of breakout newcomers. Ace Hood, the 25-year-old rapper from Florida, had a platinum single in “Bugatti” (featuring Future and Rick Ross), while 17-year-old pop singer Austin Mahone took home the Artist to Watch honor at the MTV Video Music Awards. “The music business is like fashion—it switches,” says Bryan “Birdman” Williams, co-founder/co-CEO of Cash Money with his brother Ronald, aka “Slim.” “You either got to switch with it or be the one to switch it.” Even as the breakthrough players…

Turning an EDM conglomerate into a onestop shop for global youth culture In 2013, Robert F.X. Sillerman closed pivotal deals that made his revived SFX not only the world’s most powerful EDM conglomerate but also a one-stop shop for global youth culture, including festivals, nightclubs, music websites and a social media agency. He took the company public in October, raising $260 million. He announced InBev as SFX’s first international media partner in December, and a partnership with Clear Channel in January that will give recently acquired Beatport a top 20 countdown show alongside Ryan Seacrest. That’s a banner year for a project that started in June 2012 through a handshake with a single Midwest promoter, “Disco Donnie” Estopinal. But none of those moments are what Sillerman identifes as his highlight…

Mr. Internet Radio has built a company now valued at more than $6 billion Tim Westergren’s most memorable moment of 2013 came when the name of the 8-year-old Internet radio service he co-founded went up on the building that houses its Offices in Oakland, Calif. “I was really moved,” says Pandora’s chief strategy Officer and public face of the country’s largest Internet radio service. “There’s something about a physical manifestation of what’s essentially a virtual business.” Pandora’s name was certainly visible in 2013. Its monthly listener hours grew 13.7% to 1.6 billion in December. Monthly listeners grew 13.6% to 76.2 million—in spite of iTunes Radio, Apple’s foray into Internet radio, as well as improved products from Spotify and Slacker. Investors have taken note of its growth and improvements in mobile…

Guided Alex & Sierra to victory on the third season of the U.S. “X Factor” Simon Cowell’s recent visibility in the United States has sat squarely with “The X Factor”— the label head’s reality singing competition that airs on Fox and has yet to command the audience he once predicted. Out of public view, though, his Syco Entertainment had a significant year thanks to One Direction. Syco produced the concert-biography film “One Direction: This Is Us,” grossing $28.9 million stateside, according to Box Office Mojo. The band of U.K. “X Factor” contestants had their third consecutive No. 1 debut on the Billboard Top 200 last year with Midnight Memories, which has sold 1.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. His empire continues to expand in the United Kingdom with scripted…

Ken Ehrlich EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, GRAMMY AWARDS; CO-OWNER, KEN EHRLICH PRODUCTIONS Jack Sussman EXECUTIVE VP OF SPECIALS, MUSIC AND LIVE EVENTS, CBS ENTERTAINMENT The team that connects the Grammys with over 25 million viewers is growing their music TV stragey The Grammy Awards were seen by 28.4 million viewers in 2013, the fourth year in a row the show’s audience has exceeded 25 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Performances and wins on the show immediately propelled sales as 18 albums in the top 50 of the Billboard 200 immediately posted sales spikes after the telecast. Newer acts like Bruno Mars, Mumford & Sons and the Civil Wars have had the telecast play a crucial role in introducing them to a mass audience. “It’s the mandate of this show,” Ken Ehrlich says.…

Grammys? Check. Chart-toppers? Check. Next up: global One of the high notes of 2013 for Daniel Glass was opening a Glassnote Office in London. “The labels that I admired coming up—A&M, Chrysalis, EMI—I loved the fact that they had offices in London, New York and L.A.,” he says. “For us to now be at that point was a significant highlight for me.” European expansion isn’t the only reason Glass is in a good mood. The former Universal Records president-turned-independent label owner is fresh of a year of accolades, including the Grammy Award for album of the year for Mumford & Sons’Babel and a peer-approved trophy for indie label of the year, care of the American Assn. of Independent Music. But it’s more than shiny hardware that makes Glass one of…

A music TV gatekeeper driving Clear Channel deeper into live events and TV He began at MTV in the early ’80s, and John Sykes is once again working at the intersection of music and TV. Paul McCartney and Elton John sharing the same stage as Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake brought the heat to the iHeartRadio Festival in September. Scaling the two-day Las Vegas concert is where Sykes came in, cutting carriage deals with the CW Network, Yahoo Music and PlayStation 3, in addition to Clear Channel airing the show on its own platform of 840 local radio stations. Sykes is on the hunt for larger-than-life events that “stay true to the iHeartRadio brand of supporting new music,” as he puts it. “Not only can we create it but we…

Leveraging retail marketing power to support music Since coming in as the lead music executive at Target, Anne Stanchfeld has differentiated herself by becoming more engaged with the industry than her two predecessors, according to label sales and distribution executives. While she may not be an expert yet in music buying, her appreciation and participation in big releases heartens the industry at a time when physical sales continue to decline. Last year Target’s market share was 5.5%, and while 2013 numbers aren’t yet available, the discount department store’s music market share is expected to pick up steam. Earlier this year, a sales executive said the company “still has a very aggressive music stance. When they focus on an artist, they win big for that artist.” For the last three years,…

Sold half his business to the world’s largest live entertainment player to help open new EDM markets No one person is more emblematic of EDM’s speedy, bumpy rise than Pasquale Rotella. After an extended courtship with several suitors, the founder/CEO of Insomniac Events sold the company to Live Nation this year (reportedly 50% of the business for $50 million), becoming the linchpin of its dance music strategy—and guardian of its now-biggest event franchise in any genre, Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). “It’s working great. We really have their support as partners and investors,” he says of Live Nation. “Every day we find more resources they have that can help strengthen our company. We don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything that we want. The 39-year-old started as a…

Artist-driven promoter sees his stadiumfillers Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift help usher in a new chapter with Eric Church and Ed Sheeran One of the most intriguing second acts in the live business is that of Louis Messina, a pioneering rock promoter at PACE Concerts who was on the leading edge of the ’90s shed boom before briefy being part of the consolidated promoter conglomerate that is now Live Nation. Messina formed the Messina Group after setting out on his own in 2002, and thereafter aligned with AEG tocreate TMG/AEG Live. Having created the groundbreaking George Strait Country Music Fest tours in the late ’90s, Messina further entrenched himself in country by forging partnerships with Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift. In 2013, tours through amphitheaters, arenas and stadiums by those…

The King of the Latin album market had nine of last year’s top 10 sellers Aside from his oversight of Universal’s operations in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, Jesus Lopez presides over the biggest Latin music company in the United States, with an impressive 46.3% share of the Latin album market in 2013, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan. That’s a 5% year-over-year increase, and the growth outstrips gains from the acquisition of EMI. A major factor was the late Jenni Rivera: Six of her titles were among the top 10 best-selling Latin albums of 2013. In fact, nine of those 10 were Universal Music Group releases, including Alejandro Fernandez’s Confdencias and Andrea Bocelli’s Spanish-language Pasion. Beyond sales, Universal’s focus has increasingly shifted to diversifying revenue from a global perspective, with special…

