08/16/10
Director of Events Patrick Moore was an honoree for Billboard’s 2010 Power Players: 30 Under 30.
POWER PLAYERS: 30 UNDER 30
August 21, 2010
Billboard Staff
Billboard’s Power Players special feature 30 Under 30 recognizes rising young executives who are driving our business forward with their artistic and business vision. In five previous annual features, 30 Under 30 has spotlighted numerous 20-something executive stars to watch. (Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, then 23, was featured in 2007.)
This year, once again, you helped create this list. Our readers submitted nearly 200 nominations at Billboard.biz. Then a team of Billboard editors reviewed every eligible nomination and numerically ranked the nominees according to their achievements in the past 12 months and the nominees’ leadership within the broader industry, as described in their nomination. The alphabetical 30 Under 30 list here represents the collective wisdom of Billboard’s editors.
As in previous years, it’s notable that many of this year’s honorees are heading their own companies, often in the digital or branding space. Many others are in the touring business, which has proved to be one of the more resilient music industry sectors.
While certainly many outstanding young executives did not make our list, the nominations we received affirmed the wealth of talent rising through the music business, a strong sign of promise for the years ahead.
This year’s 30 Under 30 list:
Josh Arnold
Entertainment manager, Best Buy
Josh Arnold, 29, has managed local buying at 120 Best Buy stores throughout the Southwest for titles passed on by the Best Buy central buying office in Richfield, Minn. But as his title suggests, Arnold is more than a buyer. He’s coordinated high-profile, in-store appearances by artists throughout his region. Arnold says the chain lands the best in-stores, because “we have the ability to offer more than what the artists can get at our competitors.” And since Arnold is based in Los Angeles, he has often served as the face of Best Buy in that entertainment capital. Although Best Buy, at press time, reported plans to phase out its eight entertainment manager positions nationwide, Arnold seems likely to take on another role at the chain. “It takes a special person to be able to support and manage the demands of corporate America and the entertainment industry,” says Cyndi Bloom, former Best Buy director of entertainment, who nominated Arnold for the 30 Under 30 list. “Josh has proven a name for himself and is viewed by his peers as a reliable partner in many successful initiatives and promotions.”
Josh Briggs
Director of membership for pop/rock, ASCAP
Josh Briggs, 28, plays a key role at ASCAP, from signing new songwriters to helping the organization set up its songwriting workshops, camps and conferences, including the annual Create Music EXPO. He moderates and participates in panels at various trade shows and seminars and also speaks at colleges about ASCAP. The artists, songwriters and producers that Briggs has signed to ASCAP include the Temper Trap, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Fitz & the Tantrums, the Henry Clay People, Local Natives, Luke Walker, Christian TV, NeverShoutNever, the Entrance Band, Switch, Tim Anderson, Active Child and Drew Seeley. Briggs is also involved in the Art of Elysium’s “Elysium Sessions” series, a charity venture that encourages artists and musicians to give lessons and workshops on how to write lyrics or play songs and donate time to children’s hospitals.
Josh Builder
VP of product development and operations, the Orchard
Josh Builder, 28, joined the Orchard in 2006 and oversees product strategy, product technology design and content management and delivery. He played a key role in setting up the Orchard’s mobile retail operation in Asia. That success led to an exclusive licensing and merchandising partnership with China Telecom. Closer to home, Builder helped build V.E.C.T.O.R., the Orchard’s proprietary content ingestion system (allowing the upload of files) as well as its distribution infrastructure, which distributes more than 2 million music tracks and 5,000 hours of video content to more than 750 Internet and mobile retail outlets worldwide. The result: annual revenue of $62 million. “Building one of our industries’ leading Internet and mobile content distribution networks is the achievement I am most proud of up to this point,” he says. Builder also serves on the board of the Digital Data Exchange, an organization dedicated to developing and maintaining communications standards to support the digital distribution of content globally.
