Musical Chairs -- Week 18 2021

USA

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has announced that Sen. Amy Klobuchar( D-MN) will be the recipient of the organisation’s 2021 Award for Distinguished Public Service. “We’re proud to recognise Senator Klobuchar because she leads every day on issues that are profoundly important to publishers, authors, and the democracy we serve," said AAP President and CEO, Maria A. Pallante. “In particular, we applaud her determination to address one of the most complex and urgent problems of our time: the unprecedented power and dominant conduct of giant technology platforms over businesses and society. As the senator has stated, our laws need to be ‘as sophisticated as the companies that now occupy our economy'.”

Neighbouring rights society SoundExchange has promoted Linda Bloss-Baum to Vice President, Government Relations and Public Affairs. She spent eight years serving as a liaison between the Washington, DC-based organisation and artists and industry leaders, most recently in the role of Senior Director, Artist and Industry Relations. In her new role, Bloss-Baum will be in charge of "a revamped public affairs department driving a strategy centered on industry-shaping advocacy efforts in favour of the fair treatment of music creators in the digital age." She will represent SoundExchange with lawmakers, regulators and industry stakeholders. Bloss-Baum reports to SoundExchange Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Esther-Mireya Tejeda.


Catch Point Rights Partners, which acquires and manages music publishing and sound recordings rights, has appointed Corey Sorrento as an Investment Associate at the firm. Sorrento joins Catch Point from media investment banking firm Shot Tower Capital where he worked on numerous music industry acquisitions over the past five years. He will report to the Catch Point Co-Founders and Partners Richard Conlon, Patrick Riordan, and PJ Miklus. In his new role, he will focus on valuation and due diligence of prospective catalogue acquisitions as well as financial planning and analysis for Catch Point’s portfolio of music rights investments.

Artist manager Solomon Sounds has been appointed Senior Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Group's label Capitol Records. Based in New York, he reports to Jeff Vaughn, Chairman & CEO, Capitol Music Group. Sounds managed artists such as XXXTentacion through his company Sounds MusicGroup.

Jesse Flohr has joined Nashville-based entertainment, media, and branding company Visionary Media Group as Director of Marketing. Flohr, who joins from Universal Music Group's Interscope Records, will oversee the company’s release schedule and corresponding campaigns. 

CANADA

Denis Dinsmore has joined Canadian neighbouring rights society Re:Soundas its new Vice President, Finance & Administration. He reports to CEO and President Lou Ragagnin. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Finance at Comark Holdings. His career also includes a 10-year stint with music and entertainment group oleMedia Management (now Anthem Entertainment Group), where he was the Vice President, Finance. “Denis joins Re:Sound at an exciting time – we launched a new strategic plan earlier this year, and the organisation is in the midst of several significant enterprise wide projects,” said Ragagnin, Re:Sound. In the coming weeks, Dinsmore will work alongside Clement Wong, who retires as VP Finance later this month after 21 years with the organisation. 


UNITED KINGDOM

Simon Hosken has been appointed Chief Financial and Operating Officer of live streaming platform Push Live. He was previously COO and CFO at Eagle Rock Entertainment where he worked for the past 15 years. Push Live has powered over 600 live events in the past year. In his new role, Hosken will be responsible for the accelerating the expansion of Push Live's global business. He reports to Push Live founder Phil Tucker.

Exceleration Music has appointed Britnee Foreman as head of Data Strategy and Digital Operations. Foreman previously worked at Next Big Sound, Pandora, Songtrust/Downtown and Tempo Music. Exceleration was launched in 2020 by former Concord CEO Glenn Barros and other associates to invest in independnent music structures and catalogues. Exceleration’s initially invested in Alligator Records, Candid Records and the Ray Charles Foundation.

Sydney-based tech platform for production and sync music Harvest Media has appointed Simon James to run the company's UK office, where he will be in charge of company's expansion in the UK and Europe, as well as North America. He reports to Harvest Media CEO Angus Hayes. James most recently Production Music Manager at British music rights organisations PRS for Music and MCPS. 

SINGAPORE

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, as appointed its Singapore-based CFO Shouzi Chew as the new CEO of the short format video platform. Vanessa Pappas, who has been Interim Head of TikTok since the resignation of Kevin Mayer in August 2020, becomes COO of TikTok. “The leadership team of Shou and Vanessa sets the stage for sustained growth," said Yiming Zhang, Founder and CEO of ByteDance. “Shou brings deep knowledge of the company and industry, having led a team that was among our earliest investors, and having worked in the technology sector for a decade. He will add depth to the team, focusing on areas including corporate governance and long-term business initiatives."