Music Industry Moves: Warner Chappell Music Signs Sabrina Carpenter Collaborator John Ryan

Thania Garcia
·12-min read

Warner Chappell Music has signed a global publishing agreement with songwriter John Ryan.

Ryan most recently co-wrote and produced eight songs for Sabrina Carpenter’s Billboard 200-topping “Short n’ Sweet” album, which marked the third largest debut week of 2024. Ryan also recently teamed up with Thomas Rhett on his latest album, “About A Woman,” as well as Teddy Swims on his single “The Door.” Over the past decade, he’s worked with the likes of Harry Styles, Benson Boone, Maren Morris, Maroon 5, and Niall Horan, among many others.

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Ryan said, “I’m thrilled to be working with Ryan, Gabz, Katy, and the rest of the WCM team. They’ve been incredibly supportive of my songwriting since day one, and I am excited to begin this new chapter of my career as a Warner Chappell writer.”

Ryan landed his first big credit in 2012 on One Direction’s “Story of My Life,” which reached the Top 10 on the Billboard charts and has been streamed over a billion times. To date, his catalog has surpassed 30 billion streams, with Ryan collaborating on Carpenter’s “Feather,” “because i liked a boy,” and One Direction’s “Drag Me Down,” “Night Changes,” and “Steal My Girl.”

WCM President of North America, Ryan Press, added, “John’s career as a pop powerhouse is inevitable. The way he connects with artists and his songs resonate with listeners underscores that talent, and there are many more great songs to come.”

Pictured above (L-R): Katy Wolaver (WCM), John Ryan, Gabz Landman (WCM),  RyanPress (WCM), Damon Bunetta (Big Family)

+ Downtown Music (Downtown), an independent service provider to the global music industry, has today announced the promotion of David Driessen to Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

As CCO, Driessen will work to expand its global market share, and drive revenue across the company’s four divisions: publishing, distribution, artist and label services and royalties/financial services. Based in New York, he will continue to report to Pieter van Rijn, CEO of Downtown Music.

Driessen’s promotion is an expansion of his previous role as Downtown Music’s chief business officer where he played an integral role on the leadership team, driving growth and helping to maximize value for the company, its clients and partners. Previously, he served as chief commercial officer at FUGA, where he helped scale the company’s operations while overseeing overall commercial strategy.

Under Driessen, Downtown’s VP of product and services strategy — Harmen Hemminga — will oversee licensing by integrating it with Downtown’s first-mover product and services strategies.

+ Rimas Publishing has opened its new marketing division, headed by Christopher Hernández.

Hernández, who previously served as the licensing manager at Rimas Publishing up until 2022, will develop and execute marketing strategies to promote Rimas Publishing’s artists, projects and music catalog. His work will include collaborating with internal teams and external partners to increase audience engagement and maximize revenue opportunities.

In addition, Hernández will be responsible for creating engaging content for digital and traditional marketing channels, such as social media, email newsletters, advertising and promotional materials. He will also oversee the creation and execution of live events, showcases, and promotional activations to connect with fans and drive engagement.

Hernández is a member of the Recording Academy, the Latin Recording Academy and the Music Supervisors Guild. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Lusca Film Fest, where he contributes to the strategic evolution of the festival.

+ The Core Entertainment has hired Jackie Gomez and Brittani Johnson, who will work from the company’s Nashville office, as day-to-day managers.

“We are thrilled to welcome Brittani and Jackie to The Core Entertainment as day-to-day managers,” said Chief Zaruk and Simon Tikhman, co-founders and CEOs of The Core Entertainment. “Their multifaceted backgrounds and impressive track records in the music industry make them the perfect fit for our team. We’re excited for them to bring their expertise to the company, where they will play a key role in helping take our developing artists to the next level.”

Gomez joins The Core Entertainment with experience from the entertainment law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, P.C. Her journey in music officially began under the mentorship of David Massey, where she played a pivotal role in growing Arista Records. Most recently, Jackie served as Charlie Puth’s day-to-day manager at Friends at Work, where she also managed and worked as an A&R across a developing roster of artists.

In 2019, Johnson joined Big Loud as a promotion coordinator and quickly advanced to director of Southwest Promotion. As director, she played a key role in championing artists such as Morgan Wallen, Ashley Cooke, Hardy and Charles Wesley Godwin.

