Cumulus Media launched a new music partnerships division and tapped Greg Frey to lead the department as vp of music partnerships out of Atlanta. In the role, Frey will coordinate marketing opportunities across Cumulus holdings, including over 300 Cumulus music stations, Westwood One and affiliated social and digital platforms. He was previously vp of programming operations. He can be reached at greg.frey@cumulus.com.
SoundCloud vp and head of creator Jeff Ponchick is exiting the company, which he joined in 2019 after SoundCloud acquired his subscription-based artist services platform Repost Network for an estimated $15 million. Ponchick’s departure, which he announced on LinkedIn, follows the company’s announcement last month that it would be cutting its global workforce by around 20%. His announcement closely followed that of vp of content partnerships and operations Raoul Chatterjee, who revealed he was exiting the company last week.
Elektra Entertainment promoted Katie Robinson to senior vp of marketing and Adam Ruehmer to senior director and head of digital marketing. Robinson was previously vp of marketing while Ruehmer rises from the role of director of digital marketing. Both are based in Los Angeles.
WME promoted four to agent in the agency’s contemporary touring and music division: Justin Edwards, Mary Hannon, Phoebe Holley and Matt Smith. Edwards handles The Revivalists and The Main Squeeze and oversees bookings for over 75 festivals, including Bonnaroo and Summer Camp; he specializes in booking WME’s alternative/rock/indie clients at North American festivals and will focus on growing the agency’s contemporary music presence in Nashville. Hannon, who is based at WME’s Beverly Hills office, will work closely on client teams including Anderson .Paak, Earl Sweatshirt and Jhene Aiko; the Beverly Hills-based Holley has worked with clients including Knucks and Abra Cadabra; and Smith, based in London, works in the electronic music department, where he books shows across several European territories. Edwards can be reached at JEdwards@wmeagency.com, Hannon can be reached at MHannon@wmeagency.com, Holley can be reached at PHolley@wmeagency.com and Smith can be reached at MDSmith@wmeagency.com.
Riser House Entertainment promoted Brandon Perdue to senior vp of A&R and publishing. He can be reached at brandon@riserhouse.com.
Young Guns Publishing hired Laura Wright Alexander as senior vp of creative, where she will work with songwriters Ben Stennis and Jared Mullins. She can be reached at Laura@younggunspublishing.com.
CBC promoted Tara Mora to the newly created role of senior director of radio, talk and music programming. In the role, Mora will be responsible for leading the strategy, programming and development of the unscripted team’s audio content and schedules for CBC Radio One, CBC Music and CBC Listen. She will oversee CBC Music, CBC Books, q, Now or Never and Under the Influence, and lead development for new unscripted audio content (excluding CBC News & Current Affairs and CBC podcasts).
Elle Cameron-Kaufman, daughter of late manager Howard Kaufman, launched Elle Records out of Los Angeles. The independent record label has partnered with TikTok’s new platform SoundOn for distribution. Cameron also co-founded management company The Creatives Group, where she represents artists including pop duo Grey, singer Gia Woods, Friendzone and HOWE.
Grayson Sanders, Jerry Yeh, Fernando Piccolo, Tilo Dell’Oro Maini, John Lin and Jason Alexander launched Chordal, a new collaborative rights platform that connects labels, publishers, artists and managers through the copyrights they share in an effort to make sync licensing more efficient. At launch, the company boasts partnerships with Believe, EMPIRE, Heavy Duty, Mad Decent, Mass Appeal and Erased Tapes, among others. Sanders can be reached at gray@chordal.com and Yeh can be reached at jerry@chordal.com.
City National Bank subsidiary Exactuals, which provides solutions for complex payments, royalties and metadata in the entertainment and insurance industries, promoted Lindsay Conlin to senior vp of revenue. Conlin will oversee all sales and marketing operations for the company and its products, including its flagship PaymentHub platform and royalty calculation and statement generation service SR1. She is based in Nashville.