How do music’s movers and shakers keep moving? They put the same drive and determination that they show at the Office into their morning runs, spin classes and boot camp sessions. “About 28 years ago, I caught the end of the New York City Marathon and said, ‘I’m doing that next year,’” says Glassnote Records founder/CEO Daniel Glass (No. 64), who has run a marathon every year since, whether in his hometown of New York, Paris, Rome or wherever work takes him. Glass’ daily runs in Central Park are a vital part of his workday. “I leave my headphones at home and use that time to organize my thoughts,” he says. “I get my best ideas then.” He’s also made ftness part of Glassnote’s culture, forming a company team for…

Former musician builds strong ties with artists—and Sony’s mainstream labels In its fourth year under Afo Verde’s leadership, Sony Music took a leap in the U.S. Latin digital track market, jumping from 38.8% in market share in 2012 to 44.6%, and outpacing Universal. Sony’s Latin album share grew from 28.5% to 30.5%, powered in part by Marc Anthony’s 3.0, the top-selling Latin album of the year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Expect more in 2014. Verde’s recent signings include Prince Royce and Carlos Vives. (Artists praise the A&R acumen ofiverde, who cut his teeth as guitarist of Argentine reggae band La Zimbabwe and won a Grammy in 1998 producing for Fabulosos Cadillacs.) And his strategy of working with Sony’s mainstream labels will open doors for those artists. Royce, Pitbull and Romeo…

Eminem’s manager spearheaded Activision deal and 2013’s second-best-selling album Paul Rosenberg—the founder of Goliath Artists Management, whose clients include Eminem, Danny Brown and Action Bronson—has learned to love saying “no.” “I’ve never felt bad about turning something down that wasn’t right for my clients,” Rosenberg says. “It’s important to make sure you’re doing the right deals, not just a lot of deals.” In 2013, the right deals included a landmark partnership with videogame giant Activision Blizzard for Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which was sold at a discount to buyers of “Call of Duty: Ghosts” game—a gambit that helped propel the album to 792,000 firstweek sales (according to Nielsen SoundScan). Rosenberg will stay busy in 2014 with the businesses he and Eminem have built, including Shady Records, which will…

The King of Late Night’s music-friendly empire will even expand further in 2014 The late-night NBC series that Lorne Michaels produces are the two most important TV shows for an act to perform on, according to Billboard’s most recent Maximum Exposure poll—and he’s adding a third. “Saturday Night Live” continues to be the premier TV series on the poll, voted No. 3 last year, with “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” ranked at No. 13. This season, “SNL” performances provided a launch pad for new material from Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, and helped Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City sell a career-best 134,000 its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Fallon,” meanwhile, is a music magnet, as likely to launch a viral video with Mariah Carey as it is…

When you commission a song for your new ad and it becomes a hit, you’ve cemented your status as the biggest brand in country music Chevrolet is the most active automotive sponsor of music, though if you consider all the recent songs that name-check the brand, maybe it doesn’t need to be. There’s Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” (“This brand new Chevy with a lift kit/Would look a hell lot better with you in it”), Jason Aldean’s “Take a Little Ride” (“Well I’m just ready to ride this Chevy down a little back road”) and even Rick Ross’ “Box Chevy” (“I started with the box Chevy then I got the blue Lexus”). So by the time Chevrolet teamed with Warner/Chappell Music for a new campaign, designed to continue the legacy of…

A believer in a constantly shifting future that creates new freedom for songwriters and publishers Power comes from leverage, and music publishers are gaining leverage in the new marketplace. Music publishing used to be known for collecting pennies from royalties overseen by Congress and the courts. Now its growth comes from royalties that have been established through market negotiations. To David Israelite, this leverage equals freedom. When the NMPA isn’t providing licensing solutions for digital companies, it’s pushing a philosophy of greater freedom for songwriters and publishers. songwriters and publishers. The NMPA has shown its ability to afect the marketplace by acting as a licensing bridge for the publishing industry. It helps smaller publishers reach licensing deals with digital services by creating a sort of one-stop shop. It also negotiates…

He gambled everything for EMI and now looks set to win bigger than previously imagined If anyone in the music business still has any doubt about the wisdom of Lucian Grainge’s career-defining decision to risk his stellar reputation by bidding for EMI in 2012, consider this: Just 10 months after the deal closed, Universal Music Group (UMG) parent Vivendi received a whopping bid of $8.5 billion to buy the music behemoth and was able to turn it down. Media assets are typically valued at around six to seven times operating profits. By that valuation metric the bid was about $2 billion higher than would typically be expected. But that was the bet Grainge was making all along. Like anyone else in this business he is acutely aware of the struggles…

He has market power, and he’s using it to win better rates in an increasingly digital world Martin Bandier has been in music publishing for more than 30 years and leads the world’s largest catalog holder, so when he describes the last year as “probably the most interesting year in my business life in publishing,” it’s a good idea to pay attention. Bandier, a lawyer by training and a music man by choice, is referring to the unfolding legal ramifications around the move by publishers— which he led—to pull digital rights for songs from collection societies ASCAP and BMI in order to negotiate directly with digital services like Pandora and iTunes Radio for higher rates. Bandier’s plan, embraced by some of his fellow publishers, appeared to work quite well until…

With no board to answer to, he’s able to place big bets on Parlophone and across the streaming market Few other music kingpins can count an ownership stake in a chemical refinery among their business interests. But along with Warner Music Group—the world’s third-largest music company—Len Blavatnik owns Access Industries, which has stakes in LyondellBasell, a Netherlands-based refining business with a market value of $64 billion, and Clal Industries, an Israeli holding company valued at $2.6 billion. Yet with his personal fortune and ownership of WMG—the only stand-alone major music company—Blavatnik may have more individual control than anyone else in the music biz. Because he doesn’t answer to shareholders—although investors do hold Warner debt—or a corporate parent, Blavatnik is able to reshape Warner behind a wall of privacy and without…

The most important book I read last year “Mike Tyson’s autobiography. I love the part about Don King meeting with Mike in my office.” —Irving Azoff, chairman/CEO, Azoff MSG Entertainment (No. 7) “‘Digital Radio for Dummies.’” —Bob Pittman, chairman/CEO, Clear Channel (No. 11) “‘The Empathic Civilization’ by Jeremy Rifkin. It’s a great perspective on what he thinks is the untold story of the evolution of human beings, from the hunter-gatherer beginnings through the Industrial Revolution to where we are today.” —Frank Cooper, chief marketing officer of global consumer engagement, PepsiCo (No. 15) “‘Johnny Carson’ by Henry Bushkin. I thought it was fascinating because if you grew up in the pre-Internet, pre-Wikipedia age, you basically saw what you thought you saw in the character of Johnny Carson. But it was really…

