Executive Turntable: Wasserman Hires M&A EVP; Mammoth Launches Touring Division

It's time for another spin around the Executive Turntable, Advertising signthe comprehensive roundup of promotions, hires, departures and firings — and everything in between — in all of music. Also, be sure to check out our weekly interview series featuring a single executive and a regularly updated gallery honoring many of the industry faces we've lost over the year.

Wasserman employee Steve Murray As executive vice president of mergers and acquisitions and strategy, effective July 15. He joins the firm from Providence Equity Partners, where he served as a principal on the investment team. At Providence, he worked with companies and organizations including Warner Music, the NFL and Major League Soccer, and helped lead the firm's strategic investment in Wasserman in November 2022. He was also instrumental in Wasserman's acquisitions of CSM Sport & Entertainment and of Brillstein Entertainment Partners , both last year.

Independent live music label Mammoth revealed his new touring division, which he will lead Rob Owens and Angela Brown. Owens, who is based in Mammoth's new Nashville tour office, was named president of the Mammoth World tour in April 2023. Brown, who previously held several roles at Live Nation, joined the company last September as president of global tour marketing. Along with the executive announcements, Mammoth revealed that they are set to produce JT's City Cinderella tour and Jamaican dance artist Buju Banton's US tour with AG Entertainment Touring.

Rob Stratton promoted to visual and media rights agent at Sony Music Publishing UK. In this role, he will be tasked with leading the publisher's UK visuals and media, maintaining relationships with broadcasters and media production companies and delivering opportunities to the company's partners. Will continue to work with Kathy Merenda and the US visual and media rights team to expand the business around the world. He has been with the company since 2014 and was previously director of visuals and media.

UK record executives Nick Burgess and Jack Melhuis launched Artist Theorya new independent label, in partnership with UK indie label and publisher B-Unique. The label's roster boasts British rocker Sam Ryder alongside up-and-coming artists H.LLS (an electronic/R&B/hip-hop collective) and Emily Jeffri (goth pop singer). Both executives come from Parlophone, where Burgess was co-chairman and Melhuish was GM/marketing director.

Big Loud Records are promoted Jess Anderson to the senior media manager, with immediate effect. Anderson has been with the Big Loud Roster since late 2018. She joined the company with the label in 2021 and helped build the label's internal publicity roster in 2022 as director of media relations. Big Loud's roster includes Morgan Wallen, HARDY, ERNEST, Stephen Wilson, Jr., Charles Wesley Godwin, Lauren Watkins and Kashus Culpepper. Anderson's previous career stops include Sweet Talk Publicity, The Press House and Big Machine Label Group. – Jessica Nicholson

Linlin Chenhis vp team Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME)among other roles, she will step down from all her positions at the Chinese company for personal reasons on September 30. “On behalf of the Company, we would like to express our gratitude to Ms. Chen for her dedicated service to TME,” he said Cussian Pang, executive chairman of TME, in a statement. “We appreciate her continued hard work and commitment, which has greatly contributed to the success of Kugou Music, one of the leading music streaming platforms in China. We respect her decision and wish her the best in all her future endeavors.”

It is called Blue Raincoat Music artist management company, music publisher and record label Roman Tagoe stream manager for Chrysalis Records. He will be based in the company's London office and report to the senior vice president of marketing James Meadows. In the role, Tagoe will be responsible for success across streaming platforms for the company's frontline and catalog artists. He was previously at BMG, where he served as streaming director for global catalog recordings.

TABLE SHORTS: The California Copyright Conference announced the 2024-25 officers and board of directors. The new officers are president Renee Meredith (Exploration), vp Carolyn Soyard (Disney Music Group), treasurer Alexandra Guzman (SESAC), secretary Sarah Brockman (Bardic Inspiration Music Services) and assistant secretary Jean Montiel (peermusic). Re-elected board members include; Reggie Calloway (Audio Rights), Debra Delsand (Creative Music and Licensing Strategy Consultant), Cheryl Dickerson (music industry consultant) and Pola Savastano (Seeker Music Group). Newly elected board members include; Tara Austin (Austintatious Tunes), Rhonda Bedikian (Heavy Harmony Music), Janelle Hawkes (independent publication manager), Brandon Jarrett (TV/Film Composer/Music Producer/Songwriter) and Wayne Josel (ASCAP). They are serving their second term on the board Christina Benson (Sweet On Top) and Jonathan Lane (Clearly Music Services)? first alternative is James Jacoby (A Bun Dance Production) and second alternate is Sherry Orson (Star Vibe Group).

Abby O'Neill appointed head of cultural planning & strategy at Summit series, an organization that hosts invitation-only events for entrepreneurs, artists, philanthropists and others, including the Summit At Sea and the upcoming Subbmit Baja. O'Neill previously served as NPR's executive producer and strategist, curating and producing more than 100 Tiny office gigs and helping achieve a 3,000% viewership increase for the series, among other successes. Through her own company, Key Bridge Entertainment, she co-created the free Rock the Park DC dance music festival in Washington, DC

Ralph Kink joined the German collective management company GEMA As head of digital transformation, effective September 1. In his new role, Kink will lead GEMA's technology development and serve on the company's executive board. He previously worked at Microsoft for 25 years and is also the co-founder/CTO of digital.fwd, a management consultancy specializing in digital transformation and artificial intelligence.

Publicist Nicole Govell started a new company, Goldfinch Marketing, which will offer PR, influencer marketing and music video promotion services to clients. Govel previously spent eight years as a journalist at Trendsetter Media and Marketing.

Last week's turntable: BMG Europe Exec steps down