THE REVOLVING DOOR

Former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard, who joined Twitter as Head of Commerce in August 2013 and recently assumed the title of Interim Head of Media, is leaving the company. He'll be replaced by Ali Jafari, who will take over after Hubbard "transitions out" next month.

Live Nation Canada has made two internal hires, announcing that Erik Hoffman has become its new president in Toronto and John May been brought in as president of media and corporate partnerships.

Musician and entrepreneur Dave Stewart has joined the advisory board of B2B connections portal Music Gateway.

Paul Shaver has been appointed Head of Nielsen Music Canada, where he will oversee all commercial operations surrounding the measurement and insights of music for Nielsen in the Canadian market.

AEG Live Nashville has appointed music industry veteran Clay Schell as senior talent buyer. Schell will be based out of Atlanta, Georgia and will be responsible for buying shows for venues in the southeast.   

Lee Hazeldine has been appointed to the role of area manager for the North West of England for Show Sec. 

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has hired music marketing and tour sponsorship executive Dave Aussenberg to help bolster the company’s growing Music Brand Partnership group. Aussenberg makes the move from Platinum Rye Entertainment, where he led the company’s New York music partnership division.  

MBW reports that Global Entertainment on both sides of the Atlantic has been cut back to skeletal staff, incurring heavy job losses. But MBW says that Paul Adam, longtime Global publishing boss in the UK, and Richard Palmese, promo expert and US music biz veteran, are still with the company.

Tom March and Ben Mortimer have been named as co-Presidents of the Polydor Records, taking over from Ferdy Unger-Hamilton – who is believed to be launching a JV with Sony in the coming months.

And Highly respected A&R exec Rich Castillo has been appointed Senior A&R Manager for Polydor Records in London.

Erika Alfredson has been promoted to Vice President of Marketing at Sony Music US imprint Columbia Records.

Sony Music UK has appointed Michael Smith as Executive Vice President. Smith has more than 25 years of experience of music and entertainment law.

Paulo Lima has been appointed as President of Universal Music Brazil. Digital expert Lima replaces José Eboli, who exits after 13 years with the major - having originally joined in 2003 as General Manager.

Universal Music Group (UMG) has hired Ziegler as Executive Vice President of Global Physical Operations. He was formerly with Sony DADC.

Warner Music Group (WMG) is launching its Elektra label in France, helmed by former Universal exec Julien Creuzard.


WMG has announced the promotion of John Esposito to Chairman & CEO of Warner Music Nashville (WMN). Esposito has been President & CEO of Warner Music Nashville since 2009, when the division was established to expand WMG’s presence in Music City.

Aton Ben-Horin has been promoted to to Global Vice President, A&R at WMG. In the newly created position, Ben-Horin will continue to provide A&R resources and creative support across WMG’s recorded music labels, including Atlantic and Warner Bros. Records, as well as its international affiliates.

Warner/Chappell Music Chairman & CEO Jon Platt has been elected to the ASCAP Board of Directors.

Francis Keeling is joining Spotify’s London office as VP, Global Head Of Licensing on June 1. He was formerly a senior digital executive with UMG.

Head of Digital at Three Six Zero Group, Tiffany Yu, has been promoted to VP, Digital Innovation at the global music management and entertainment company

And in another interesting move, music rights advocate Casey Rae is leaving behind his role as Future of Music Coalition CEO to join US satellite radio giant SiriusXM as Director of Music Licensing.


Business and technology exec Lonny Olinick has joined Kobalt as SVP, Strategic Business Development. Olinick previously held roles at Sony Music and BMG.

AEG Live has named Jorge Melendez as its Chief Financial Officer.

Entertainment and IP law specialists Scarinci Hollenbeck have announced that the legal team at Bienstock & Michael, LLC, a New York and New Jersey-based boutique intellectual property and entertainment law group, are joining the firm. Ronald S. Bienstock will co-chair Scarinci Hollenbeck's Intellectual Property, and Entertainment, Sports, & Media Law Groups. 

Pandora has appointed Adam Parness as Head of Publisher Licensing and Relations. Based in New York, Parness will join Pandora in July, moving over from his role as Principal Content Acquisition Manager at Amazon