Believes we’re in “the age of the big boy,” and ready to reap those rewards through WME’s acquisition of sports powerhouse IMG William Morris Endeavor’s recent acquisition of sports agency IMG boosted it ahead of rival Creative Artists Agency to become the largest in the industry. Head of music Marc Geiger should eventually reap the benefits of a more powerful firm. Geiger leads 85-plus agents booking more than 29,000 dates from five Offices worldwide for names like Bruno Mars, Nine Inch Nails, the Killers, Drake, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Barry Manilow in 2013. Those tours alone represent a combined gross of $570 million, according to Billboard Boxscore. WME also strategically built its music roster last year, with signings like Justin Timberlake, Florence & the Machine, PSY, Foster the People and…

Named chairman of AEG Live as the global promoter posts its first billion-dollar year Jay Marciano, who was named chairman of AEG Live in the wake of the departure of president/CEO Randy Phillips in November, is a veteran of the concert promotion wars. But 2013 was a wild ride, even for him. He had only been COO of AEG seven months following the exit of AEG founding CEO Tim Leiweke. Marciano had been CEO of AEG’s European operation , a position he took in 2011 after a six-year run as president of Madison Square Garden Entertainment. The AEG model melds real estate in the form of theaters, arenas and stadiums with revenue-producing content in sports teams and live events, with added fringe businesses like ticketing, media deals, merchandising and sponsorships.…

Piloting IGA to No. 1 in total album market share with Robin Thicke, Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons This time last year, John Janick of Fueled by Ramen and Elektra fame was just four months into his new role as president of Interscope Gefen A&M, and the company had ended 2012 in second place with a 7.5% market share. Asked to assess Janick’s impact after nine months in the post, IGA chairman/CEO Jimmy Iovine summed it up in one word: clarity. “Effciency is a real talent,” he said. “John knows how to read everyone’s instincts, and mine. It’s a better company than it was before he got here.” And the ensuing months bore that out. Thanks to a global song-of-summer smash (Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”) as well as additional wins…

Craig Kallman CHAIRMAN/CEO ATLANTIC RECORDS GROUP From Bruno’s big wins to K. Michelle’s R&B breakthrough, Atlantic stayed ahead of the curve Nothing is tried and true anymore,” Atlantic’s Julie Greenwald says, reffecting on the past year. “What we think worked before isn’t necessarily moving the needle. So the challenge is to remain mindful of the changing landscape while staying true to Atlantic’s mantra: breaking artists and building careers—and not getting caught up in just breaking a song.” Among the Atlantic acts personifying that mantra is Bruno Mars. He ended 2013 with Billboard’s artist of the year honors, the coveted halftime slot at the upcoming Super Bowl and several Grammy nods, including record and song of the year for “Locked Out of Heaven.” Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran, a best new artist nominee,…

2013 proved that the revolution will be streamed—and Spotify is leading the way “Streaming became currency” in 2013, Spotify’s Daniel Ek says. Initially dismissed as inconsequential, Spotify royalties have become meaningful as consumers buy a little less and stream a lot more. “Daft Punk had a recordsetting first week for their album on Spotify, but since then the album has been streamed over 300 million times worldwide,” Ek says of the French duo’s 2013 release, Random Access Memories. “Those are significant numbers.” Spotify, the world’s biggest subscription service, paid out $500 million in 2013, has given rights holders $1 billion to date and counts 24 million users. But in today’s fast-changing music business, the mark of a disruptive leader isn’t dollars generated but the amount of criticism. The company spent…

Expanded Austin City Limits festival to two weekends, resulting in a No. 2 ranking on Billboard’s top festivals tally of 2013 Under the leadership and guidance of the “three C’s”—Charles Attal, Charlie Jones and Charlie Walker—C3 Presents has enjoyed a steady rise on Billboard’s year-end chart of the top 25 highest-grossing promoters in the world. In 2013, the Austin-based independent concert promotion, event production and artist management company ranked fifth on the top 25 promoters list, earning $124.3 million from 818 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. That was a three-spot jump from the prior year, when C3 grossed $79 million from a reported 564 shows. In addition to booking and promoting concerts in arenas, theaters, casinos and clubs across the United States, C3 has a stake in about 20 festivals…

Publishing, label—does it all, grows it all Cameron Strang says the chief lesson for him and the music industry in general last year was a simple one: “Be prepared to embrace change and find opportunities in that change.” Initially tasked with revitalizing Warner/Chappell Music, and from there also rebuilding the iconic Warner Bros. Records and overseeing Rhino Entertainment, Strang wrapped 2013 with a string of notable accomplishments. On the publishing side, Warner/Chappell—under the stewardship of senior executive Jon Platt, who joined in 2012—further bolstered its roster with such signings as Jay Z, Beyoncé, Aloe Blacc, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and in-demand producer Mike Will Made It. Warner/Chappell’s Nashville division, which boasts talents like Kacey Musgraves and Ben Hayslip, was named ASCAP publisher of the year. Michael Bublé, as well as Josh…

Growing the country touring market— and adding days to the week—with an expanding festival slate “The one thing I have the ability to do is create more Saturdays,” Brian O’Connell says, referring to his power in the live entertainment business. “It’s a mantra I have. Anyone who talks to me long enough will hear me say it.” As country music’s top talent buyer, Nashville-based O’Connell not only handles some of the genre’s top-grossing tours, but he’s also created two successful multiple-day festivals: Watershed at the Gorge in George, Wash., launched in 2012, and Faster Horses in Brooklyn, Mich., debuted last year. The new festivals provide artists with a nontraditional play and help expose developing acts to thousands of potential new fans, O’Connell says. “That’s what I call creating another Saturday,”…

Michele Anthony EXECUTIVE VP OF U.S. RECORDED MUSIC UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP Leading UMG’s corporate discipline as the only major to post both a sales gain and improved profitability indicators When Lucian Grainge assumed command of Universal Music Group in 2011, from day one he brought his own senior management team, notably Boyd Muir and Max Hole. Since then, UMG has made some bold moves, not the least of which was the acquisition of EMI’s recorded-music operation and subsequent investment in revitalizing Capitol Music Group. Muir has emerged as more than the executive VP and CFO with influence that goes far beyond laying out the financial parameters of the deal. UMG insiders say Muir influences how the company operates. At the end of September, Grainge further buttressed senior management by bringing…

Says Nashville can compete on every level—“and that goes for the executive level” “Florida Georgia Line—all caps,” Scott Borchetta replies to a question about the highlight of 2013. “Such a fantastic year for them. We never take that for granted. The guys reacted so well to moving up the ladder so quickly and became headliners by the end of the year. “Look at the whole label group. Tim Mc-Graw went from mid-pack to leading man in the format with three [top five country] singles. Taylor [Swift] never wavered. It was one of those watershed years where just about everything worked.” The charismatic leader of Big Machine considers the results for Florida Georgia Line and the development of such acts as Thomas Rhett, the Cadillac Three and Brantley Gilbert as owing…