+ Soundstripe, a music and media licensing company, has entered a partnership with music AI technology partner DAACI.

The partnership will allow Soundstripe clients to customize songs from the company’s large music library, creating their own mixes and cuts of tracks. Soundstripe’s new AI Song Editing tool analyzes a song and instantly identifies its short, self-contained sections. Each of these sections sounds natural on its own or combined with others.

“Soundstripe is devoted to increasing the value of music by giving marketing creatives and producers more possibilities than ever within our catalog while ensuring they have total confidence to use their custom edits, because they remain recognizable and protected,” said Lauren Cutrell, VP of product at Soundstripe. “Our promise of protection means artists are always compensated for their work and content creators can be sure the music they use is properly licensed.”

“We’re so excited to partner with Soundstripe, and the collaboration to bring our tech to their users has been an incredible journey. Our tech, the patented DAACI ecosystem, was invented and developed to provide unique solutions for creators and rights holders, and Soundstripe’s approach to integrating AI aligns perfectly with our vision. This first phase brings DAACI Natural Edits to Soundstripe users across 140 countries and it’s just the beginning. There are fantastic times ahead, but for now I’d like to say thanks to all the team and welcome, Soundstripe!” added Ken Lythgoe, head of corporate development, DAACI.

Tuesday, Sept. 3

Republic Records has appointed Eddie Sears its new executive vice president of creative, as announced by Republic President and Chief Operating Officer Jim Roppo.

Sears will oversee the creative team, collaborating closely with the entire label roster with a focus on visual presentations, brand storytelling and artist development.

For nearly a decade, Sears was the creative director at Ultra Records, where he worked on projects for Benny Benassi and Steve Aoki, to name a few. Prior, he owned and operated his own creative agency based in Milan, Italy.

Roppo said, “Eddie doesn’t just dig into the music; he completely entrenches himself within each artist’s vision. He studies every detail and proactively devises a creative strategy befitting of that vision. His spirit, energy and creative expertise are unmatched, and I’m honored to welcome him to the Republic Records family.”

Sears added, “Nothing is as powerful as an idea. On a daily basis, our team builds ideas for our artists, and we do so with an entrepreneurial mindset. Jim Roppo, Monte and Avery Lipman know the importance of creative, and they’ve placed it at the forefront of Republic Records. Moreover, they’ve given us the latitude and support to really make an impact. It’s an honor to work with such an incredible team.”

+ BMI has named Martijn Tel Chief Financial Officer, reporting to president and CEO Mike O’Neill. Tel will additionally be a member of the company’s executive leadership team, based in BMI’s New York office.

“Martijn’s wealth of experience, particularly working with companies with ambitious growth plans, makes him a perfect fit for BMI now,” said O’Neill. “I look forward to working with him and our team as we continue to implement strategic initiatives designed to fulfill BMI’s mission to grow the value of music for our creators and copyright owners.”

Tel has extensive experience serving in senior financial positions at both public and private companies. Most recently, he was the chief financial officer of Gerson Lehrman Group, a global data and information services provider backed by the private equity firm SFW Capital Partners.

In his new position, Tel joins two other recently named executives on the BMI leadership team whose appointments were announced in July, Chief Technology Officer Tom Kershaw and Chief Transformation Officer Justin Rohde.

+ Sony Music Publishing has signed an exclusive worldwide co-publishing agreement with songwriter and producer Jeremy Stover, covering future works. Additionally, the company has acquired several songs from Stover and RED Creative Group including Tim McGraw’s “7500 OBO,” as well as Justin Moore’s “With A Woman You Love,” “We Didn’t Have Much” and “You, Me, And Whiskey.”

Stover’s current singles include Moore’s “This Is My Dirt” and Ashley McBryde’s “The Devil I Know,” as well as recent releases from Luke Combs, Priscilla Block and Travis Denning.

Sony Music Publishing Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston said, “Jeremy Stover is a master at crafting rural storytelling with sonic sophistication. His productions and songs overflow with heart and make you feel right at home as a listener. We are thrilled to be partnering with Jeremy and Red Creative and look forward to a bright and successful future together.”

