Music Week’s round-up of essential biz stories you might have missed...
Sony/ATV keen as Mustard
Sony/ATV has signed Grammy-winning songwriter, artist and producer Mustard to a worldwide deal. LA-based Mustard has worked with artists including YG, Rihanna, 2 Chainz, Drake, Migos, Chris Brown, Nipsey Hussle and Big Sean. He won Best R&B Song at this year’s Grammys for co-writing Ella Mai’s Boo’d Up.
Sony/ATV chairman and CEO Jon Platt said: “Mustard is an amazing songwriter and producer, whose talents have underpinned countless hit records by some of the world’s biggest artists. Jennifer and I are excited to welcome him to the Sony/ATV family and look forward to what is shaping up to be a significant next phase of his already successful career."
Pole position
Universal Music Central Europe has announced that Maciej Kutak has been appointed as managing director, Universal Music Poland (UMP), effective May 1, 2019.
Kutak joins UMP from Sony Music, where he held the position of managing director, Eastern Europe since 2014 and was responsible for company operations in 10 countries across Eastern Europe. He takes over responsibilities from Jan Kubicki, who recently stepped-down in order to focus on his own projects including Magic Records, a joint-venture label in partnership with UMP.
Watch the Thrones
Florence + the Machine’s version of the original Game of Thrones song Jenny of Oldstones has broken Shazam's global all-time record (previously held by Adele's Hello). Debuted during the closing credits of this season’s second episode, the song was Shazam'd approximately 300,000 times in just 24 hours. It currently has 7.5m YouTube views.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the show’s creators, said: “We’ve always been huge fans of Florence’s music, and the Season 2 trailer with her song Seven Devils was possibly the most powerful we’ve ever had. So the opportunity to hear her otherworldly voice on our show was always at the forefront of our minds. We’re still pleasantly shocked that she agreed to sing Jenny of Oldstones, and we’re in love with the result.”
Jenny of Oldstones was written by Ramin Djawadi, Dan Weiss, David Benioff and George R.R. Martin.
Cannes do
Midem has announced that Sylvia Rhone will be a keynote speaker at the conference in Cannes. The newly promoted chairman & CEO of Epic Records will be interviewed by Dina LaPolt, owner of LaPolt Law.
Rhone will also receive the Midem 2019 Hall Of Fame Award.
Moody music
AWAL is launching a bi-weekly residency on Foundation.fm. Each episode of A World Artists Love will feature acts signed to the Kobalt company, with Franc Moody on the first broadcast. Episodes will explore the sonic lineage of a special guest as they walk listeners through their influences and share lessons from the industry.
Alison Donald, head of creative at Kobalt and AWAL, said: “It's a great opportunity for AWAL to support a positive, female-led initiative, plus it gives artists access to a brand-new audience. The residency is just one of many exciting things we hope to do with Foundation.fm over the next year.”
Board masters
SoundExchange has announced the following additions to its board of directors: Mitch Glazier, (chairman/CEO of RIAA), Alasdair McMullan (SVP for business and legal affairs at UMG), Laurie Soriano (entertainment attorney) and Jeff Walker (EVP and head, business and legal affairs, global digital business at Sony Music).
The announcement follows a record $953 million royalty distribution in 2018, and its entrance into the publishing space through the acquisition of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA).
