Music Chairs -- Week 20 2021

 USA

Independent digital music distributor for independent artists TuneCore has appointed Becky Sebber as Chief Financial Officer. Based in New York, Sebber reports to Chief Operating Officer and Co-Head of TuneCore Matt Barrington. She joins from Conde Nast Entertainment where she was VP of Operations and Strategic Planning. At TuneCore, Sebber will oversee all Financial Operations across the company's central business units as well as its operations in 14 countries across 4 continents. She will work closely with TuneCore and parent company Believe finance teams. 

Former TikTok executive Mary Rahmani (pictured, below) has launched of Moon Projects, a new agency specialising in creator curation, content strategy for short-form, vertical platforms. It also operates a record imprint in partnership with Republic Records. The company also offers consulting services to help build brand and artist presence across all platforms. “From my early days of putting up posters in record shops to discovering Grammy Award-winning artists, my passion and purpose has always been to recognize talent, elevate their work, and help them navigate the complex world of the entertainment industry, music, and tech,” said Rahmani. “I’m thrilled to launch Moon Projects, which will continue to discover and develop artists, build partnerships, and launch creative and innovative campaigns.”  


Edgar “Edd Grand” Machuca has been named to a newly created position of Senior Vice President of A&R for both Capitol Records and Virgin Music Label & Artist Services. Based in Hollywood, he jointly reports to Capitol Music Group (CMG) Chairman & CEO Jeff Vaughn and Virgin President Jacqueline Saturn. In his new position, Machuca will "draw upon his broad experience as an A&R and creative executive to sign and develop artists for both Capitol and Virgin, as well as oversee recording projects for their new, established and partnered artists."

J Scavo has joined Position Music as GM, Recorded Music & VP of Marketing, in charge of the marketing strategy of Position's Recorded Music division as well as serving as overall Head of Marketing for the company. Scavo’s appointment coincides with the evolution of Position Music from a music publishing company to a full-service music company. Scavo was the founder of artist services, marketing and social media agency Daemon.

Reservations technology platform Lyte has appointed Donovan Bass as VP of Product Marketing. His brief includes building Lyte’s market growth and strong market presence. Bass was in charge of Product Marketing at VSCO.

EUROPE

Vancouver-based Reliant Music has opened an office in Amsterdam to coordinate the company's activities in Europe. Reliant Music Europe will be led by Vice President of A&R Angelique Pattikawa-Thenu. She joined from Spinnin’ Records, where she spend the last 13 years.

UNITED KINGDOM

During the May 19 AGM of British rights society PRS for Music, songwriters and composers Fiona Bevan, Julian Nott, and Pete Woodroffe, were elected as Writer Council Members of the PRS Members’ Council, alongside Simon Platz. who has been re-appointed as a Publisher Council Member. They replace former Council Members Simon Darlow, Jim Duguid, Eddie Gregson, John Minch and Mark Poole. Janet Andersen, SVP of Global Publishing Services at BMG, has been newly appointed as Designated Publisher Council Member, while Erica Ingham also joins the Members’ Council as an Independent Non-Executive Council Member, alongside Stephen Davidson who was re-confirmed in post. "Congratulations to our newly appointed and reappointed Council Members who’s combined experience and expertise will help to steer us in this next chapter," commented PRS for Music Chairman Nigel Elderton.

CHINA

Bytedance co-founder and CEO Zhang Yiming will step down from his role as chief executive of the parent company of short video app TikTok. He will be replaced by co-founder Liang Rubo, currently ByteDance’s head of human resources. Zhang, 38, said he will work alongside Liang over the next six months to ensure a smooth transition. He will will remain on the board of ByteDance. “The truth is, I lack some of the skills that make an ideal manager," said Zhang in an interview with Reuters. "I’m more interested in analyzing organisational and market principles, and leveraging these theories to further reduce management work, rather than actually managing people." The news follows the disclosure of the appointment of ByteDance’s Singapore-based CFO Shouzi Chew as CEO of TikTok.