Ben Cockerham
CFO/chief strategy officer, RightsFlow
Music licensing and royalty payment service provider RightsFlow is a company on the move, led by co-founders Ben Cockerham, who acts as CFO/chief strategy officer, and Patrick Sullivan, who is president. It reported revenue that was up 405% in first-quarter 2010, compared with the same period of 2009, while the number of clients has grown from 1,500 to 10,000. Cockerham, 29, has guided the company into background music, international rights clearance and reporting, master clearance, mobile clearance and user-generated content clearance. As RightsFlow has grown, Cockerham has helped shape industry discussions of copyright in the digital age. A graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business, Cockerham met Sullivan at eMusic, where they conceived RightsFlow. “We thought there had to be a simpler way to license music and pay royalties,” he says. “And, lo and behold, there was.”
Karimah Day
President/COO,
Sir Groovy
Karimah Day, 29, not only helped found the Sir Groovy music synch licensing company, she also collaborated on the software that allows TV, film, ad and game creators to search the firm’s 12,000-song database to find the right music for their projects. Day had been a partner in the boutique investment firm Radical Funds in San Francisco when she and Radical’s founder, Vic Sarjoo, co-launched Sir Groovy in beta form in October 2009. The site represents 300 labels in nonexclusive arrangements and soon will have their total repertoire of 50,000 songs in its database. Users can search using “sounds like” buttons, and Day says the software thinks like a music buyer. Day began her music career working at Roc-a-Fella in its Rocawear merchandising line. She says Sir Groovy’s link to indie-label catalogs and ability to license masters as well as synch rights gives it an advantage over competitors. In the past 12 months, the company says, it has signed up clients including ABC, CBS, NBC, Viacom, Nickelodeon, MTV, Will Ferrell, ESPN, Malibu Rum, Amstel Light, AT&T, Young & Rubicam and Nintendo.
Priya Dewan
U.S. label manager, Warped Records
Globe trotter Priya Dewan, 28, an Indian citizen born in the Philippines and raised in Singapore, has helped take Warp Records from relative obscurity in the United States to a position as one of the leading indie tastemakers. “I am extremely proud and grateful to Steve Beckett, the owner of Warp, for trusting me in this position of running Warp’s North American operation at such a young age and being given this great opportunity with all the responsibility it entails,” she says. “My proudest moment in this position was definitely the No. 8 debut of Grizzly Bear’s ‘Veckatimest’ on [the Billboard 200], as that was my first major commercial success as label manager and a first for Warp in the U.S.” Dewan also helped negotiate two lucrative distribution deals for the label in the United States and Canada and hosted Warp20, a series of concerts and screenings celebrating the label’s 20th anniversary. She is also an active member of the American Assn. of Independent Music and is expected to be elected to the organization’s board in the near future.
Kristina Grossman
A&R coordinator, Universal Republic Records;
Founder, Rock for Health
Kristina Grossman, 24, came straight out of Northeastern University to Universal Republic’s A&R department and has already signed a number of acts, including the Limousines, Atomic Tom, Hit the Lights and Stephen Jerzak, all of which are due to release albums later in 2010 or in 2011. She also does the day-to-day A&R for the entire Universal Republic roster, working with such acts as Owl City, Anberlin, Damian Marley & Nas, Lil Jon, Godsmack, Jack Johnson, the Lonely Island and Enrique Iglesias. Grossman founded the nonprofit Rock for Health in 2007 to advocate for health and preventative care for musicians. To date, the organization has helped more than 300 bands secure health coverage. “One of my favorite nicknames that I have acquired is ‘health-care angel,’ ” she says. “It’s an honor to be able to help keep musicians healthy that risk their lives to create art for the world. Nothing compares to the feeling you get when someone tells you that you helped save their lives.”
Brittany Hodak
Account supervisor of entertainment, Fathom Communications
Brittany Hodak, 26, has boosted Fathom Communications’ entertainment marketing business by more than 25%, says Marcus Peterzell, Fathom’s managing director for entertainment marketing. Her clients have included Johnson & Johnson, LG and Navistar. With Walmart and Condé Nast, she launched a multimillion-dollar, cross-platform marketing campaign. That initiative included two special editions of Self magazine, with one distributed at Lilith Fair by tour sponsor Johnson & Johnson, and also a CD with 15 Lilith artists, sold exclusively at Walmart. Also this year, Hodak executed an on-pack promotion for o.b., Stayfree and Carefree products, placing digital download codes on 1.5 million packages. Hodak’s activities have also included securing synch licenses for national TV ad campaigns for brands including Brita, Kingsford, Navistar and Hasbro.