Riding the mobile wave to offering an expanded music offering With Robert Kyncl at the helm of content and business operations, Google’s online video juggernaut YouTube continued to gather momentum in 2013, joining the rarifed Billion User Club alongside Facebook, just three months into the year. Six billion hours of video are viewed every month on YouTube, up from 4 billion in the spring of 2012. That resulted in a “corresponding increase in revenue for our creators,” Kyncl says. Much of that growth has come from increased views on mobile devices. Four out of every 10 YouTube videos are watched on mobile devices, up from one of four in 2012. YouTube’s international growth also added fuel. The vast majority of views—80%—come from outside the United States, up from 70% a…

After sweeping up publishers, ready to grow to major status with recorded music Since late 2008, Hartwig Masuch has built Bertelsmann Rights Management into the fifth-largest music company in the world, with annual revenue expected to exceed $400 million. Most of that comes from music publishing—after making multiple acquisitions of midsize independent publishing companies—but revenue is expected to grow exponentially now that the company is rolling heavy into recorded music. While it agreed in December 2012 to acquire Sanctuary and Mute’s catalogs, those deals, which gave it about 2,000 master album recordings, didn’t close until the company received regulatory approval in 2013. The company began with about 150 master recordings held back from the sale of Bertelsmann’s share of the Sony-BMG merger to Sony. Last year, BMG Artist Services started…

Developed more ways to leverage the radio giant’s multimedia platform (read: iHeartEverything) Tom Poleman made iHeartRadio one of the most recognizable brands of 2013, slapping the name of the company’s streaming and listener-created station service on album previews and release parties for such acts as One Direction and Lady Gaga, the opening of the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles and the iHeartRadio Music Festival, which ran the performer gamut from Justin Timberlake and Drake to Paul McCartney and Queen. “Music is the heart and soul of our business, so I’m determined to continue to build programs that foster artist development while creating great content for our stations and listeners,” Poleman says. Poleman made certain that listeners unable to attend live events could still enjoy them at home through streaming and…

IT HASN’T BEEN A PRETTY PICTURE for the record companies the past 15 years. In that time, the U.S. music business has shrunk in half, from revenue of $14.6 billion in 1999 to $7.1 billion in 2012, and that’s been ref ected in job losses, consolidation of seven music giants into three and a general feeling of malaise that says the industry’s glory days are an irretrievable thing of the past. Indeed, the landscape is littered with former executives bemoaning the loss of expense accounts and cocaine- and hooker-fueled days, but not these spry veterans, who have survived this brave new digital world to tell their tales. Jerry Greenberg Atlantic Records president (1974-80), MJJ Music president/COO (1993-2000) THEN Signed ABBA, Chic and Sister Sledge; connected producer Mutt Lange with AC/DC;…

The inventor of the world’s top-grossing festival is ready to try a Coachella-like event for the Latin market If you’re an artist looking to secure a slot at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, booker Paul Tollett is the guy to impress. Tollett, who was ofcially named president/CEO of Goldenvoice following a restructuring at AEG Live in November, founded Coachella in 1999. Since then, the two-weekend event at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., has become the top-grossing festival in the world, according to Billboard Boxscore. In 2013, Coachella grossed $62.7 million and drew 180,000 fans—a $15.4 million increase from 2012. “That festival naturally gets better and bigger each year,” Tollett says, noting that Coachella’s ongoing success wouldn’t be possible without his trusted team at Los Angelesbased Goldenvoice,…

His rebuilding year caught fire with A Great Big World, Tamar Braxton and Sara Bareilles No longer juggling dual roles as Epic chairman and “X Factor” judge, Antonio “L.A.” Reid presided over a year of rebuilding that included artist breakthroughs, notable releases by established acts and key Grammy Award nominations. On the breakthrough front, Epic formally introduced girl group Fifth Harmony. Discovered through Fox’s “The X Factor,” the act released its Better Together EP, which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. Then A Great Big World scored a platinum Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit with “Say Something” (featuring Christina Aguilera). “I love working with established artists,” Reid says, “but I’m also thrilled by and live for the idea of breaking new artists.” Epic additionally rolled out notable…

Steering one of Live Nation’s biggest profit centers with broad-based brand deals to become “the NFL of music” With Live Nation’s concert attendance at an all-time high in the first three quarters of 2013, up a whopping 27% year over year, what’s the company’s next biggest growth area beyond ticket sales? Sponsorships, and hundreds of them, under Russell Wallach and his team at Live Nation’s in-house music ad agency—what CEO Michael Rapino (No. 4) has referred to as “the NFL of music.” Long-term deals with Citi, Starwood, Hertz, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and UPS all expanded, while new clients included Ford, Bose and Motorola. All that activity amounted to $221.6 million in sponsorship revenue during the first three quarters, a 15% increase from the same time period in 2012, and also helped…

The host of pretty much everything grows his power as a producer and investor Arguably the best-known host in America, Ryan Seacrest’s business empire includes investment in music-themed cable network axis and producing duties across the NBC and E! networks that last year resulted in E! specials on the Wanted and Selena Gomez. His syndicated radio show, “On Air With Ryan Seacrest,” remains one of his favorite jobs. “It’s fun to be at the center of popular culture and interact with audiences daily,” he says. His production company, created in 2006 and known for “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” continues to expand with “How I Rock It” on Esquire, “Go Viral” on Nickelodeon and docu-series “Girls in the Game” on VH1. The lattermost show, he says, “is about white female…

Negotiated a unique monthly residency for Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden in 2014 Dennis Arfa, a veteran agent who oversees a roster of nearly 70 acts, has proudly called legendary singer/songwriter Billy Joel a client for the past 37 years. So it’s no surprise that Arfa’s professional highlight of 2013 was helping secure a unique residency that will find the Piano Man returning to New York’s recently revamped Madison Square Garden for monthly concerts in 2014. “Madison Square Garden made Billy Joel a franchise in the tradition of the New York Knicks and Rangers,” says Arfa, who started Artist Group International (AGI) in New York as QBQ Entertainment in 1986. “Billy is celebrating that by playing at the Garden once a month as long as there’s a demand. We’ve…

Ringing in new ways of delivering music, powered by a $1 billion budget Even if Todd Pendleton hadn’t orchestrated the deal for the exclusive five-day premiere of Jay Z’s Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail on 1 million Samsung Galaxy devices, he would still be one of 2013’s power players. Pendleton is rethinking the way sponsors work with the music industry, and keeping artists, media partners and agents on their toes with a U.S. marketing budget that was to exceed $1 billion in 2013. Samsung spent big and acted fast, becoming an ofcial partner of South by Southwest, the Billboard Music Awards, Lollapalooza and others, often nailing down strategies just days before their activation. “It’s crazy, if you think about how we launch a product,” Pendleton said in December.…

Partnership has its privileges, including driving chart-toppers for Vampire Weekend, Kings of Leon and Janelle Moná As an important mover of top-dollar presale and card member-exclusive concert tickets, Rich Lehrfeld has long understood the importance of maintaining relationships with promoters, venues and agents. But 2013 was the year AmEx embraced the “whole value chain,” he says, which begins increasingly with artists and their management. Artists are taking more and more control of their future and destiny,” Lehrfeld says. “So it’s about being able to talk to them in new ways to understand what they’re trying to do, and have them listen to our goals. Then you can take those conversations to managers, agents, promoters, venues and ticketing [companies] to deliver the best service and value for customers at the highest…

