R&B/hip-hop industry veteran Lionel Ridenour has been named executive vice president of promotion at gamma. In his new role, Ridenour will oversee the company's radio promotion efforts across all formats and genres. The appointment comes on the heels of Ridenour's promotional work on behalf of gamma. works by Usher, 4batz, Sexyy Red and October London.
In a press release announcing Ridenour's appointment, gamma. co-founder/CEO Larry Jackson he said, “Since the beginning of gamma's formation, we have often heard the criticism that one of the things we would be called upon to provide is radio promotion, for any artist at the highest level. So we challenged ourselves to roll up our sleeves and debunk this theory. And it is because of Lionel, his staff and our efficient spending in this area that we now have such an incredibly strong radio market share for a company that is only a year old.
“Radio continues to be such an important key access point to the heart of so many countries, especially the US, and I'm so pleased to be able to have Lionel leading the charge for us in that regard,” Jackson added. “It's also incredibly remarkable that he's the first African-American head of promotion in 40 years for any major music label (we're not a label, of course) and I'm so proud to be a part of this historic moment in the overall business.”
Added Ridenour, “I'm excited to join gamma. and I want to thank Larry and Ike [Youssef, gamma. president] for the opportunity to push the boundaries of industry norms and lead all promotional efforts on behalf of a wide variety of incredible talent. It's a pleasure to be part of a fearless company that is reshaping the way careers can be scaled and advanced.”
Over the past decade, Ridenour's Anchor Promotions has worked with a variety of major and independent labels including Warner Records, Alamo, Red Bull, Hitco and Geffen Records. Founded by CEO Ridenour in 2013, Anchor was the industry's only black-owned label promotion and service company.
Prior to Anchor, Ridenour began honing his promotional skills during his first gig in the industry as a co-founder of the road promotion group Mainframe Records, later acquired by Capitol Records. His resume since then includes overseeing promotion for LaFace Records, Bad Boy and Rowdy Records. After a decade of working closely with Clive Davis at Arista Records — overseeing the promotion of works by artists such as Biggie, TLC, Usher, OutKast and Whitney Houston — Ridenour went on to lead the music divisions of Virgin Records and Malaco Records. Last year, he received the Living Legends Foundation Music Executive Award.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/lionel-ridenour-gamma-evp-promotion/