Fay Hoyte
Marketing manager, Virgin Records U.K.
Fay Hoyte, 29, has brought the “Good Times” to Virgin U.K.—literally. That No. 1 U.K. hit by Roll Deep has sold 297,000 units, according to the Official Charts Co. Hoyte was the product manager for the campaign, focusing on video channels where the track first took off. She also worked on another 2010 U.K. No. 1, Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.” Recruited from Ministry of Sound by Virgin president Shabs Jobanputra, Hoyte oversees a roster that includes Empire of the Sun and Deadmau5. She liaises with Deadmau5’s management on many aspects of his 360-degree deal, not just recordings. “It’s refreshing to find other ways to get to the fans,” she says.
Laura Hutfless
Music sponsorship
executive, Creative Artists Agency
Laura Hutfless, 28, has driven partnerships between Creative Artists Agency’s Nashville artists and national brands, including Zac Brown Band and Ram Trucks, Martina McBride and Sunny D, Jewel and Country Financial, and Rodney Atkins and Kraft’s Velveeta Shells & Cheese brand. All focus on exposure for the artist and connection for the brands to their fans. “Letters for Lyrics” is a multimillion-dollar cause marketing program that allows fans who write letters to U.S. soldiers to exchange them at Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram Truck dealerships for a “Breaking Southern Ground” CD featuring Zac Brown Band and others. Hutfless credits the “diversity and depth” of the CAA roster, along with the agency’s “team approach,” for the success of these deals. “I love the challenge of creating customized multifaceted artist/brand partnerships and the reward of seeing them come to life on a national level,” she says.
Jamal Jimoh
GM, Ncredible Entertainment
Before assuming the post of GM at Nick Cannon’s Ncredible Entertainment in June, Jamal Jimoh, 29, served as director of digital media at Island Def Jam. Launched under his watch: IDJ’s Teen Island division, focused on developing digital and lifestyle marketing for Justin Bieber and others. In his new post, Jimoh oversees TV and film development, strategic partnerships and branding ventures involving Cannon as well as Ncredible’s stable of young artists. That roster includes Def Jam’s Aaron Fresh and Young Money’s Cory Gunz, whose new MTV reality show, “Son of a Gun,” is shooting now. “To be given the reins of a burgeoning entertainment company is exciting,” Jimoh says. “I’m in a place where I can tailor as well as sell the experience—instead of just selling the product itself.”
Natalie Judge
European label manager, Matador Records
Natalie Judge, 26, is helping Matador Records build a European presence to rival its U.S. profile. She scored a notable success last year with Sonic Youth’s “Eternal,” which sold some 75,000 copies across Europe, including U.K. sales of 13,000, which exceeds the sales of the band’s last major-label release, 2006’s “Rather Ripped” (Geffen), according to the Official Charts Co. Judge also has signed Esben & the Witch, Matador’s first non-North American act in a decade and the first step toward building a European roster. Judge herself, however, is most proud of her work with Fucked Up, whose “The Chemistry of Common Life” album has sold more than 6,000 units in the United Kingdom, according to the OCC. “Not bad for a band with zero radio play and a name that most publications can’t even print,” she quips.
Scott ‘DJ Skee’ Keeney
DJ/founder, Skee.TV
Scott “DJ Skee” Keeney, 26, started off as a DJ when he was a teenager in Minneapolis and moved to Los Angeles at the behest of Loud Records/SRC founder Steve Rifkind. He caught the executive’s eye by giving him a business memo “telling him what he was doing wrong,” Keeney recalls with a laugh. Keeney now DJs for KIIS Los Angeles and for his four Sirius XM Radio shows, as well as running multimedia music/marketing/production site Skee.TV. In the past year, he’s produced videos for Snoop Dogg and Chris Cornell, as well as originating marketing campaigns for Daimler-Chrysler and T-Mobile. “Sales are down and people are down on the biz, but I’m more excited than ever,” Keeney says. “It’s times like this—when the music industry sees road blocks—that it’s time for innovation.”