The Queen of Live goes bicoastal, with renovations of historic arenas in New York and Los Angeles What’s the diference between this February and last for Melissa Ormond? This year, she’ll likely be breathing a little easier, having unveiled two of the most important arena rebuilds in the history of the live business in two of the most competitive markets in the world: the $1 billion transformation of Madison Square Garden in New York and the $100 million renovation of the Forum in Los Angeles. In 2014, Ormond oversees all aspects of the Madison Square Garden Co.’s enter-tainment division, including its day-to-day operations, strategic planning and new business development, venue acquisitions, financial planning and divisional initiatives. Madison Square Garden Entertainment is methodically growing its portfolio and Ormond’s role, specifcally on…

Back in startup mode for the music business’ next reboot Emerging after a 14-month stint as a uniquely connected industry outsider, Lyor Cohen returns to the spotlight with a new label, a new mission and a new mandate. With 300, the Warner Music Group-distributed label and management company he launched in November with former WMG executives Todd Moscowitz and Kevin Liles, the Def Jam pioneer and former WMG recorded-music chairman has carte blanche to reimagine the way a label should think and operate in a digital-first world. “We don’t see artists as recording for us—we see us as working for artists,” Cohen says. “We want more intimate, immersive relationships with artists, managers, agents and promoters, all of whom are empowered to participate actively in the artist development process—that’s the key…

Joe Belliotti DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL MUSIC MARKETING COCA-COLA Global thinkers who see Spotify as a World Cup of music Though Coca-Cola’s power as a global force in music continues to grow with deeply integrated sponsorships of the Olympics and the World Cup, in North America, Coke had a relatively quiet year beyond its ongoing relationship with “American Idol,” and Diet Coke’s new pact with Taylor Swift. But Emmanuel Seuge, who this past year became Coke’s new VP of global alliances and ventures, is overseeing a tech-venture strategy that has included investments in Spotify, music-licensing company Music Dealers and Troy Carter’s social hub Backplane. “This year was a defining year to find a way to work with those products, and for those relationships to work for a big corporation like us…

Satellite radio content czar oversees a programming team of actual tastemakers Amid an onslaught of new digital competition, SiriusXM Radio stands out as a music discovery vehicle not just for listeners but also labels. Last May, “Chillin’ It,” from thenunsigned artist Cole Swindell, received its first airplay on SiriusXM’s country channel the Highway, which led to a bidding war and a deal with Warner Music Nashville. It was a similar story one year earlier when Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise” led to a signing with Republic Nashville and an eventual record for the top-selling country digital song of all time, at last count topping 6.4 million downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Satellite radio’s subscription-driven model doesn’t live or die by audience ratings like broadcast, afording Scott Greenstein’s programmers more latitude to…

Balancing music and business goals, and winning at both “In country music, if you don’t have a hit on the radio, you don’t exist,” says Gary Overton, leader of the second-largest label in Nashville, Sony Music Nashville. Overton prides himself on being an artist-first executive who understands priorities. “I got into this industry because of the music, but it is a business, and that is my job at Sony.” On the business side, Sony Music Nashville ended 2013 with a 2.0% market share of trackequivalent albums, a 1.8% share of track downloads and 2.1% of album purchases. Although Sony lost relative strength after the Universal Music South-Capitol Nashville merger, it still has one of the top 10 label market shares in the United States. On the music side, Sony star…

After overseeing years of growth, Amazon’s music guru looks for new opportunities In the last five years, Amazon has doubled its music retail market share to more than 8%. Most of that growth has come from downloads, but as stores close or reduce space devoted to physical product, Amazon remains a place where CD shoppers can find both current titles and deep catalog. But with the industry facing its first downturn in digital sales, Bill Carr, who heads up Amazon’s music and video efforts, says the company will look for “new ways to build the customer experience and re-ignite growth.” Industry label sources speculate that Amazon will launch an interactive service tied to its Prime service, or get into the Web radio space alongside Pandora and iTunes Radio. Amazon could…

Bunt’s focus on youth and new trends took the “Frozen” soundtrack to No. 1 Working in the youth market, Ken Bunt says Hollywood and Walt Disney Records see consumption trends early on. “We have a generation growing up with accessing music,” Bunt says. “There’s real business for us [with] streaming and nontraditional touring.” But with top 10 debuts from Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and “Teen Beach Musical,” Disney’s 2013 album sales were strong too. In 2014, the company will push country singer/actress Lucy Hale, and the soundtrack business looks promising with chart-topper Frozen. Bunt also sees potential in Disney’s publishing business, recently signing six songwriters. “We’re a home for writers who are not just writing for other artists, but film, TV, videogames and scores,” he says. “Being part of a…

After close to a decade as CEO, Lee leveraged BET’s music power to launch a three-day festival To maintain BET’s status as a top 20 cable network and No. 1 network across all key demos for African-Americans, Debra Lee upped the ante in 2013 with the inaugural BET Experience. The three-day music and lifestyle festival, presented in association with AEG, drew 75,000 to Los Angeles last June and culminated with the 13th annual BET Awards, which logged a four-year ratings high of 7.6 million, making it the No. 1 awards show among its 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen. Music remains a strong driver for BET. The BET Hip Hop Awards in the fall drew nearly 9 million viewers, and was the No. 1 social TV program on cable during its…

He shuns the spotlight, which means you may not see the full scope of his empire: management, festivals, venues and branding—for a start If most in the music industry are unaware of the true scope of Coran Capshaw’s influence, that is by design, as the manager/entrepreneur remains one of the industry’s most private and enigmatic figures. His influence is deep and broad, and he continues to be on the leading edge of the industry’s shifting power dynamic from labels to artists and, by extension, managers. The management division’s growth during the past few years has been nothing short of remarkable. Capshaw now employs more than 60 managers overseeing the careers of nearly 200 artists, with Offices in seven cities and a roster that includes Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Tim McGraw,…

The CEO continues to wheel and deal, setting up new jointventure creative centers to fuel Sony’s market share In a year when its two biggest competitors gained market share through EMI acquisitions, Sony Music Entertainment (SME) still managed to gain share the old-fashioned way: through organic growth. “We had an extraordinary year,” chairman/CEO Doug Morris says. “Without buying anything we raised our market share.” For the year ending Dec. 29, Sony’s share rose to 29.5%, up from 29.1%, according to Nielsen SoundScan. While Sony Corp. provides some music results, SME’s numbers are combined with Sony Music Japan and Sony/ATV. That unit’s revenue, according to Sony Corp.’s annual report for the year ending March 31, 2013, was basically fat. Since joining SME in 2011 Morris has revamped senior management and changed…

