Executive Turntable: Moves at RCA, AXS, Columbia, Warner Records & More
A list of moves and shakes across the music business, including at RCA, AXS, Columbia, Warner Records and more.
RCA Records has promoted New York-based Tarek Al-Hamdouni to senior vp digital marketing, it announced Friday (Aug. 23).
In this role, he will continue to oversee the 11-member digital marketing staff and spearhead the online creative strategy and campaigns across the RCA Records roster. Formerly vp digital marketing, Al-Hamdouni and his team have bolstered online campaigns for Childish Gambino, Khalid, P!nk, H.E.R., Becky G, Calboy, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Foo Fighters and more.
He also added a design and motion team dedicated to increase the quality and quantity of RCA’s content output in order to drive awareness and streaming activity, allowing the staff to create custom streaming initiatives for its clients.
“Tarek has proven himself an innovative leader in the digital space,” said RCA Records co-president John Fleckenstein in a statement. “He leads an all-star team that provides creative, dynamic and best-in-class digital campaigns for our roster. We operate in an ever-changing digital landscape of partners and platforms. Tarek’s deep understanding of this landscape combined with a strong passion for music sets him apart. He never forgets that it always starts with a song, an artist; and after that, it’s just about finding the perfect audience for our artists. I couldn’t be happier to see him rise at RCA. We’re proud to have him part of our executive team.”
AXS has announced two new additions to its sales team: Shaun Eidson has joined the company as vp sales for music, and Stephanie Streeter joins as senior director sales for music.
Eidson will develop and manage engagements with music venues, promoters, and artists to implement the AXS platform in markets around the world.
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Streeter most recently helped lead the migration of Ticketfly clients over to the Eventbrite platform and was responsible for developing and executing strategic partnerships with music festivals, venues and promoters. She will continue in a similar capacity at AXS in the newly created senior director role.
Both will be reporting to AXS chief revenue officer Rob Sine, with focus on establishing ticketing partnerships with music organizations at all levels. Eidson and Streeter’s appointment follows the recent announcement of Taylor Kern as vp sales for sports.
Columbia Records has named Azim Rashid senior vp urban promotion, the company announced Monday (Aug. 19). Rashid will lead that department, responsible for Columbia’s roster at urban radio. Rashid most recently served as senior vp promotion at Roc Nation Records and has also held positions at Motown Records, Atlantic Records and Capitol Music Group.
“Azim is renowned as both a sharp promotion executive and a respected figure in urban music with a phenomenal track record of launching artists at radio,” said Columbia Records senior vp promotion/operations Jim Burruss in a press release. “On behalf of the entire Promotion team, I’m very excited to welcome him to the Columbia Records family.”
Warner Records has named Claudia Butzky senior vp brand partnerships, strategic marketing and commercial sync licensing, the company announced Wednesday (Aug. 21). In her new role, Butzky will report to Warner Records COO Tom Corson, who serves as co-chairman alongside CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck.
Butzky hails from RCA Records, where she served as senior vp, global brand partnerships. While there, she was an instrumental force in launching campaigns for artists including Pink, Justin Timberlake, SZA and Miley Cyrus. She has also initiated successful campaigns with brands including American Express, Cover Girl, Chrysler, Anheuser-Busch and American Airlines.
Pex has brought on media and tech advisor and product manager Brian Boys as vp of product. Working from the company’s Los Angeles office, Boys will help the video and audio analytics platform meet a growing number of clients’ needs as attribution and automated claiming become central elements in rights holders and creators’ businesses.
Pex’s COO Amadea Choplin said Boys’ hiring signals an important moment for the company: “Pex’s product and team are at a turning point, one that reflects where we are today, at the beginning of important era in attribution and analytics for online content. We invited Brian to join our team as we valued his perspective and leadership, and because we knew he got our mission and product. We’re looking forward to tackling the biggest problems in content identification and monetization together.”
Boys comes to Pex after a long career that spans media, entertainment, music, and tech. Formerly director of music at Yahoo! and chief product officer at video content studio Fresno, Boys later became a mentor and advisor to companies in entertainment tech.
Los Angeles-based music distribution and payments startup Stem has appointed former Venmo executive Mike Vaughan to its board of directors. Vaughan was chief operating officer of Venmo from 2011 until earlier this year and is now executive in residence at Oak HC/FT.
“The music industry can benefit tremendously from innovation in the way money flows between the creators, the distributors and the platforms,” said Vaughan in a statement. “Not to mention the impact we can make with offering more accessible financial services that cater to the creators in the music space.”
“As we keep building out Stem’s platform capabilities, Mike will provide industry insights and connections that will propel Stem’s artist and label fintech offerings,” added Stem CEO Milana Rabkin Lewis. “The fintech angle perfectly complements our broader mission of being the most reliable way for artists to get paid and to automate accurate payments for all collaborators who helped them create.”
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