Lucy Kozak
Music marketing executive, Creative Artists Agency
Lucy Kozak, 26, works with promoters, labels, managers, sponsors and venues to create strategic tour marketing opportunities for Creative Artists Agency clients. Kozak has played a key role in marketing and ticketing recent tours by Alice in Chains, Chickenfoot, Cobra Starship, Disturbed, Imogen Heap, Jeff Beck, Katy Perry, REO Speedwagon, 30 Seconds to Mars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many others. Her work with Chickenfoot led to a gold-certified debut sold exclusively at Best Buy and a sold-out 40-date tour. “I learned early on the power of knowing who your fans are,” she says, “and it’s great to be part of a team that is passionate about using this knowledge creatively.”
Imran Majid
Director of A&R, Universal Republic Records
Imran Majid, 28, has overseen more than 30 recent recording projects, including albums by India.Arie, Jay Sean, Kevin Rudolf, K’Jon, Spose, Savage and DJ Class. All told, Majid’s projects have a combined album sales total near the 1 million mark in the last year, Universal Republic reports. Not too shabby for a man who was an intern five years ago. Imran also participates in events to boost awareness of South Asians in the entertainment industry. “I also want to grow in my role as not just an A&R,” he says, “but as a pivotal executive within our label.”
Maggie Martin
Manager of music resources for the West, EMI Music Publishing
Maggie Martin, 27, upped her game in the past year by handling EMI’s relationship with “American Idol,” increasing EMI’s catalog presence on the show by 33% last year. Martin was key “in helping bring the [“Idol”] Motown episode to fruition,” EMI Group CEO Roger Faxon says. Martin attended the Berklee College of Music intending to be an artist but earned a degree with a focus on songwriting and music business studies. “I went to Berklee thinking I wanted to be an artist,” she says, “but I decided it would be a lot better to be on the business side.”
Beth Mason Laird
Director of writer/publisher relations, BMI Nashville
As a college intern, Beth Mason Laird witnessed a Keith Urban studio session that inspired her: “That’s when I fell in love with the music business,” she says. Roles at BMG and Windswept Music led her to BMI. Laird, 28, has made BMI a key partner with Belmont University, has signed numerous writers and launched the showcase series BMI Buzz at the Baseman and East Side Sounds. BMI Nashville VP of writer/publisher relations Jody Williams says, “Beth’s enthusiasm and business acumen have contributed to the success of BMI’s Nashville writer/publisher department, further solidifying BMI’s leadership role in the Nashville music community.”
Alexander Ljung
Founder/CEO, SoundCloud
SoundCloud founder/CEO Alexander Ljung, 28, says he wants his company, which launched in 2007, to do for music files and musicians what Flickr did for photos and photographers. Given the service’s rising popularity, that’s an apt comparison. “The growth has been phenomenal,” he says. “We’ve gone from unknown to one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing audio platforms in 18 months.” The Berlin-based service, which provides tools for musicians to share and collaborate on the Web, now has more than 1.3 million registered users. In addition, 80-plus apps have been built on top of the platform, which allows SoundCloud users to connect their accounts to creations across several applications and websites. SoundCloud received the 2010 digital artist tool of the year award from MusicWeek and was the new business winner at MIDEM 2009.
Patrick Moore
Director of events, MAC Presents
Patrick Moore, 27, made his mark as on-site sponsorship coordinator for the 2007 Tim McGraw/Faith Hill Soul2Soul tour, then worked with the sponsors of McGraw’s Live Your Voice tour a year later. But Moore is also responsible for a majority of MAC’s bookings, including Vanderbilt’s annual two-day Rites of Spring concert. MAC Presents president Marcie Allen commends Moore for his work ethic and ability to deal with high-profile artists: “I can always count on Patrick to get the job done well, no matter how challenging the task at hand may be.”
