INTERVIEW
to all of us for taking steps to ensure that level of diversity. That’s not the reality at most places. I think it’s going to take about 10 more years to have true equality at the upper echelons of the major music business, whether that’s labels, publishing companies, agencies, any of those entities. What advice would you give your younger self? The same advice my mom gave me when I was a kid: to do my best, but to make sure I’m living on a daily basis. I’d also tell myself not to be so hard on myself – but, being honest, I probably couldn’t live by that; I’m abysmal at it. Are you making room in your life for more fun now? Honestly? Balancing your professional life and your personal life is a constant struggle. I have a four and a half-year-old son and I constantly beat myself up about whether I spend enough time with him. You can’t have it all, not at the same time. It’s a fallacy. You can only do your best. My partner, the father of my child, who was in a band [Buckcherry] for 25 years, probably gets the shortest end of the stick out of anybody. We recently took a ski vacation together, with my best friend since fourth grade, her husband and their four kids. That was amazing and freeing and allowed me to check out and relax. If you had a magic wand to change anything about the music business, what would it be and why? That the industry, and all of us in it, can adapt to technological change quickly. Hopefully that’s evolving and we’ll be able to pivot as a business, when needed, faster than we have in the past. I’d also make sure that all women in this business were helping each other, because when we don’t, it does us all a disservice. The other thing I’d change goes back to the struggle of developing career artists today versus just breaking songs. My magic wand would somehow convince every person out there that they have to start paying attention to the whole artist. Though that would take a pretty damn impressive magic wand. n
‘No other major can navigate all of these different genres’ Capitol Music Group is a very sizable entity, with multiple sub-labels. As the head of operations at the company, Michelle Jubelirer lives this reality daily. Some would find it overwhelming but, she says, thanks to the company’s crack team, she thrives on it. She comments: “The vision that Lucian, Steve, and I developed for Capitol Music Group was that it would be a multiplicity of labels that would allow for extreme diversity of music, and for unprecedented flexibility in signings. And that’s really come to fruition. Ashley Newton [CMG President] has been invaluable in plotting our course, as well.” She points to a range of CMG artists like Halsey, Paul McCartney, Katy Perry, Migos, Sam Smith, Disclosure, Niall Horan, Illenium, Norah Jones, Beck, Maggie Rogers, Lewis Capaldi and Neil Diamond as proof. “Then, of course, there’s the resurgence of Motown, where Ethiopia Habtemariam has done such a great job, developing artists like BJ The Chicago Kid, Njomza and James Davis, as well as striking an incredible partnership with Quality Control. Plus Astralwerks, which has been revitalized as a completely electronic-leaning label under the leadership of Toby Andrews [General Manager] and [EVP] Jeremy Vuernick. They did such a great job with the Marshmello/Bastille single [Happier], with more to come from the likes of Illenium and Fisher.” Jubelirer also points to Blue Note under respected producer-cum-exec Don Was, whose roster includes Robert Glasper and Norah Jones, as well as Harvest, the in-house ‘indie’ label run by Jacqueline Saturn, which is now prepping new material from Banks, Donna Missal and Glass Animals. Saturn is also President of CMG’s services and distribution company Caroline, which Jubelirer calls “an obvious standout”, and whose US market share has doubled in the past year to 3.2%, thanks to successful releases from the likes of XXXTentacion, Trippie Redd and NF. Fresh Caroline releases have come from the likes of Mac DeMarco, while new partnerships have been inked with SM Entertainment for K-pop boyband NCT 127. Caroline partnered for NF with Capitol’s Nashville-based Capitol Christian Music Group, which has also built “an incredible business that leads its sector” with Hillsong United and many others, according to Jubelirer, who praises the leadership of Peter York, Brad O’Donnell and Hudson Plachy. Says Jubelirer. “We have the best team in the business, and it’s not just the label heads: we have people like our dedicated CFO, Geoff Harris, Mitra Darab and Robbie McIntosh who do a great job running our global marketing department, as well as our phenomenal head of publicity, Ambrosia Healy, and Greg Marella, who is killing it at promotion. Brian Nolan leads our brand and sync team [seventeenfifty] with one innovative idea after another, and no deal gets done without the tremendous contributions of our head of Business Affairs, Martha Braithwaite. Amber Grimes has recently joined our executive team and is already making a difference in our Streaming, Innovation and Content Creation areas.” She adds: “There really is no other major label group today that can navigate between all of those different genres so seamlessly and have this level of success within each of them.”
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