THE REVOLVING DOOR

Henning Tögel 

German indie-promoter The Moderne Welt closing operations, two years on from passing of founder, Henning Tögel. The parent company Moderne Welt Musikproduktions- und Vermarktungsgesellschaft will remain active to manage, among other things, the Henning Tögel foundation which fosters creative talent of all sorts.

Self-service ticketing platform Eventbrite has announced Joel Crouch as its first ever GM for UK and Ireland.  

Piero Giramonti and Jacqueline Saturn have been named General Managers of Caroline – the Independent Services division of Capitol Music Group (CMG) in the US. The news comes four months after reports emerged that Caroline President Dominic Pandiscia was to leave the UMG-owned organisation.

A2IM, the American Association of Independent Music, has appointed Richard James Burgess as its new CEO. Burgess moves over from his position as Chairman of the A2IM board.

Maria Eagle has been appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport following Labour leader Jememy Corbyn's re-shuffle. She was previously Shadow Secretary for Defence.

Kobalt has replaced Diarmuid Quinn, the recently-departed GM of the firm’s Label Services division in the US with the promotion of Ron Cerrito into the GM position, effective immediately. Cerrito moves up from his position as SVP/Promotion/Rock Formats at KLS. Quinn, who was named Kobalt Label Service's president, North America in 2013, had announced he'll be stepping down from that role at the turn of the year.

Independent publisher Imagem Music has promoted Leo Chantzaras from Senior A&R Manager to Senior International A&R Manager.

Nic Jones, has been named Chief Revenue Officer at Vevo based in San Francisco – stepping up from his previous role as EVP of International.

Two senior promoters at the UK operation of Live Nation have left the organisation. Steve Homer and Toby Leighton-Pope are believed to have exited the company last week.

The Chairman of the UK’s Concert Promoters Association, Stuart Littlewood, has stepped down after 15 years in the role. Littlewood was previously treasurer of the CPA for 12 years, bringing his total tenure to 25 years. Phil Bowdery, President Of Touring International at Live Nation, will take over from Littlewood following an election at the CPA.


Ian Hogarth, founder of fast-growing ticketing firm Songkick, has become its Chairman. Matt Jones, whose Crowdsurge merged with SK last year, is now sole CEO.

Simon Presswell has been appointed CEO of Eventim UK. Presswell was previously MD of Eventim rival Ticketmaster UK, before leaving last year.

Spotify has confirmed the appointment of George Ergatoudis in the newly-created position of Head of Content Programming for the UK. Ergatoudis joins Spotify from the BBC where he was most recently Head of Music for BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

Ashley Newton has officially been named President of Universal’s Capitol Music Group – reporting into his one-time Columbia boss Steve Barnett.

Hackford Jones, the London-based entertainment PR agency founded in 2003 by Simon Jones and Jonathan Hackford, and who represent One Direction, Little Mix. comedian Jack Whitehall and TV duo Ant & Dec is being wound down as the co-owners go their separate ways.