While building the next generation of headliners, he saw his clients generate more than $1.8 billion in touring revenue in 2013 Along with the overall touring industry, CAA thrived in 2013, booking an estimated 27,650 shows worldwide. Among the elite tours, the agency reps twice as many artists as its closest competitor on Billboard Boxscore’s Top 25 Tours chart for 2013. CAA, which has nearly 1,200 music clients overseen by 101 agents and executives, was named top agency at the Billboard Touring Awards, and built its roster in 2013 by signing Lorde, Jef Foxworthy and Kylie Minogue, with Lionel Richie and LeAnn Rimes returning to the agency. When much of the industry’s stakeholders were lamenting the dearth in developing new headliners, Light was one of the few confdent in regeneration,…

An MTV veteran, he’s ready to upend the music game again—this time with iHeart-Radio and royalty deals that could reshape broadcasting Bob Pittman pulled of the deal that many said couldn’t be done, snagging the first of the major labels, Warner Music Group, to take part in a radio royalty share initiative he’s been championing for the last two years. As the nation’s largest radio group looks to its digital initiative iHeartRadio for growth, it wants to avoid the per-user royalty unpredictability that has plagued webcasters, and Pittman was ready to put performance royalties for terrestrial radio airplay on the table to help accomplish that. WMG, perhaps the most nimble of the majors, got not just payment, but broadcast promotional opportunities as well. For Pittman, a media veteran whose career…

Anchored by the Budweiser Made in America festival, he made Anheuser-Busch the biggest spending brand in music. Brand sponsorship of U.S. live music and events reached a record high of $1.3 billion in 2013, according to analytics firm IEG, further cementing the importance of marketing dollars as a crucial revenue stream for artists, promoters and labels. Not only was Anheuser-Busch InBev the highest-ranked brand in terms of dollars spent—bypassing Pepsi and Coca-Cola for the first time with upwards of $200 million spent on events and venue sponsorships— it was also the most diverse in its approach. Not just any company could pull of a sold-out music festival for 120,000 fans (Budweiser Made in America, which grew 50% in its second year), throw 50 concerts in 50 states on one day…

Convinced WMG owner to pull the trigger on Parlophone—the largest music industry acquisition in 2013 Stephen Cooper—who many initially saw as a caretaker for then-relatively new Warner Music Group owner Len Blavatnik—is the billionaire’s right-hand man, restructuring the major’s business significantly in the last 18 months. In 2013 he oversaw the acquisition of Parlophone Records for $765 million, the biggest deal of the year. This was an important acquisition for WMG because it showed Blavatnik would be a long-term player and not just a financial owner looking to cut costs and flip the company like its previous private-equity owners did. Executives in and around WMG privately say Cooper himself, a longtime corporate restructuring specialist without any previous music industry experience, now looks like he has settled in for the long…

Created big buzz (and bigger sales) by taking the stealth approach with David Bowie, Daft Punk and Beyoncé Rob Stringer knew he had finally built something at Columbia when he signed T.I. to a contract to release the rapper’s upcoming ninth album—not based on his own influence, but because of Pharrell Williams, who’s also prepping a new release for the label in 2014. “He said to T.I., ‘Look, you should take a chance on these guys because they’re treating me the way I expect to be treated,’” Stringer recalls. “Pharrell has an understanding that he can come in here and talk about anything he wants, and I’m not sure I would have been able to do that a few years ago. The ability to have artists feel comfortable in that…

CHAIRMAN OF GLOBAL MUSIC/CEO OF GLOBAL TOURING, LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT Tour icon raked in $420 million—and helped pave the way for U2 and Madonna’s new deals With mega-clients U2 and Madonna not on the road, 2013 was supposed to be a relatively quiet year for Arthur Fogel, but it didn’t work out that way. Live Nation’s global touring division, led by Fogel, produced tours by such acts as Rihanna, Beyoncé, Rush, Jay Z and Justin Timberlake, a powerhouse lineup that generated more than $420 million in gross revenue, according to Billboard Boxscore. Fogel’s status as the “King of the Mega-Tour” is unequaled. His tours with Live Nation alone have grossed more than $3 billion combined in the past eight years. Tops among them is U2’s 360°, which grossed more than…

Michael Mahan PRESIDENT, DICK CLARK PRODUCTIONS Putting more music on TV than anyone else—and proving there’s a growing audience for it In 2013, shows produced by Dick Clark Productions had more than 50 musical performances on prime-time TV. This year, that number is expected to jump beyond 80—a level no other production entity touches. “There is not another company like ours,” says Allen Shapiro, who took over DCP in October 2012. “Not only do we have these shows, we own these shows. We are not only responsible for production, but marketing and sponsorship arrangement, and we have far more of these shows than anyone else. I do think it affects our place in the [music] business and the ability to accomplish things.” Shapiro, along with DCP president Michael Mahan, was…

Strengthened the bond between artists and fans by combining broadcast radio with live events, tie-ins and multimedia content Dan Mason believes in the power of radio, especially when it comes to connecting with listeners through music. “No other vehicle sells music better than a highly rated station with an enormous weekly audience,” he says. Mason should know, seeing as CBS Radio boasts ratings-rich stations in 27 major U.S. markets. Its cross-format dominance spans all the way from legendary Los Angeles alternative KROQ to New York’s 40-year classic hits outlet WCBS-FM. While for many owners on-air exposure represents the extent of the commitment between stations and artists, Mason and CBS Radio went the extra mile and then some this past year. Katy Perry fans got to “Roar” louder at October’s We…

Honoring Capitol’s past with classic artists like Elton John, and staking out its future with new acts like Arcade Fire Jan. 8 marked the one-year anniversary of Steve Barnett settling into his Office at the Capitol Tower and establishing the Capitol Records Group that would include Capitol, Virgin, Blue Note and IRS in Nashville and Harvest in the United Kingdom. The anniversary arrived just as Katy Perry’s PRISM hit the 1 million sold mark. “What I really wanted to do was transform the culture of the company,” Barnett says. “I wanted people to be proud to work here, to embrace iconic artists. I wanted to pay proper respect to the company, but I didn’t want to be burdened by it.” Barnett, who helped oversee the rise of Adele, Beyoncé, John…

Leading Island Def Jam’s revamp, and poised for a big move in 2014 Barry Weiss’ biggest problem in 2013 is about to deliver him a golden year in 2014. Everything that didn’t come out last year will finally arrive this year. On the Island Def Jam side, expect albums from Mariah Carey, Ludacris, Rick Ross and, maybe, Kanye West. Meanwhile, the red-hot Republic looks to maintain its groove with big Cash Money artists delivering big albums. Lil Wayne’s fifth installment of his multiplatinum Tha Carter series is hotly anticipated, while Nicki Minaj is expected to deliver her next album, sources say. And that’s before taking into account all the new artists poised to break in the new year. The way things are shaping up, on paper, Weiss will have a…

Adds U2 to his management porfolio in a $30 million deal with Live Nation, while his tech investments are valued at $100 million How do you top a 2012 that saw oversight of the year’s biggest tour (Madonna) and a portfolio of investments that included hot startups like SoundCloud, Shazam, Uber, Airbnb and Spotify? If you’re Guy Oseary, you add the other record-setting touring act (U2) to your roster, and earn a valuation for your investment fund with Ashton Kutcher (A-Grade) estimated at $100 million—oh, and a deal with Live Nation and Paul McGuinness’ Principle Management worth $30 million to combine the two companies and manage U2’s future dealings. “I’ve been a big fan of theirs since their start,” Oseary says. “I’m honored and humbled to have been welcomed into…