Brian Nolan
Senior director of rhythm promotion, Columbia/Epic Label Group
Brian Nolan, 29, joined Sony in 2005 as associate director of rhythm mixshows, advancing to his current post last summer. Beyond helping lead the charge at radio for Beyoncé (six top 10 singles) and other Columbia/Epic acts, Nolan has parlayed his love of sports into a lucrative marketing franchise for the group. Two of his biggest gets: booking John Legend as a co-host on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” and locking in Train to perform before Major League Baseball’s 2010 Home Run Derby. “I’ve been blessed to work with people who allowed me to grow,” Nolan says. “They encouraged my entrepreneurial mind-set.”
Andrew Prince
VP of operations, Venue Coalition; director of operations, Apregan Group
During the past year, Andrew Prince, 29, has booked more than 100 concerts that grossed $25 million-plus and sold 412,000 tickets for the arena members of Venue Coalition. Working with promoter Jeff Apregan, Prince played a key role in the development of the coalition, a consortium of venues in smaller and midsize markets, and Apregan gave him the “green light to grow the company” during the 2006 Billboard Touring Conference. “And since 2006 we represent over 50 arenas throughout North America,” Prince notes.
Billie Jean Sarullo
Director of Marketing, RED
Billie Jean Sarullo, 26, started RED’s online marketing department in 2007 and has overseen its growth as a division with its own identity, Stache Media. It now handles all online publicity, advertising and social media marketing for RED’s labels and outside clients including C3 Presents, Record Store Day and Spin magazine. Last year, Sarullo moved into her role as Red marketing director, where she oversees festival marketing and all retail marketing initiatives, including promotions with Walmart, Best Buy and Hot Topic. “These promotions have given us an advantage over the competition and are key to why labels come to—or stay—at RED,” senior marketing VP Tony Bruno says. “Our labels constantly come to Billie Jean as an authority on many aspects of marketing, both on and offline.” Sarullo also launched the company’s lifestyle representative program, which consists of 50 college reps who are compensated with college credits.
Seth Seigle
Music agent, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment
Shortly after Conan O’Brien announced in January that he’d be leaving NBC, New York-based Seth Seigle, 29, was spearheading the comedian’s successful 42-date outing, the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television tour. Within days, Seigle was in contact with O’Brien’s TV agent at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, explaining how the talk show host is “basically a rock star and should really be out there to embrace the fans,” Seigle recalls. “Lo and behold, it resonated with Conan and his team.” A graduate of George Washington University, Seigle began his career at Evolution Talent in 2002. Two years later he joined William Morris as the assistant to agent Sam Kirby and was promoted to agent in 2005. Seigle now books tours for such acts as Rufus Wainwright, Melody Gardot, Ben Lee and Alberta Cross.
Naveen Selvadurai
Co-founder, Foursquare
With software engineering stints at Nokia, Sun Microsystems and even four years at Sony Music Entertainment, Naveen Selvadurai, 28, found his true calling as co-founder of one of the hottest Internet startups in the market today—Foursquare. While not specifically designed as a music app, Foursquare’s unique mix of social networking and mobile-based geo-location capabilities holds great potential for artists, concert promoters and venue owners. It can help drive traffic to their stages and encourage fan interaction by motivating users to seek new experiences. “The live experience of music is becoming more important as physical sales decline,” says Noah Vadnai, VP of mobile at VH1, which recently struck a partnership with Foursquare. “This is a great way for us to create that inspiration to go see your favorite bands live. Connecting people to the venues in their city or when they’re traveling, that’s something we want to enforce.” Reporting 1 million users and fresh off a new funding round that garnered $20 million, Selvadurai is now leading Foursquare’s redesign, expected this month. He’s been named to Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People” list, Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s “Best Young Technology Entrepreneurs” and “America’s Coolest Young Entrepreneurs” by Inc.com.
