THE REVOLVING DOOR

Global has hired Live Nation executive Debbie Ward following a string of festival acquisitions in the UK. Ward has been appointed Commercial Director, joining a seven-strong team that will develop strategic campaigns for brands across Global’s growing portfolio of events. Other new hires are brand partnership directors Wayne Mensah, who moved from youth entertainment channel The Hook, and Amy Oldham, who also joins from Live Nation. The team will also include a brand manager and three account managers.

United Talent Agency has hired agent David Klein, who leaves rival CAA after nearly 12 years.  Based in LA, Klein will become a member of UTA’s music leadership team. He’s tasked with expanding business in the music/touring space. At CAA, Klein worked with artistes includng  OneRepublic, Tori Kelly, Lana Del Rey, Gavin DeGraw, Dua Lipa and Hailee Steinfeld. Klein joins other recent hires Bex Majors, Billy Wood, Mike Guirguis, Greg Janese, Toni Wallace and Rob Walker at the diversified agency as it continues to expand its music team. He is tasked with growing UTA’s business “in the music/touring space”, says the agency.

Ticketmaster has announced a trio of new appointments for its UK sales team. Former DHP Family, AMG and Robomagic promoter Bonita McKinney has joined its London office as a sales executive. McKinney will support the ticketing needs of promoters, venues and festivals nationwide, providing solutions and enhancing their selling power across our numerous platforms. She joins alongside Holly Watson, who has worked in a wide variety of positions in large-scale events and festivals including the Isle of Wight Festival, London 2012 Olympics and Melbourne Grand Prix and will be tasked with ensuring Ticketmaster has the best deals and promotions available for a wide range of events. Finally Jason Boardman will be based at Ticketmaster's Manchester office  and wll focus on business development for TicketWeb in the North of England, He has been employed at Ticketmaster in various roles for the past 14 years with a background in the live events industry.

Fee Schlennstedt has been named Artribute's head of booking. The veteran of the German jazz scene has reappeared in a new role following her unexpected exit from Jazzclub Unterfahrt last year.

Max Lousada has been promoted at the Warner Music Group. Lousada, currently Chairman & CEO of Warner Music UK, is officially becoming CEO, Recorded Music for Warner Music Group from October 1.  And Warner Music Group has hired Michael Steele as Director of Playlist Programming and Curation. He previously worked at ad agency Pop2Life.

Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA, has announced he will step down from the position in 2018. He will be replaced by Mitch Glazier, who becomes President.

Former Pandora and Sirius royalty rate lawyer Chris Harrison has been named CEO of the Digital Media Association (DiMA) — a trade body that lobbies on behalf of companies including Google, Amazon, Apple, Pandora and Spotify.

Arif Mahmud is joining Kobalt as Vice President, Business Affairs. Based in London, Mahmud will work with Kobalt’s management team in the expansion of Kobalt Music Recordings’ and AWAL’s (Kobalt’s streaming label for independent artists) business and client base in all regions outside the U.S.


And Kobalt has hired Alison Donald as Head of Creative, UK - a role which will see her leading A&R activities in London across both publishing and recordings.

British entertainment solicitor Tony Morris has left Marriott Harrison after 22 years to join rival Swan Turton, where Pete Bott has just been promoted.

MBW reports that one of Universal Music Group's most respected and senior legal figures, Richard Constant, is retiring after more than 35 years in the biz. 

Jack Stephens has joined Spotify as Creator Partnerships Manager. Working from the streaming company’s London HQ, Stephens will report into Shane Tobin – Spotify’s Head of Creator Insights and Activations.


F Block Music Publishing has appointed former Warner/Chappell A&R Ryan Farley, who signed Madeon and Starsmith, to the newly-created position of Head of A&R.
Blair McDonald is leaving Nettwerk Music Group little over 12 years after joining the independent company, MBW has discovered. McDonald, most recently MD of Nettwerk in the UK and Europe, was hired by the business in late 2004 to establish and develop its publishing company, then named Nettwerk One Music.

Downtown Music Publishing's Roberto Neri and Carlin Music's Peter Thomas have been elected to the Board of independent publishers' commercial group IMPEL.

Rob Stringer has made his first major appointment since becoming Sony Music CEO, naming Republic veteran Tom Mackay as President, Film & TV A&R.

Carmine Coppola has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Sony Music Entertainment. Based in New York, he will report to Kevin Kelleher, Sony Music's Chief Operating Officer.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has promoted Guy Henderson to President of International. The exec moves up from his previous role as EVP of International. 

Rostrum Records has named Nicole Plantin as Vice President, A&R. Plantin has spent nearly three years at Rostrum as Senior Director, Management and A&R.

Helen Alexander, most recently Director Of Operations And Business Development at Warner Bros, is Merlin's new Finance Director. She will report into Merlin chief Charles Caldas and will oversee the agency's finance, royalty and operations functions, and lead on further development work to increase the efficiencies of the organisation.

Lukasz 'Dr Luke' Gottwald is no longer running Kemosabe Records, the JV he set up with Sony in 2011. A page devoted to him on Sony's site has been taken down.