Drove his label to top country market share, and threw country radio a curve ball “First of all, 2013 in general was a highlight for me,” says Mike Dungan, chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group Nashville. It was the first full year after UMG Nashville’s 2012 merger with Capitol Records Nashville, where Dungan spent 12 years and developed such acts as Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley and Darius Rucker. Dungan started last year with a No. 1 album, Gary Allan’s Set You Free, and ended 2013 with the year’s top country album, Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party, which sold 1.5 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan. When the smoke cleared, UMG Nashville’s share of album and track sales for 2013 stood at 4.7%, up from 3.3% in 2012 and more than…

CO-FOUNDER/PRESIDENT, ROC NATION Touching everything from the NBA to the sliver screen, and helping write #newrules Roc Nation started 2013 with a bang: signing Timbaland to its management roster. Soon after, the songwriter/producer added another milestone with his contributions to Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with more than 900,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That was just the first in a series of “things we’re working on for this year and next,” Jay Brown told Billboard this time last year. Since then, Roc Nation has welcomed Kylie Minogue, producer DJ Mustard (also signed to the label, his credits include Tyga’s “Rack City” and 2 Chainz’ “I’m Different”), Capital Cities and Haim as management clients. That burgeoning and diverse division already boasts…

The secret to my productivity “An hour run to clear my head and plan for my day.” —Michael Rapino, CEO, Live Nation Entertainment (No. 4) “Don’t get behind on phone calls or emails.” —Irving Azoff, chairman/CEO, Azoff MSG Entertainment (No. 7) “Lay out your to-do list the night before and tackle the toughest issue of the day first.” —Rob Light, managing partner/head of music, Creative Artists Agency (No. 9) “Urgency wins. Do everything faster than anyone can imagine possible.” —Bob Pittman, chairman/CEO, Clear Channel (No. 11) “Intense daily calendar review and internal office meeting every morning.” —Marc Geiger, head of music, William Morris Endeavor (No. 13) “Spending time with my child in the morning and being there to put him down at night, whether or not I have to go…

Kenny Meiselas NAMED PARTNER GRUBMAN SHIRE & MEISELAS They represent the industry’s biggest artists, most powerful executives, the oldguard companies and the new innovators If there’s a pie out there related to the music industry that Grubman Shire & Meiselas doesn’t have its fnger in, Billboard couldn’t find it. The firm’s superstar portfolio includes Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Rod Stewart, U2, the Eagles, Kiss, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Usher and Maroon 5. Grubman Shire & Meiselas also represents some of the industry’s biggest deals, companies and most powerful executives. Grubman and Meiselas don’t just handle music-specifc deals: They have diversifed ahead of the industry, representing their clients in branding deals, strategic partnerships and licensing. They also help their clients move beyond the industry—say, into Broadway or movies. The firm represented U2…

His song placements are tomorrow’s hit singles Jon Platt’s first move as Warner/Chappell Music’s president of creative for North America in September 2012 was signing songwriter/producer Mike Will Made It. At the time, Platt predicted several more game-changing signings would follow in 2013. They certainly did. Jay Z. Beyoncé. Roc Nation’s publishing roster. Aloe Blacc. Drake’s OVO Sounds label. Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine. Slash. Liz Rose. These and other newcomers joined a Warner/Chappell roster that includes such current Grammy Award nominees as Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar and fun. lead singer Nate Ruess (who co-wrote P!nk’s song of the year- nominated “Just Give Me a Reason”). All helped push Warner/ Chappell to No. 3 in market share in third-quarter 2013. Along with an ear for talent, Platt possesses a knack for fostering…

Playing a transition game with both new artists like Avicii and superstars like Kanye Steve Bartels has been the glue holding together Island Def Jam Music Group. Calming both budgets and staff during a transition period after Antonio “L.A.” Reid’s departure in 2011, he’s helped return the label to stability and laid the groundwork in establishing Island Def Jam (IDJ) as a home for new artists, as well as a place where established artists can pursue their vision. “In 2013, the energy of the company was about repopulating the roster and establishing ourselves as an artist development company,” Bartels says. “During the year we saw the resurgence of Fall Out Boy, we worked with the Jay Z album, and we have a great cross-section of developing artists.” Fall Out Boy’s…

A key buyer for publishing assets looks to build out label services on a global scale As a disruptor of the traditional music publishing business model, Kobalt Music Group and its leader Willard Ahdritz still get on the nerves of the old-guard industry players. They like to complain that Kobalt picks up clients by giving away services and by charging a belowmarket-rate 5% administration fee. But according to the company’s most recent annual financial statement for the year ended June 30, 2012, Kobalt’s gross proft percentage is 11.6%, which can be translated as its average administration fee. Kobalt’s core strength is its fexibility in offering various publishing models in an evolving music business, from established artists who own their catalogs to those looking to handle their own recordings. Its acquisition…

As labels have cut back, Q Prime has stepped up to champion its artists with a range of services and financing options “I don’t have any infuence or power if my records aren’t any good,” says Peter Mensch, who co-owns artist management frm Q Prime with Clif Burnstein. “It’s all about the music for us.” That simple approach has helped grow Q Prime into one of the strongest independent management firms since being founded in 1982. With Offices in New York, London and Nashville, the company’s 22-act roster includes Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, the Black Keys, Snow Patrol and Eric Church. Q Prime is “highly selective” about the artists it works with, Mensch says, adding that the company doesn’t “trade out favors” or “pimp our acts out.” To…

Expanding his empire beyond the top of the Billboard Hot 100 to publishing and TV (and bottled water, if you’re thirsty) It might be easier to list the sectors of the music industry that Dr. Luke doesn’t touch than the ones he does. An in-demand songwriter/producer (Katy Perry’s “Roar,” Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and Pitbull’s “Timber” featuring Ke$ha are his three latest Hot 100 charttoppers), he’s also a label owner (Kemosabe Records, a joint venture with Sony Music), a publishing executive (Prescription Songs, which inked deals with Big Machine and Mad Decent last April) and a TV producer (MTV’s Ke$ha docu-series “My Crazy Beautiful Life,” renewed for a second season) Even for the songs he doesn’t have a direct hand in, Luke’s presence is felt through the Kemosabe/Prescription family—whether it’s…

Landed four independent albums in the top three of the Billboard 200, including No. 1s by Vampire Weekend and Queens of the Stone Age Tropical Storm Adele made Martin Mills’ Beggars Group an undeniable force in 2012, but in 2013 the collective ofivenerable independent labels (including XL, 4AD, Matador and Rough Trade) proved it was never a one-trick pony. Beggars’ labels placed four albums in the top three of the Billboard 200 last year, with two of them—Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City (XL) and Queens of the Stone Age’s . . . Like Clockwork (Matador)— reaching No. 1. Mills, Billboard’s 2013 Industry Icon honoree and a label owner since 1977, is regarded as an elder statesman of the indie-label community at large. His leadership reverberates among peers and…