Dave Shapiro
Booking agent, the Agency Group
Dave Shapiro, 26, booked Rob Halford of Judas Priest on Ozzfest this summer but also nurtures his younger acts. Chiodos sold out 2,000-capacity rooms, then supported Linkin Park, while its album, “Bone Palace Ballet,” debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. Shapiro also reps A Day to Remember, the Devil Wears Prada and Attack Attack! He booked 10 clients on the Vans Warped tours this year and last, and also launched, with Outer Loop Management, Scream It Like You Mean It, a festival tour in 1,000- to 2,000-capacity rooms. “Working creatively with other agents and managers allows me to always be thinking about the next step for each artist,” he says. “The Agency Group is a place that really embraces this mind-set.”
Matthew Siegel
Co-CEO/co-founder, Indaba Music
Matthew Siegel, 27, and partner Dan Zaccagnino have built Indaba Music as an online music collaboration site that has drawn the likes of Mariah Carey, the Crystal Method, John Legend, Alkaline Trio and Har Mar Superstar. More than 500,000 artists belong to the Indaba community and, at any one time, there are 400,000 active projects taking place. In April, the company unveiled an application that made it easier for users to record, edit and mix audio for free. Siegel and his team want to add more tools to make Indaba a one-stop-shop for creating, promoting and distributing music. “Our focus is really singular on building the most valuable, usable collection of tools and services for musicians,” he says.
Kelly Strickland
Marketing manager, Live Nation
Kelly Strickland, 28, develops and carries out North American tour marketing campaigns at Live Nation for global touring artists. She’s worked with such acts as Fleetwood Mac, Mötley Crüe, the Fray, New Kids on the Block, Jay-Z, Maxwell, Rihanna and Jack Johnson, as well as such festivals as Lilith Fair and Crüe Fest 2. She oversees multimillion-dollar ad campaigns across media channels, executes promotions across multiple formats and markets tours with ticket sales and grosses that exceed 1.8 million and $132 million, respectively. “Every artist and tour is different,” Strickland says. “I work closely with management and key stakeholders to [convey] the appropriate message for that artist. I focus on the fan and how I can make them aware their favorite band is touring.”
Seb Webber
VP of A&R, XL Recordings
Seb Webber, 25, moved from London last year to head the West Coast office of XL Recordings, whose roster includes Vampire Weekend, Thom Yorke, M.I.A. and the White Stripes. “I help oversee everything that we do in New York and London and try to connect it on a West Coast level,” he says, noting his work with artists in the studio. In recent years, Webber has helped A&R albums by M.I.A., Adele and the Cool Kids, among others. But his accomplishments haven’t been limited to the recorded-music space. He also co-founded direct-to-consumer presale ticketing company CrowdSurge in 2007 and manages the careers of such DJ/producers as Rusko, N.A.S.A. and Sam Spiegel (aka Squeak E. Clean).
Daniel Weisman
Principal, Elitaste
For Daniel Weisman, 28, his love for music grew from his use of technology. “I went to a New England prep school with a T1 connection and I was discovering music in AOL chat rooms,” Weisman says. “By becoming fans of so many other artists that way, it lead me to realize the single-driven formula has come and gone.” By 2009, Weisman was a manager, signing Wale to a deal with Allido Records and Interscope, and licensing his music to TV shows and videogames. He signed Mike Posner to his management and marketing company Elitaste and led the artist to RCA Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and linked him with brands like Oakley, Red Bull and Nokia.
Alex White
CEO, Next Big Sound
Boulder, Colo., doesn’t exactly top the list of music business hubs. But that’s where former Universal Music Group intern Alex White, 24, is launching Next Big Sound. A product of the city’s Techstars incubation program, Next Big Sound provides data and analytics to artists and labels to track the effectiveness of their social media campaigns. “Anyone I’ve talked to who has seen Next Big Sound’s new Premier product has said they’re the most exciting new music industry apps of the year,” Topspin CEO Ian Rogers says. The idea came from White’s experience handling tour management and social media for Epitaph recording act Sing It Loud; he couldn’t tell where he was getting the most bang for his buck. “We provide data so decisions are made based on data and what works rather than what’s been done before,” he says.