Stover added, “I couldn’t be more excited to partner with my longtime friend Rusty and the incredible team at Sony. Telling stories through country music is what I love to do. This partnership will allow me to continue to do that at the highest level. Let’s get to work!”

+ Myst Music has announced a global distribution and label services deal with The Orchard.

Myst Music was co-founded by CEO Amrita Sen and company President Jay Kovitz in 2023 to showcase South Asian music to a global audience. Myst Music operates from its facilities in Los Angeles, offering product development strategies and services to their artists with German mixer, writer and producer Alex Winter and Korean electronic-pop producer Jake Jeong (Frison) on staff as part of the creative team.

Through this agreement, Myst Music artists will have access to The Orchard’s full suite of artist and label services, including its technology, marketing, promotion, rights management, sync licensing, advertising, and more. Sri Lankan musician, actress and model Jacqueline Fernandez will be the first musical offering through this new deal, with music scheduled for release in September.

+ Spotify is hosting a three-day educational event called “La Tierra de Música Mexicana” in Los Angeles featuring artists and industry leaders including DannyLux, Gabito Ballesteros, Oscar Maydon, Los Primos del Este, Alex Favela, Estevie and Ivonne Galaz.

Over the first two days, the event will offer a lineup of invite-only panels, masterclasses, and showcases tailored for industry professionals. For more information and to see the complete lineup, see here.

+ Norwegian indie labels, Propeller Recordings, Indie Recordings and 777 Music, have merged to form a new label group called Sounds Like Gold.

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway and partnerning with Virgin Music Group globally, Sounds Like God is being managed by the founders of Propeller Recordings, Indie Recordings and 777 Music to provide distribution, marketing, administration and creative support to teams working with artists like boy pablo, Highasakite, Gåte and Jan Eggum. Amongst the management team at Sounds Like Gold are 777 Music founders and former heads of Virgin Music Group’s Nordic operation Kristine Bjørnstad and Tim Dunham.

“This group of labels represent a powerhouse creative team of executives and artists in a very important region of the world,” said Nick Roden, co-president of Virgin Music Group Europe. “We are looking forward to working with them to grow their business in Norway and in the rest of the world over the coming months.”

“We are very excited to continue to build on an already close relationship with Virgin Music Group who have been a key partner for several of our labels in their development. Virgin’s new structure and vision is very aligned with our group’s goals of providing best in class artist partnerships,” said Bjørnstad, a managing partner of Sounds Like Gold.

Sounds Like Gold has also taken over operations of the record label Grappa and its affiliates. Grappa founder and Norwegian industry legend Helge Westbye is also joining the group as chairman of its board.

+ Tizita Makuria has been promoted to senior VP of A&R for Pulse Music Group. Makuria was previously VP of Pulse Music Group.

Makuria, a 2018 Variety Hitmakers honoree, was an integral part of the team involved in the very first signing to Pulse Records following its label launch, with the signing of chart-topper Tommy Richman to a creative joint venture between Pulse Records and Brent Faiyaz’s ISO Supremacy. The A&R team quickly hit the ground running and helped champion Richman’s single “Million Dollar Baby” to top global charts, now a massive single sitting at well over a billion streams.

Makuria’s direct roster of artists and writers includes Fallen, producer of “Roses” by Saint Jhn, Doja Cat’s “Gun” and “Go Off,” and “Sensational” for Chris Brown ft. Davido and Lojay, among many others. Makuria first joined Pulse Music Group in 2022 as VP of A&R. Prior to that Makuria worked as senior director of A&R for Artist Publishing Group (APG).

+ Independent distributor Idol, which provides artist and label services to its curated roster, has inked a global partnership with independent music imprint City Slang. Idol will handle digital distribution, digital marketing and audience development for City Slang’s frontline and releases worldwide.

The Berlin-based indie label will benefit from a digital marketing strategy supercharged via Idol’s specialist audience development teams and executed via Idol’s extensive global network. Idol will also apply analytical expertise, using state-of-the-art tools to monitor playlist additions and catalogue consumption.

As part of the deal, Idol will service Caribou’s upcoming album, “Honey,” due out on Oct. 4, as well as music from Efterklang, Faux Real, Jessica Pratt, Lambrini Girls, Los Bitchos and Sprints, and classic acts Calexico, Tindersticks and Lambchop.

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