Music Chairs -- Week 21 2021

 USA

American songwriter and performer Taylor Swift will receive the Songwriter Icon Award during the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)'s Annual Meeting on June 9. In addition, Country Music Association (CMA) CEO Sarah Trahern will receive this year’s NMPA Industry Legacy Award, while Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) will receive this year’s NMPA President’s Award "for his work to protect songwriters and music publishers." "Chairman Nadler has never let songwriters down. We are honored to thank him for his dedication to creators and his commitment to creating a better economy for making music," said NMPA President & CEO David Israelite, who also paid tribute to Swift: "Taylor Swift has had an unprecedented year of success. She gave the world incredible songwriting when they needed it most and she continues to rewrite the rulebook when it comes to her career. She has always identified as a songwriter first, and in doing so inspired and elevated countless other creators. Her advocacy has lifted the entire creative community, and she has done it at great cost and risk to her own career. The risks paid off, not just for her but for our entire industry, and there is no one more deserving of our Icon award.” 

Disney General Entertainment (DGE) has promoted Peter DiCecco (pictured, below) to Executive VP, Music Business Affairs. He will be in charge of deal-making, strategy and business and legal affairs related to the production, acquisition and distribution of music for programming produced by DGE brands and studios including Hulu Originals, ABCEntertainment, ABC News, Disney Branded Television, FX Networks, Freeform, National Geographic, ABC Signature and 20th Television. He will also continue to manage ABC's music publishing unit and run music business affairs for Disney’s TV productions based in Latin America, Asia and other regions. He reports to Trish Husson, DGE's Executive VP, Strategy and Business Operations. DiCecco was SVP and GM of music for Walt Disney Television.


Sony Music Entertainment (SME) has promoted Melissa Thomas to the role of Executive Vice President, International Marketing, US Repertoire. She will continue to report to Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer. Most recently, Thomas was SVP, International Marketing for the Company’s US Repertoire, serving as co-head of the department. 

EUROPE

Ella Kirby has been appointed Head of Music Publishing Licensing & Partnerships, EMEA at TikTok. She joins the short-video platform from Facebook, where she was Music Publishing Business Development Lead for EMEA. Based in London, she reports to JordanLowy, Head of Music Publishing Licensing and Partnerships at ByteDanceTikTok.

UNITED KINGDOM

Gareth Noble has been appointed European business development and content relations manager at digital media management and licensing specialist Bitmax. Based in London, he is responsible for the development and management of European sales strategy. He reports to Bitmax’s managing director UK, Tom Jones. “Gareth’s personable approach and ability to speak to anybody coupled with his in-depth knowledge of the music and film industry will be instrumental in helping independent film producers work with Bitmax to distribute films to new audiences using different revenue models including AVoD, TVoD, PVoD and SVoD, said Jones.”

BRAZIL

AMBI, the Brazilian association of independent music companies, has appointed Sandra Rodrigues as its new Director General. She is in charge of the Sao Paolo-based organisation's strategic, administrative and operational planning.