Samantha Kirby Yoh Named Co-Head of UTA Music

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLava Records founder Jason Flom (pictured above, right) has long been known as one of the most successful label heads and A&R reps of the past 30-odd years.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNew York-based publisher Round Hill Music is aiming to raise $375 million for its new royalty fund when it on the London Stock Exchange next month, according to reports in the U.K.’s Times and Music Business Worldwide.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn World Mental Health Day, Saturday, October 10, MusiCares is launching a new Wellness in Music survey. According to the announcement, this new annual survey will help the organization to assess the music community’s mental health and wellness to better inform MusiCares of the needs facing their clients.“As we settle into month seven of the global pandemic, MusiCares is asking music professionals with 5+ years of experience to share their honest realities,

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBritish soul singer Celeste has dropped the video for her new single “Hear My Voice,” via Interscope Records.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJay-Z and Meek Mill’s Reform Alliance announced today that it has bolstered its executive leadership team with the hiring of Janet Choi as Chief Content and Communications Officer.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorCamille Hearst has been named head of Spotify for Artists, the resource the streaming giant provides for artists and their teams to better understand and build their audiences via statistics, insights and other educational resources.In this new role, she will be responsible for managing a cross-functional team including product, tech, design, user research and more. Hearst is based in New York and reports to Charlie Hellman, the company’s VP and head of

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGoldenvoice, founder and producer of the Coachella Festival, has announced several social-justice initiatives including Black Lives Matter-inspired clothing by four Black designers based in California.The initiatives, launched by GV Black, an internal organization launched in 2017 to “guide the venues, festivals, and company forward in the mission to expand on racial justice work,” include:We commit to continuously evolve as a festival that not only speaks on

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJared Smith is stepping down as global chairman of Ticketmaster at the end of the year.Smith, 42, has been with the company for more than 17 years, although he was just promoted to chairman in August.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBack in February, Billie Eilish dropped “No Time to Die,” the theme song from the James Bond film of the same name.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTwitch, the livestreaming and gaming platform owned by Amazon, now offers users a way to avoid avoid copyright takedowns when using music, although it has not yet licensed by major labels.The platform on Wednesday announced the beta launch of Soundtrack by Twitch, a music-streaming service within the platform that includes more than a million songs by independent artists that users can employ in their livestreams, legally and free of charge, with all rights cleared.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorPrimary Wave Music Publishing and Lava Media have announced a new business relationship that sees Primary Wave making an investment in the Lava Media businesses, including the “Lava Music” and “Lava for Good” podcasts, and providing marketing and branding support for the podcasts as well as access to Primary Wave’s roster of artists and writers.In addition, Lava will work closely with Primary Wave on new publishing signings and catalog acquisitions and will

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLast week, Universal Music Group and its Task Force for Meaningful Change (in partnership with UMG’s °1824 and Diversity & Inclusion teams, Def Jam Forward, Interscope/Geffen/A&M and Republic Record’s Action Committee), launched a series of special programs and discussions in celebration of this year’s Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.The events are free and open to the public.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBarely half a day after Tory Lanez refuted Megan Thee Stallion’s allegations that he shot her via the lyrics in his surprise album “Daystar,” Megan’s team fired back with a claim that representatives for Lanez have attempted to stage a “smear campaign” against her in an effort to discredit her claims against him.The incident in question took place in Los Angeles on July 12, when Lanez was arrested for possession of a concealed firearm after being pulled over in a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen you love something — a person, a dessert, a hat, or in this case, an album — you tend to want more of it. Usually, in the case of albums, there are some leftover songs that are not-quite-as-good as the ones that made the cut, and occasionally there are great ones.

The agency world has been completely disrupted by COVID-19, but today's announcement that powerhouse agentSamantha Kirby Yohis leaving WME to joinDavid Zedeckas theco-head of UTA Music is the biggest game-changer to date in the representation space. The U.K.

Anthony D'Alessandro Editorial Director/Box Office EditorFormer WME Head of East Coast Music Samantha Kirby Yoh has joined UTA Music as co-head. She’ll work together with David Zedeck in leading the firm’s worldwide music operations.“Sam and David see eye-to-eye on how to build a great music business and will be strong partners in leading UTA Music,” said UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorC.J. Strock, formerly of William Morris Endeavor, joins Patrick McAuliff and Phil Egenthal, formerly of Paradigm Talent Agency to form Mint Talent Group, the new company announced early Tuesday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTomorrow — Tuesday, Sept. 22 — is National Voter Registration Day and the HeadCount non-profit organization is leading a coordinated music industry effort involving hundreds of artists, concert venues, and digital platforms.For starters, more than 300 notable musicians will post messages and photos on their social media wearing “VOTE” masks and a call for followers to register to vote or check their voter registration status.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs the first major pandemic awards show, the 2020 Emmys were fascinating and numbing, joyous and sad, unprecedented in most ways and, to our lockdown-dulled senses, all too familiar in others.While Jimmy Kimmel made many jokes about the situation in his audience-less (and thankless) role as host, if there was one person who made the viewing audience feel like she was performing in an arena filled with people, it was Grammy-winning R&B singer H.E.R., who delivered a

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSO. MANY.