Mel Carter will exit his role as senior vp of A&R at Republic Records on Sept. 30. Along with Quality Control’s Kevin “Coach K” Lee, Carter recently purchased 18 Bojangles restaurants in three states and will depart the label to focus on that venture. He also plans to open his own recording studio. “Republic Records is such an amazing label,” said Carter in a statement. “Anyone would be blessed to learn from Monty Lipman and Avery Lipman who are two extraordinary brothers. They both run the label in different ways, and it was very cool to watch. Republic was the first label to give me a real shot and it has been nothing but a pleasant learning experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
UnitedMasters announced six senior hires. They are Pablo Jablonski, who joined the company as head of engineering; Nicole Keller as chief people officer; Andre Howard as head of commerce; Meg Donavan as head of marketing; Damien Scott as head of brand strategy and editorial; and Matt Wing as head of communications. Jablonski can be reached at pablo.jablonski@unitedmasters.com, Donovan can be reached at meg.donovan@unitedmasters.com and Wing can be reached at matt.wing@unitedmasters.com.
Milk & Honey appointed Milly Petriella to the role of managing director of Australia/New Zealand as well as director of cultural and social responsibility for the company globally. The Sydney-based Petriella, who officially joins Milk & Honey on Oct. 1, will sign new and established talent to the Australasia division, with a focus on developing and mentoring female producers as well as expanding and supporting awareness of diversity within the songwriter and producer community. She will continue to represent the company’s top producers, writers and artists in the territory while pushing their careers on a global scale.
Love H. Whelchel was named the first-ever chief people officer at Downtown Music Holdings. In the role, Whelchel will work with leadership on talent acquisition, engagement, training and development, employee experience, infrastructure and organizational design for the company’s more than 600 employees around the world.
Believe has announced several new appointments to its Southeast Asia (SEA) leadership team. They include Antoine El Man, promoted to managing director of Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand; Dahlia Wijaya to country director of Indonesia; Georgette Tengco to country director of the Philippines; and Somwalee Limrachtamorn to country director of Thailand. The new team members will help drive the growth of local acts and capitalize on Believe’s trajectory in the region.
The Recording Academy appointed Maureen Droney as vp of its Producers & Engineers Wing and Chantel Sausedo as vp of artist relations. Droney will report to chief awards & industry officer Ruby Marchand as she advises the academy on technical matters related to recording. Sausedo, who reports to COO Branden Chapman, is responsible for managing and developing relationships with artists and key members of their teams and collaborating with artist relations stakeholders on strategic planning, systems review, evaluation of outreach and streamlining of efforts for the academy and its affiliates. She also serves as the key representative to speak on behalf of the organization.
Ingrooves Music Group promoted Cris Garcia Falcão to managing director of LATAM and Nina Rabe-Carins to managing director of APAC. Falcão, who was previously managing director of Ingrooves Brazil, will oversee all Latin American territories for the company while Rabe-Cairns will oversee Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Rabe-Carins was previously managing director of Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Falcão can be reached at cris.falcao@ingrooves.com and Rabe-Cairns can be reached at nina.rabecairns@ingrooves.com.
Sofar Sounds promoted David McKay, formerly the CEO of the company’s 2021 acquisition Seated, to general manager of artist services. McKay will continue to lead the Seated team within Sofar and will also head up all artist services, including the company’s newly-launched VIP Experiences division. Sofar also hired Wendi Jensen to create programming for the VIP Experiences division, which will support artists who want to enhance concert experiences for their fans. McKay can be reached at david.mckay@sofarsounds.com and Jensen can be reached at wendi.jensen@sofarsounds.com.
Charlotte Saxe was promoted to senior vp of legal & business affairs at Warner Music UK, succeeding James Radice. She was previously vp of legal and business affairs at Atlantic Records UK. In her new role, Saxe will head up the label’s business affairs team, which supports the company’s frontline labels, its catalog division Rhino UK and its independent distribution arm ADA UK. She reports to Warner Music UK CEO Tony Harlow.
Shannon Sorensen was promoted to senior vp of legal & business affairs at the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA); she was previously vp of legal & business affairs. She can be reached at ssorensen@nmpa.org.
John Leahy and Rupert King joined Blue Raincoat Artists, the artist management division of Blue Raincoat Music, from their previous senior marketing roles within Blue Raincoat Music’s record label Chrysalis Records. Both based in London, Leahy and King will report to Blue Raincoat Group co-founder and CEO Jeremy Lascelles. Leahy’s artist management roster currently includes The Mysteries, She Drew the Gun, Steve Mason, Laurel Smith and Fräulein. King has been managing Nova Twins.
Music industry veteran Annie Flook was named director of artist partnerships & business development at Propellor, a platform that combines social activism, charitable efforts and impactful marketing campaigns in the music space. Based in Nashville, Flook can be reached at annie@teampropeller.com.
UTA named Anna Gregory as senior director of music brand partnerships, a newly-created role. Based in London, she will lead the UK brand business for the division, reporting to global music brand partnerships co-heads Alisann Blood and Toni Wallace.
Sony Music Publishing UK promoted Rob Stratton to director of visual + media rights. Stratton will be the point of contact for SMP’s UK visual and media clients and be responsible for maintaining and furthering relationships with broadcasters and media production companies. He will additionally support SMP’s senior vp of visual + media rights Cathy Merenda along with the broader visual + media rights team in the U.S. to help grow the business internationally.
The National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) announced the results of its first-ever open board of directors elections. Named to the organization’s new board are Fielding Logan (Q Prime) and Jon Grau (This Is Management), who will fill two new manager NITO board seats. Meanwhile, term expiring board members Tom Chauncey (Partisan Arts), Eric Dimenstein (Ground Control Touring), Wayne Forte (Entourage Talent Associates), Bruce Houghton (Skyline Artists Agency), Mark Lourie (Madison House), Brad Madison (Mongrel Music) and Jack Randall (Kurland Agency) were re-elected to fill eight open at large seats. All will serve two-year terms.
Heidi Anne-Noel joined publicity firm BMF as vp of music publicity. She will work alongside the company’s executive vp Cara Wodnnicki overseeing BMF’s music clients and music business. She can be reached at HeidiA@wearebmf.com.
The Harlem Festival of Culture (HFC) appointed Larry Miller, who currently serves as the chairman of Jordan Brand, as a strategic advisor to the organization. In the role, Miller will advise on every aspect of the business while supporting HCF’s growth trajectory.
