A&R Registry Report: Adam Herzog, Dante Ross Join Warner Bros., 2011 A&R Stats
There was a good amount of A&R activity recently in New York.
The Warner Bros. NYC-based A&R offices have two recent additions.
Adam Herzog (formerly A&R/touring of Glassnote), and Dante Ross (who signed Ol’ Dirty Bastard, MF Doom and Del the Funky Homosapien while with Elektra Records) have joined Warner Bros.
At Motown, artist/producer Ne-Yo, producer/songwriter/arranger/artist Rex Rideout, songwriter/producer/record exec. Ezekil Lewis, and Kendall Jackson have all joined the A&R roster.
Meanwhile, both J.R. Lindsey and Harley Werthemier of Columbia have moved to the LA offices from NY, as has Tom Mackay who moves to the LA office of Universal/Republic from NY.
Also in NY Alex Shenitsky exits Capitol, and Leslie Dweck exits Atlantic.
In reviewing the activity within the A&R Community from January thru December 2011, some interesting stats emerge:
There were 31 A&R Executives hired in 2011 (up from 23 in 2010, but down from the 58 hired in 09 or the 80 hired in 08) Another surprising stat was that there were 26 A&R moves (leaving one A&R job for another) in 2011 which was WAY up from only 10 in 2010 and 14 in 09. They include David Foster, Peter Thea, Jean Nelson, Nick Raphael, Ankur Malhotra Shari Reich, Stephen Ferrera, Alaska Gedeon, Jo Charrington, Shani Gonzales, Nick Burgess, Ricardo Fernandez and Colin Barlow, to name just a few.
Sadly, there were 36 A&R executives who exited their A&R positions in 2011 – down from 40 in 2010, 50 in 09, 64 in 08, and a staggering 129 in 07).
Of special note is the fact that out of those 36 A&R Executives who left their A&R positions in 2011, only 1 of them so far, has gotten another job in A&R – Shawn Holiday who is now Sr. VP A&R @ RCA. He was previously at Interscope until February.
In 2010, 40 A&R Executives exited their A&R positions at various labels and NOT ONE OF THEM HAD GOTTEN ANOTHER A&R JOB IN 2010. It’s Interesting to note that out of those 40 A&R Executives who exited their positions at labels in 2010 only Rob Stevenson got another A&R position at a label in 2011
Sadly, in going through the year, there was a tremendous amount of loss in 2011 of so many beloved Artists, Executives and others who have been such a rich and valuable part of our collective lives and music business careers.
They include such artists as Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Nick Ashford, Teena Marie, Captain Beefheart, Gill Scott-Heron, Phoebe Snow, Heavy D, Gerry Rafferty, Dobie Gray, Gary Moore, Sylvia Robinson, Dan Peek (America) Clarence Clemons, Nate Dogg, Film Composer John Barry, Songwriter Jerry Leiber, Jerry Ragovoy, and visionary executives such as Steve Jobs, Sony Chairman Norio Ohga and Don Kirshner, along with beloved Music Executives such as Steve Popovich, Grammy Telecast Producer John Cossette, Veteran A&R Executive Don Devito, Promotion and Artist Manager Frank Dileo, Warner Bros. GM Rich Fitzgerald, legendary recording engineer Roger Nichols, veteran publishing executives Barbara Orbison and Mickey Goldsen, as well as veteran music attorney Johanan Vigoda to name just a few of the many that we lost in 2011.
Our lives and musical heritage are the better for the contributions of those we have lost and we just wanted to take a moment to mark their passing as well as their contributions.
May you all have a great 2012.
Ritch Esra is Co-Publisher of the A&R Registry, which is published every eight weeks.
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