Proper, the United Kingdom’s largest independent physical distributor, is continuing plans for expansion into 2018, hiring three new team members across its London and Dartford offices and signing up new client New State Entertainment. Erika Brennan joins Proper as head of business and commercial affairs in a newly created role. Meanwhile, Sue Brown has been hired as royalties manager and Pete Dodge has been brought in to provide project management overview across a series of planned developments to the company’s existing services and systems.
"Having recently acquired catalogues from Zero 7, The Beloved, D:ream, Dirty Vegas and Paul Oakenfold via the recent Warner divestment, NewState Entertainment are starting a new chapter for these artists in revitalising their catalogues and are excited to be working with Proper Distribution putting physical product back into the market as part of this,” said NewState Entertainment A&R director Tim Binns in a statement.
Genius has made two additions to its artist relations department: Michael “Mikey Fresh” Yi and Andrés Tardio. Both come from experienced backgrounds, Yi having worked most recently as senior music editor at VIBE and Tardio having interviewed the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and more.
The initiative to expand the artist relations department is being led by the veteran music journalist Rob Markman, alongside artist relations associate Kayvan Daragheh.
Alibaba Group has made strategic changes to its management of key digital media and entertainment positions in order to deliver better user experiences for audiences in China. Yang Weidong, president of video-streaming hub Youku, has additionally been named president of Ali Music. Alibaba Pictures President Fan Luyuan is now also the president of live-event ticketing platform Damai.
The reshuffling is part of a multiphase “push for a unified entertainment strategy and stronger synergies,” said Alibaba.
“In the year and a half since Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group was established, all of the business units have strengthened and made advancements in their respective fields. And the digital media and entertainment matrix is on its way to fighting with stronger coordination,” added Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group CEO.
Former Alibaba Music and Damai President Zhang Yu will move to a new position within Alibaba Group, though that new role has not yet been announced.
Three new hires have been made at the ticketing and music discovery app Dice: former Coda agent Jason Edwards has joined as head of music U.K., former senior NME staff writer Leonie Cooper has filled the newly created role of editor and former Airbnb creative lead Patrick Duffy will now lead the creative team at Dice.
“Dice is becoming the most important platform for fans to discover and buy tickets to the best gigs, club nights and festivals,” said Dice CEO Phil Hutcheon in a statement. “Jason’s intelligence, insight and passion will help build artists, venues and promoters on the platform. Leonie’s one of our favourite writers and will bring expertise in creating stories to the large Dice community. And finally, Patrick’s creative background and leadership will help to propel Dice as a global brand. These new hires are joining Dice at an exciting time.”
