BACKSTAGE PASS / Digital Power Players 2017
NAVIN, THEIS: ANGELA GASPAR PHOTOGRAPHY. SQUAR: COURTESY OF ADA. MARS: KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES. KAINE: COURTESY OF APPLE MUSIC. WILGAR: COURTESY OF LIVE NATION. BEWLEY, LEVITT: COURTESY OF WME. DALLAS: LLOYD BISHOP/NBC. KOZLOWSKI: CHRIS CARPENTER. PERELMAN: CHYNA PHOTOGRAPHY. PLOTKIN: MAX S. GERBER.independent repertoire. The industry’s shift to
digital distribution “fits squarely into our overall
strategy,” says Roback. “There is an enormous
amount of data that comes from consumption” of
music that gives INgrooves insights into “the best
way to market our repertoire efficiently,” he says.
Along with geographic expansion — the company
entered the Scandinavian region late last year —
Dietz says INgrooves is “adding people who are
focused on [music] discovery and engagement.”BRAD NAVIN, 46
CEO, The Orchard
COLLEEN THEIS, 48
COO, The Orchard
The Orchard, the world’s
largest distributor of
independent label
repertoire, has long been
planning for a music
business dominated by streaming. “We have been
working for this day, making sure our platforms and
our team are ready,” says Navin. The Orchard
generates annual revenue that Billboard estimates
at $500 million, from 30 offices worldwide and a
staff of 300, marketing music, film and TV product,
and partnering with digital retailers, physical stores,
performing-rights organizations and mobile outlets.
“We were built for this [streaming] economy,” says
Theis, “and we are built for scale, transparency and
to be able to handle billions of lines of data so that
we can extract useful information that can be acted
upon in real time.” That flow of data, adds Navin, “is
great for our clients.”BRANDON SQUAR, 41
Executive vp digital strategy and sales,
Alternative Distribution Alliance Worldwide
“If content is king, then context is King
Kong,” says Squar, recalling a comment
he first heard voiced in 2015 at an
industry conference. At ADA, the
independent distribution arm of Warner
Music Group, the phrase guides Squar’s vision of what
music streaming can ultimately mean. “We need to
find a way to take 30, 40, 50 million tracks from astreaming service to create an individualized
experience for every single music listener,” he says,
adding that enticing consumers older than 30 to
engage in new music is a companywide goal.
Reminding older listeners “what they love about music
— that, to me, would be the next big thing we can do.”
LIVEBROOKE KAIN, 37
Chief digital officer, AEG Presents
AEG in September 2016 put all of its
digital operations in the hands of Kain,
who previously held senior digital
marketing roles at Apple Music, Beats
and Interscope Records. At AEG, she
has taken on the challenge of tapping a wealth of
consumer and artist data to help AEG’s army of
promoters and talent buyers to book smarter. “We
can use the data,” says Kain, who counts former
boss Jimmy Iovine as a mentor, “to understand our
consumer base and personalize our messaging,
booking and offerings, based on what our
consumers want.”JACKIE WILGAR, 45
Senior vp marketing, international, Live Nation
Entertainment
“In live music, there are plenty of
differences across cultures, but there
are also a number of similarities,” says
Wilgar, a Canadian native based in
London. From the United Kingdom, her
team has created an online network connecting 29
Live Nation countries using 27 languages (including
the recent additions of Israel, Qatar, Lithuania,
Estonia and Saudi Arabia). She has guided the
development of an app that lets consumers access
125 Live Nation festivals worldwide. “We have
certain events where 20 percent of ticket sales are
from outside the [presenting] country,” she says,
noting that the deployment of data allows Live
Nation to reach an emerging category — the global
music fan.
AGENCIESALEX BEWLEY, 33
Agent, personal appearances, WME
ALEXANDRA LEVITT, 26
Agent, digital media, WME
From WME’s London
office, Bewley directs
tours by some of the
agency’s top digital
talent, such as one-time
Vine star Cameron Dallas, who is now the subject of
the Netflix reality series Chasing Cameron. Bewley
also helped develop social media-led festivals like
Cool for Summer in Australia and Oslo Sommertid
in Norway. “The U.S. is two to three years ahead of
the rest of the world in the digital space,” he says.
“So it’s something of an education process for me
on a daily basis when I’m speaking to [talent]
buyers.” Levitt helps clients like Joey Bada$$, Paris
Hilton and Nervo monetize their social media
celebrity. She sold DJ Gareth Emery’s Headliners
show to Complex Networks and closed the deal for
Dan Taberski to produce the hit podcast Missing
Richard Simmons with First Look Media. The digital
market moves so quickly, she says, projects “may be
one thing when we start talking about it and six
months later could be completely different.”STUART KOZLOWSKI, 38
Agent, digital and business development,
Paradigm Talent Agency
In January, Paradigm extended its
brand name over its sister companies,
the Windish Agency and AM Only, and
Kozlowski remains the go-to digital
strategist for all Paradigm clients. Two
of those clients — Tiësto and Echosmith — are
particularly savvy about their digital presence.
Tiësto reaches his fans through tours, recordings,
podcasts, e-commerce and more. “How do we join
all of these things up so that two plus two equals
five?” asks the agent, a resident of East Hollywood.
“Echosmith’s strategy has historically been
[focused on] social media, maximizing Twitter,
Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and so on.”
Kozlowski’s greatest challenge: the volatile digital
landscape. “I think about Vine,” he says. “Here’s a
platform that was a thing for a hot minute but
doesn’t exist anymore.”JONATHAN PERELMAN, 36
Head of digital ventures, ICM Partners
With experience at Buzzfeed and
Google on his résumé, Perelman joined
ICM Partners in 2015 to spread his
digital perspective throughout the
agency, which represents top streaming
artists like Kodak Black and Lil Yachty. “I love being
able to sit down with agents to ask what the best
things are we can do for our clients, what is the best
strategy,” says the Brentwood, Los Angeles, resident.
Perelman, who has been focused recently on the
growth of podcasting, also has been developing a
new digital department at ICM. “It will have, I hope, a
very positive impact on the work that we do. I want to
make sure that as an agency we are as digitally
forward thinking as possible.”MARGO PLOTKIN, 38
Digital talent and packaging agent,
Creative Artists Agency
When it comes to impact online, you
don’t get much bigger than Plotkin’s
client Katy Perry and her 232 million
fans across all social platforms.
Plotkin, who has worked at CAA since
2011, leveraged Perry’s following to strike the deal
with YouTube for a four-day livestream to promoteNO. STREAMING SONG OF THE YEAR
Mars performed during
the Grammy Awards at
Staples Center in Los
Angeles in February.“That’s What
I Like”
Bruno Mars
643.6 million
streams in 2017
Source: Nielsen MusicNetflix star Dallas (left), represented by
WME’s Bewley, appeared on Late Night
With Seth Myers in December 2016.62 BILLBOARD | SEPTEMBER 2, 2017