Executive Turntable: Warner Music Canada Revamps A&R; David Norman Is Well Dunn President
Also: Roblox has hired and promoted several staff members, including head of entertainment partnerships and head of music partnerships.
David “5-1” Norman has been appointed president at music industry internship non-profit Well Dunn. The tour director and tour accountant with 35 years of global touring experience throughout North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, South America and South Africa replaces Well Dunn founder Rick Farman, who will remain on the Well Dunn board of directors.
Charlie B (né Ajay Saxena) and Nicholas Causarano were hired at Warner Music Canada as A&R directors with a focus on new hip-hop, R&B and pop signings. George Kalivas was promoted to A&R director and will work at the team’s core, focusing on both creative and operational work. Taylor Nishimura was promoted to the new role of associate manager of A&R operations and will report to Kalivas.
Roblox hired two new staff members in its partnerships division: Todd Lichten as head of entertainment partnerships and Karibi Dagogo-Jack as head of music partnerships. Elsewhere, three existing employees were given new titles: Winnie Burke is now head of fashion and beauty partnerships; Hayden Walling is now head of sports partnerships; and Arvind Jayaram is now head of account management and partnerships.
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Brian Washington launched new management company 2nd & 26 Entertainment. After departing from 4 Strikes Management, Washington will continue working as both managing partner of Kevin Abstract/Brockhampton and head of partnerships for Tyler, The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. At his new management company, 2nd & 26 Entertainment, Washington recently signed emerging pop artist and Capitol Records signee Amelia Moore.
Michael Steele was hired at Nashville-based Visionary Media Group as vp of streaming and digital. Steele will oversee playlisting and digital strategy while working closely with DSP partners including: Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube Music and Soundcloud.
Tal Meltzer has joined Hallwood Media as vp of A&R. In his new role, the musician, producer and writer will work closely with Hallwood’s roster of songwriters and producers to fulfill the exponentially increasing number of opportunities.
Kylie Jeffrey was hired as ticketing director and Claire Marshall was hired as partnerships director at Australasian concert promoter Frontier Touring. Beginning July 11, Jeffrey will work across the company’s broad repertoire of tours while reporting to Frontier COO Susan Heymann. In her new role, Marshall will report to Frontier CMCO Reegan Stark.
Alisa Preisler was hired as a manager at Another Management Company and will simultaneously continue her work as a leading booking agent at Ground Control. Preisler looks forward to working with Another Management Company to helm her new partnership with Shannon and The Clams and Shannon Shaw.
Ghostwriter Music, a leading production, publishing and sound design company, is expanding. Based out of Nashville, Macy Thompson was hired as director of A&R; while based out of Los Angeles, Paige Mount was hired as customs producer and synch manager. Tim Hare was also recently hired as senior director of sync. Additionally, Ghostwriter Music has opened a new middle-Tennessee office complete with a mix stage and full post-production capabilities and led by the company’s founder/CEO Chris Bragg and COO Travis Michaud.
PIXELYNX, a music metaverse platform founded by Joel Zimmerman (also known as deadmau5) and Richie Hawtin (also known as Plastikman), has announced several, industry veteran new-hires including: Paul Joffe as COO; Steve Wakeman as head of production; Zac Alcampo as creative director; Pal Chohan as vp of audio systems and music; and Jaime Valls Vigil as games system designer. Additionally, former Tidal CEO Richard Sanders was appointed group strategy advisor on the PIXELYNX advisory board.
Erica Goldish was promoted to account executive at Brooklyn-based, boutique PR Firm Shore Fire Media where she will continue making an impact across a variety of projects while working with artists spanning genres and generations.
Brynn Putnam, founder and former CEO of smart home gym Mirror, joins the board of directors for Yousician, a leading interactive music platform. Putnam’s appointment was made by Yousician’s co-founder and CEO, Chris Thür.