THE REVOLVING DOOR

Kilimanjaro Live has expanded its team with the appointment of two new promoters, Rhea Taylor and Georgie Donnelly. Taylor joins from MAMA & Company, where she booked venues including The Barfly and Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, both in London. Donnelly has more than six years' experience as a promoter and producer of stand-up shows and will help further develop Kili’s comedy and spoken word roster. 

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has promoted five of its trainees to fully fledged booking agents. David Ball, Janet Kim, Lanell Rumion, Ben Schildkraut and Phil Quist are the new agents in CAA’s music department. Ball is based in London, Kim, Rumion and Quist in Los Angeles and Schildkraut in New York. And Corporate strategy specialist Matteo Perale has joined CAA to lead the booking and sports agency’s “aggressive growth and diversification” efforts worldwide.

Maverick Music, the conglomeration of some of the most powerful management companies in the world, has appointed Greg Thompson as President. he will join the business from Capitol Music Group in mid-June

Lara Baker has promoted to Director of Marketing & Events and has joined the Board at Association of Independent Music (AIM).A now 12 year veteran with AIM, Baker retains responsibility for the AIM Awards. Matt Parnell has been promoted to Legal and Business Affairs manager, moving up from his pevious role as a paralegal. 

Carol Wallace, who recently retired as president and CEO of the San Diego Convention Center, has been appointed temporary executive administrator of the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM).

Dana DuFine has left her post as senior vp/head of West Coast operations of MSG Entertainment. She joined MSGE in 2014 and was based in Los Angeles. working with New York's Madison Square Garden and L.A.'s The Forum.

SFX Entertainment has confirmed that it will be reducing its New York staff by approximately 50 employees and has provided notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) to do so.

AEG Ogden executive Phil King has been announced as director of live entertainment for the A$1.1 billion ($833 million) International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney), which opens in December.

Jesse Willoughby has been promoted to General Manager Kobalt, Nashville. Willoughby will assume the new position effective immediately and will report directly to Richard Sanders, President of Kobalt.

US-based music streaming service Pandora has parted ways with CEO Brian McAndrews, sending its share price on the New York Stock Exchange tumbling by more than 9%. McAndrews had headed up the platform for the past two-and-a-half years and had  seen Pandora acquire independent ticketing service Ticketfly for $450m and the assets of defunct streaming rival Rdio for $75m.

Snapchat has hired former Pandora CTO Tom Conrad as its new VP of product.

Sony Music UK has named Julie Weir as head of Music For Nations, as it confirms that it is reviving the iconic rock and metal label. As founder of UK-based independent label Visible Noise, Weir signed and developed Bring Me The Horizon – who have since achieved international success with RCA, with sales now in excess of 1.4m REAs (Revenue Equivalent Albums).

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has appointed Alexandra Lioutikoff as Executive Vice President, Latin Music, a role where she will lead the company’s regional Latin American and U.S. Latin operations based in Miami.  Universal Music Austria MD Hannes Eder is leaving the business after 13 years. UMG Germany's Cornelius Ballin takes charge in Vienna as the firm's new GM.

Universal Music's UK-based live entertainment division, U-Live, has promoted Sally Davies to MD. The former AEG/O2 Arena exec said it was an "exciting, pivotal time"

The former A&R Director of Universal Music Publishing Group in Australia, Heath Johns, is heading up a new Sydney-based operation for fast-expanding BMG. 

One of the most respected digital music execs at UMG, Francis Keeling, is leaving the business a year after his ex-boss Rob Wells exited, sources have told MBW. 

Digital veteran Ty Roberts, who co-founded entertainment data platform Gracenote, has been appointed to the newly created role of UMG’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, effective April 25.

And the Managing Director of Universal Music Publishing, Bob Aird, has announced his retirement. Aird came to UMPG when it acquired Rondor Music Publishing Australia 16 years ago.

A&R exec Andrew Keller, who has worked at Sony's Columbia in the US for 13 years, is moving to Capitol Music Group, where he'll be reunited with Steve Barnett.


Sony/ATV Music Publishing has promoted Jorge Mejia to the position of President, Latin America and US Latin, based in the company’s Miami office.

Direct-to-fan e-commerce platform PledgeMusic has appointed Dominic Pandiscia as Chief Executive Officer. Pledge's previous CEO, founder Benji Rogers, takes a newly-created role as Chief Strategy Officer, and will continue to serve on the company's board of directors.

Def Jam Recordings has promoted three key members of its promotion department.
Nicki Farag steps up to Senior Vice President, Promotion; Keith Rothschild is promoted to Senior Vice President, Top 40 Promotion; and Noah Sheer becomes Senior Vice President, Rhythm / Crossover & Dance Promotion.

A campaign to save one of London’s longest-standing music venues has failed.  Southwark Council has granted planning permission for leaseholders Fullers to convert the Half Moon pub in Herne Hill, replacing its music area with a larger kitchen, reports Southwark News.