62 BILLBOARD | AUGUST 10 , 2 019
Julia Massimino
VP GLOBAL PUBLIC POLICY
SoundExchange
Massimino, 47, helped lead Sound-
Exchange’s advocacy of the Music
Modernization Act; the organization’s
members contacted Congress over
35,000 times, she says. “The biggest
music platform in the country — FM
radio — still doesn’t pay” royalties.
PRIDE TODAY IS “An obligation to keep
the movement going. I acknowledge
that my family and I enjoy a level of
security and legal protection and
freedom in our lives together, and we
are indebted to the people who worked
before us.”
Shane McAnally
FOUNDER/CEO
Smack Songs Publishing
CO-PRESIDENT
Monument Records
“When I came out to myself, I came out
in the [writing] room,” says McAnally,
44, who struggled for years in Nashville
before hitting his stride. “My work
changed, and my success changed.” In
2019 alone, the songwriter-producer
was named the Academy of Country
Music’s songwriter of the year and won
a Grammy for “Space Cowboy” with
Kacey Musgraves and Luke Laird. “She’s
such a big part of my coming out as a
gay man in country music,” he says of
Musgraves. “Not that I was in the closet
before working with her, but she really
stood up for the LGBTQ community.”
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE
“Underpayment in the streaming
world. I worry about the next
generation of songwriters and how
they will ever get a real leg up.”
Jack McMorrow
SENIOR VP SALES
Atlantic Records
McMorrow*, a 33-year veteran of
Atlantic, has been key to the label’s
transition “from a sales-based
company to one of the leaders in the
streaming space,” he says. The strategy
has paid off for two of Atlantic’s top-
streaming artists: A Boogie Wit Da
Hoodie, whose album Hoodie SZN
topped the Billboard 200 for three
weeks, and Cardi B, whose Invasion of
Privacy debut was No. 6 on the 2018
Top Billboard 200 Albums recap. “It’s
an exciting time,” says McMorrow.
“Sometimes it’s the Wild Wild West.”
AN INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE IS
“Absolutely vital. When I started at
Atlantic Records as an openly gay man
33 years ago, it was a very different
world in corporate America. But
fortunately, Atlantic was ahead of its
time back then.”
Cindy Nguyen
SENIOR ARTIST BRAND STRATEGIST
Create Music Group
Nguyen, 27, launched Create Music
Group’s first pop division in April
and partnered with Jennifer Lopez
and Hitco Entertainment to bolster
the rollout of Lopez’s “Medicine” on
the singer’s YouTube channel, which
garnered 56 million views and 800,000
new subscribers in only three months,
she says. “We’ve developed and fine-
tuned strategies that keep seasoned
artists relevant while creating new
strategies to push emerging artists into
the spotlight,” says Nguyen.
A CAUSE SHE SUPPORTS “Planned
Parenthood. Not only does it allow
people access to basic health care, but
also proper education to make informed
health decisions.”
Laura Ohls
SENIOR EDITOR, AMERICAN
MUSIC, MUSIC CULTURE
AND EDITORIAL
Spotify
In her role for Spotify, Ohls, 31, worked
with Kane Brown to set up intimate
fan experiences in Chicago for his
Experiment album; helped create an
original content piece on Spotify’s
Hot Country playlist for the launch of
Maren Morris’ second studio LP, Girl;
and introduced Morris to attendees
at Southern Girls Rock Camp in
Tennessee.
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE “Visibility
for women and LGBTQ creators and
artists in the industry, especially here
in Nashville.”
Graham Parker
PRESIDENT
Universal Music Classics U.S.
Under the leadership of Parker, 49,
Universal Music Classics artist
Andrea Bocelli achieved his first No. 1
album, Sì, on the Billboard 200, while
composer Max Richter doubled his
streaming revenue. “Thinking globally,
of music without borders, is really
exciting,” says Parker. “Max is signed
to Deutsche Grammophon, but we
saw the potential for him in the U.S.
and went for it. Music doesn’t need
a translation.”
PRIDE TODAY IS “I’m very proud of who
I am as a gay man, a gay husband, a
gay father and a gay employee. I am a
complete human. Being open about
that is what Pride is about.”
Brooke Primont
SENIOR VP SYNC LICENSING
Concord Music Publishing
Concord’s annual synch writers camp,
which gathers 75 songwriters in
studios all over Nashville, surpassed
$3 million in revenue resulting from
the sessions. Primont, 45, has high
hopes for “Yes I Can,” written at the
latest camp by Judith Hill and Tofer
Brown. “We end up getting a lot of
placements,” says Primont. “We also
create lifelong relationships between
the songwriters.”
PRIDE TODAY IS “Being my true self
at all times. I have a wife. We’ve been
together for 20 years, and we have
two boys and [are] showing them that
we’re confident. I never want my kids
to feel any shame or fear about their
moms being gay.”
Aaron Rosenberg
See page 54.
Katelyn Scott
SENIOR EVENTS PRODUCER/
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
AEG Presents/Winter Circle
Productions
“I am, in a way, the conductor of the
orchestra, organizing the chaos from
the top down,” says Scott, 30, who
oversaw Buku Music + Art Project’s
biggest year in history, welcoming
over 20,000 attendees a day in New
Orleans during Mardi Gras. “It was
the first year that we adapted to AEG’s
processes and protocols, so I really led
that charge.” In 2020, Scott will take
over the role of festival director for
Alabama’s Hangout Music Festival.
PRIDE TODAY IS “[Going] beyond just
awareness and beyond acceptance.
In this day and age, it is about making
equality actionable.”
Eliah Seton
PRESIDENT OF INDEPENDENT
MUSIC AND CREATOR SERVICES
Warner Music Group
The head of WMG’s independent
distributor, Alternative Distribution
Alliance, since 2015, Seton, 37, began
overseeing new WMG initiatives
in February: “adding Level as a
community and technology platform
for unsigned artists, [relaunching]
Asylum as an independent label
within WMG focused on developing
hip-hop acts and [growing] Arts
Music, our home for noncore genres,”
he says.
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE “Technology
has enabled artists to retain more
creative control of their own
development and their own business.
This is a major innovation, and it’s one
that we’re proud to contribute to.”
Scott Seviour
ARTIST RELATIONS
Apple Music
In the past year, Seviour* has created
unique promotions for over 100
artists — including Billie Eilish,
Solange, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran,
Frank Ocean, 2 Chainz and Patti
Smith — and collaborated closely
with Apple Music’s Beats 1 to bring
to life radio shows for artists like
Scott
McMorrow
Seton
Nguyen
McAnally
Ohls
Parker
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QUEER MUSIC MILESTONES
1973
Jobriath
releases his
debut album.
Believed to be the first
openly gay rock musician
signed to a major label,
Jobriath had a short
career — he announced
his retirement in 1975,
and he died from AIDS in
1983 — but left a lasting
impression: Morrissey
and Def Leppard covered
his glam-rock tunes
decades later. —T.S.
1973
Olivia Records launches.
Founded in Washington, D.C., by a
collective of women including singer-
songwriters Cris Williamson and
Meg Christian, the groundbreaking
feminist label put out over 40 albums
during its roughly two-decade run and
fostered an entire scene of lesbian
musicians, artists and activists. —T.S.
QUEER MUSIC MILESTONES
Clockwise from top right: Olivia Records
founders Kate Winter, Judy Dlugacz,
Ginny Berson, Christian and Jennifer
Woodhul circa 1974.