Brought country music radio back to the New York market for the first time in 17 years Cumulus Media began 2014 with an expanded radio network and a new digital play, cementing its position as a major platform company with scale. A former programmer and the brother of Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey (see No. 36), John Dickey heads programming, marketing, promotion, sales and engineering for what is now radio’s most acquisitive company. Late last year it closed a $260 million allcash deal to buy the Dial Global radio network, which it merged with its own syndication company and renamed Westwood One, creating a network radio powerhouse that does business with 10,000 stations. In September it took a 15% equity stake in Rdio, enabling Cumulus to promote and program new national…

The restaurant I pick when I’m doing business “Craig’s. The deal closes with a chocolate pizza.” —Irving Azoff, chairman/CEO, Azoff MSG Entertainment (No. 7) “Gray’s Papaya and their world famous hot dog and papaya shake. It’s quick and we can all get back to work quickly.” —Bob Pittman, chairman/CEO, Clear Channel (No. 11) “Carbone. It’s comfortable, the food’s great, it’s not too loud, you can talk and you can have a private conversation without having to shout or yell. It also happens to be directly across the street from where I met my wife.” —Avery Lipman, president/COO, Republic Records (No. 17) “Charlie Bird. It’s a cool downtown spot. I can close any deal there.” —Julie Greenwald, chairman/COO, Atlantic Records Group (No. 22) “I love Locanda Verde in Tribeca, so much…

Expanding from championship touring into branding, and reclaiming his independence Clint Higham is in the business of “building champions,” he says. Indeed, Higham has coached a country music heavyweight with Kenny Chesney, who he began managing in 1993. Chesney’s last 10 tours have each sold more than 1 million tickets and the singer has notched seven No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. In 2013, Chesney ranked 10th on Billboard’s top 25 highest-grossing tours, pulling in $90.9 million from 44 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. In 2013, Higham saw branding as a priority. “If we don’t do it, then the artist doesn’t do it and a lot of times it doesn’t happen,” he says. Higham and his company’s in-house marketing team spent much of the last year growing Chesney’s brand…

A radio kingpin with the independence to make his multiplatform dreams come true What makes Spanish Broadcasting System a crucial partner for Latin artists? A multiplatform approach that uses the strength of its 20 stations in the top U.S. Hispanic markets to power radio, touring, TV and digital. “Exciting opportunities continue to abound in music entertainment if you can leverage multiple platforms that simultaneously serve audiences and advertisers,” Raul Alarcon Jr. says. As head of the company and majority shareholder, Alarcon has the ability to quickly implement new strategies. This month SBS will launch AIRE National Networks, which will sell and syndicate Spanish-language entertainment to more than 90 afliated stations. And SBS’ new LaMusica.com digital platform will include an artist development component. SBS Entertainment, the company’s live entertainment division, had…

Able to pull together super session teams— Pharrell Williams and Johnny Marr, Sia and Greg Kurstin—for her soundtracks Heading the music department at the last studio with a pipeline to a major label and music publisher is proving benefcial for Lia Vollack. Following Adele’s Academy Award-winning turn with “Skyfall,” she connected Britney Spears with Dr. Luke and “The Smurfs,” coordinated the music for One Direction’s concert film and partnered Sia with Greg Kurstin for the forthcoming “Annie.” “People deride synergy all the time, but I have had it work over and over again and by choice,” she says, referring to partners at Sony/ATV, RCA and Columbia Records. “The reason anyone lasts as an executive is you try to find all the places where [all parties’] interests are common. It’s the…

Drawing viewers with music both brand-new and a half-century old With “The Voice” powering not just NBC’s ratings but sales of breakout tracks, Robert Greenblatt took a risk with another music project: the first live TV staging of a Broadway musical in more than 50 years with “The Sound of Music Live!” starring Carrie Underwood. The experiment, which cost an estimated $9 million and pulled in 18.6 million viewers on Dec. 5, generated revenue beyond advertising through a sponsorship deal with Walmart, a DVD and a soundtrack through Sony. The soundtrack has sold 108,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. NBCUniversal has the option to repeat the musical (it already has once) and sell it internationally. As a follow-up, NBC will broadcast a live performance of James M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan”…

Where I go to unwind “Italy. Just throw a dart.” —Avery Lipman, President/COO, Republic Records (No. 17) “Any golf course with great friends or skiing with my wife and children.” —Rob Light, managing partner/head of music, Creative Artists Agency (No. 9) “Every year I go to the same place—St. Barths—for over a decade. There’s a beautiful island that’s only eight square miles, with beautiful beaches and great space. It’s hard to beat.” —Frank Cooper, chief marketing officer of global consumer engagement, PepsiCo (No. 15) “I go to my ‘man room,’ which is a room in my house that has a bar with a couple of TVs. It’s sequestered from the rest of the house and I can go there and get things done on my computer, watch movies and sports…

Steve Smith CHAIRMAN; BICYCLE MUSIC, CONCORD MUSIC GROUP This power duo invested $160 million in the music industry in 2013 After placing an estimated quarter of a billion dollars in music business bets since its 2006 acquisition of publisher Bicycle Music, Brett Hellerman’s private-equity firm Wood Creek stepped up its investment in the industry in a big way in 2013. First, Wood Creek closed on its acquisition of Concord Music Group—for approximately $123 million, sources say—the third-largest independent label in the United States. Then, in November, Wood Creek paid about $23 million through Bicycle Music for Wind-up Records’ master recordings catalog, which will be marketed and distributed by Concord. Including the purchase of Music Publishing Co. of America for about $12 million, Wood Creek spent about $160 million on music…

Despite market changes, Walmart is still the No. 1 U.S. seller of CDs No matter which way you slice it, Walmart continues to be a force in the music business. When the merchant makes a request, labels jump to attention. In its latest twist to differentiate itself, during the year-end holidays Walmart experimented with including download cards with hit physical CDs, and the labels were mostly accommodating. It remains to be seen where the gambit goes, but whether the store is continuing with download cards or using the ZinePak to differentiate its music business, the labels generally play ball with the top seller of physical music product. Tifanie Van Laar-Frever heads up Walmart’s music efforts, working closely with rackjobber Anderson Merchandisers to ensure music is properly merchandised in the store.…

His agency signed 270 artists in the past year—including Lorde—and he’s ready to help them with more than concert bookings During the past decade, Tom Windish has grown the Windish Agency into one of the most powerful and forward-thinking independent concert booking firms around. “We take risks based on music we believe in and it’s paying of in a variety of ways,” says Windish, who opened the agency’s Chicago headquarters in 2004. The Windish Agency boasts a roster of more than 700 clients—270 of which were signed in 2013. Windish cites signing 17-year-old New Zealand singer Lorde for North and South America—and selling out 60,000 tickets to her March tour in 30 minutes—as a 2013 highlight. While he continues to hire new agents across the country, Windish has expanded the…