Billboard Power 100 Includes Borchetta, Dungan, Esposito but Shows Nashville’s Place in Music
9 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Billboard Power 100 Includes Borchetta, Dungan, Esposito but Shows Nashville’s Place in Music
When you live in Nashville and you keep hearing about how it is “Music City,” it is sometimes easy to forget that the real top music industry power brokers are still elsewhere. Billboard’s annual Power 100 list is a great reminder of just who are the men and (still depressingly few) women behind the curtain.
For the first time, the list is lead by Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group. The company’s biggest strengths: breaking new artists and music distribution. In 2014, UMG gauged the market just right and was responsible for the runaway success of Iggy Azalea, 5 Seconds of Summer, Ariana Grande and Sam Smith. The group was also behind the biggest selling album: Taylor Swift‘s 1989.
President and CEO of Live Nation, Michael Rapino, lands at #2. Live Nation’s former Chairman, the most powerful entertainment lawyer and manager, and current Chairman and CEO of Azoff MSG Entertainment, Irving Azoff, completes the top 3.
Nashville’s biggest players?
Big Machine Label Group President and CEO, Scott Borchetta ranks at #23. He oversees a roster which includes radio and touring power acts such as Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Brantley Gilbert, Eli Young Band, Justin Moore, and The Band Perry, while also taking chances on new acts like The Cadillac Three, A Thousand Horses, and Levi Hummon. 2014 also saw the birth of NashICON Music, which will release a new Reba album this year.
Mike Dungan, who became Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Nashville after 12 years of running Capitol Nashville, moves up to #33. After UMG acquired EMI Music, and thereby also Capitol Nashville, Dungan now controls the biggest music marketshare in Nashville. In 2014, he oversaw the success of the best selling country album, Eric Church‘s The Outsiders.
Live Nation’s President of Country Music Touring, Brian O’Connell, appears at #39. In 2014, he had a hand in some of the biggest tours, including Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, and he further developed the Faster Horses Festival.
President and CEO of Warner Music Nashville, John Esposito, made big changes at the label in recent years. The result? Increasing marketshare and breaking new artists like Hunter Hayes, Frankie Ballard, and Brett Eldredge. He enters this list at #66.
Clarence Spalding earned his #76 place by joining Maverick, the group of managers lead by Guy Oseary. His biggest client is Jason Aldean, who will hit the road with Kenny Chesney in 2015. Spalding will also work on the much anticipated reunion of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn during Brooks’ run in Las Vegas.
What is clear from this Power 100 is that the big players of the “digital age” are the same as they ever were – the big record label groups with Universal at the top, along with top promoters like Live Nation and AEG Live, and media conglomerates like Cumulus and CBS.
But young companies with new business models, such as Spotify, Morris Higham Management, and Kobalt, are starting to appear in lists like this, and are starting to affect wider change.
And don’t let the cover photo of Lucian Grainge with Lana Del Rey and Kanye West give a different impression. When you look at this list, you’ll learn that the music industry is still run by middle-aged, or older, white men.
But thankfully that is changing too. Slowly.
Liv Carter
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
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