BARCLAYS CENTER OWNER BSE GLOBAL NAMED LAURIE JACOBY CHIEF ENTERTAINMENT OFFICER. UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP NAMED MICHAEL SELTZER EXECUTIVE VP BUSINESS AND LEGAL AFFAIRS.
W
HEN KIRDIS POSTELLE JOINED
Amazon Music in March 2020, the
first thing she set out to do was expand
the streaming service’s artist market-
ing operation, which had mostly focused on paid
media and ads on billboards. The plan was to
move into events and experiential-based market-
ing, but, says the global head of artist marketing,
“As you can imagine, we haven’t done any of that
since COVID-19.”
Postelle’s hands haven’t been tied though. Collabo-
rating with a global team covering over 40 territories
around the world, with U.S. offices in Los Angeles,
New York and Seattle, L.A.-based Postelle works
on campaigns for artists in all genres, integrating
Amazon’s technology and nonmusic business units.
She launched Amazon’s Breakthrough program for
emerging acts and oversaw campaigns with artists
such as Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, BTS, Sum-mer Walker and Keith Urban for livestreams, socially
distanced events, charitable initiatives and more.
“R&B/hip-hop is a big priority this year,” she says.
“The genre is what, 30% of all the streams right now?
We have some artist projects on deck that I can’t talk
about yet, but if I can get them across the line it will
be so exciting.”
Born in Wichita, Kan., and raised in Chicago,
Postelle graduated from the University of Michigan
and was on track to be a lawyer before she scored a
temp job at LaFace Records in 1992 that changed her
plans. She was soon hired full time and now recalls
working under former LaFace artist development
and marketing executive Davett Singletary as music
industry “boot camp.” “I was an English major who
knew nothing about entertainment,” she says. “But
that job is what framed the foundation for my work
and career ethic today.”
In three years Postelle moved to L.A. and workedfor Kenneth “Babyface” and Tracey Edmonds’ Yab
Yum Records, where she was soon “making more
money than anybody coming out of law school,”
she recalls. She was soon introduced to Dr. Dre,
who was starting his own record company, After-
math Entertainment, and “he wanted a woman to
run it,” says Postelle. “I’d been working with R&B
royalty, so I was dismissive when we met. But after
we talked, he offered me the job — and we worked
together for 17 years.”
From 1996 to 2013, as GM, Postelle oversaw
Aftermath’s marketing, promotion, publicity and
A&R administration divisions, working with artists
such as Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and The Game. In
2013, she moved over to Capitol Music Group, in a
job focused on pop music and marketing, then took a
similar role at the Warner label. In 2018 she reunited
with LaFace co-founder Antonio “L.A.” Reid as
executive vp/GM at Hitco Entertainment before
joining Amazon two years later.
Currently working out of her home, the mother
of two starts her days at 4 a.m. with exercise before
diving into meetings, wrapping by seven or eight
every night. (There’s one strict rule: “I have to be
eating at noon,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t play
with my food.”)
“Marketing hasn’t changed as much as you would
think it has,” says Postelle. “It’s still our job to get art-
ists’ music and brand out there far and wide ... The
tools we use are just faster and more efficient now.”FROM THE DESK OF
KIRDIS POSTELLE
Global Head of Artist Marketing, Amazon Music
BY GAIL MITCHELL
PHOTOGRAPHED BY YURI HASEGAWAPostelle photographed Feb. 3
in Woodland Hills, Calif.32 BILLBOARD • FEBRUARY 20, 2021