KIRDIS POSTELLE JOINED AMAZON MUSIC AS GLOBAL HEAD OF ARTIST MARKETING. SPOTIFY HIRED KROQ LOS ANGELES RADIO VETERAN KEVIN WEATHERLY AS HEAD OF NORTH AMERICAN PROGRAMMING.
and streaming set our catalog on fire,
so we were able to use some of that
revenue, and the enthusiasm of the
board and the executive team, to
invest in the business. I had a business
plan when I arrived that they allowed
me to execute, and as we put more
results on the scoreboard, they gave
me more rope to keep moving forward.
There was always a plan to build a
management business, to build a
music publishing business and to
bring in a live division.
Is full service the business model to
follow now? Today’s music industry
mantra seems to be, “We want to be
a one-stop shop for artists.”
We do look at it that way, although
maybe not in the same way that it’s
spoken about in the press. We’re an
end-to-end solution for people that
are looking for music. So if you are
producing movies, TV programming,
commercials or video games and you
are looking for music, we have a whole
creative hub that’s set up for that. With
respect to recording, we don’t sell
artists on having us do everything for
them. We like to say that if we are your
manager, we want to be your manager
forever. If we need to be the record
label or provide more traditional
record company or music publishing
services, we’ll do that — but that’s not
our MO. If we’re managing you, we
are happy to work with great record
labels and music publishers. The same
applies to somebody who has signed to
our label. We’re not necessarily looking
to get into the manager’s chair.
So when one sector of the business is
down, another is up?
That — and having a diverse strategy
can also be valuable when you’re pro-
viding services to management clients.
If you are managing a developing artist
that’s signed to an outside label, the
label may not be doing everything you
need them to be doing. We have the
option to lean on some of the record-
label service teams that we have, such
as in-house radio, press and marketing.
Does your label services team also
work with artists signed to other
labels?
Yep. If we have someone who’s the
head of radio in a certain genre, they’ve
got a slate of artists and priorities, so
they can’t run a campaign for an art-
ist who is managed by us but signed
elsewhere. But our head of radio can
certainly review plans, make a couple
of calls, help to oversee the strategy
and provide advice to the managers.
For example, we’re in the middle of
that right now with a band we manage called Arkells.
Caroline is the record label in the U.S. However, we
are looking at radio strategies. We’re tapping into
our synch team to find opportunities for them. Their
single “Years in the Making” came out Feb. 25, and
we are having conversations and emails on that right
now. The label is signing the checks, spending the
money and quarterbacking the strategy. We try to be
complementary to that.
Where do you see eOne in relation to the other mini
majors?
We’re in that Concord, BMG, AWAL kind of uni-
verse, but we’re a bit of a different animal in that
we do records in a real traditional way. I know that’s
a bit of a dirty word for some people, but we’re
proud of the expertise that we have in-house, and
it’s not available to 1,000 artists. We sign less, and
we’re going to really dig in and roll up our sleeves
for the ones that we believe in. We’ll let other
people sign 1,000 artists and take credit for the one
or two that work — we’d rather sign 50 and have
40 of them making money.
How did your $215 million acquisition of Audio Net-
work last April fit into your diversification strategy?
It really added significant scale and gave us a
significant publishing catalog. It also provided us
with an administrative backbone that enables us to
administer [publishing] in-house.
When eOne was acquired, the media made much
of the company behind My Little Pony and
Sesame Street toys also owning Death Row Records.
Does Hasbro plan to hang on to the label?
Yes, it does. I always say that’s like owning the
original recordings of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash
and Chuck Berry. The Death Row recordings are
seminal hip-hop recordings. We do amazing business
with them — and there are no plans to sell. It’s an
important part of our business. And who doesn’t
love Snoop Dogg? Everybody loves Uncle Snoop.
1. Left: “In the past four years, I’ve traveled three weeks out of
every month — I know too many Air Canada and Star Alliance
staff by name.” Right: EOne’s TV team and HBO collaborated on
the Sharp Objects soundtrack. 2. “We’re the owners of some of
the most iconic recordings in history,” says Taylor. “And we have
an extensive merchandise program around this legendary brand.”
3. “It’s our job to familiarize ourselves with Hasbro’s brands,
starting with Dungeons & Dragons [to] Magic: The Gathering to
Transformers to Monopoly — what a job!” 4. “These buses remind
us where we came from: selling music around the streets of
Toronto in the ’90s.”
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MARCH 14, 2020 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 2 1