Big news today from Universal Music’s global artist services division Virgin Music Group.
On Thursday (October 19) Virgin Music Group announced a “global reorganization” of its business, with plans to integrate Ingrooves’ global platform and patented marketing technology with Virgin Music.
By doing this, Virgin Music Group says that it will “offer independent artists and labels a full suite of global services, providing expertise that is unparalleled in the music industry”.
The company has already begun to integrate operations globally among the teams in 32 countries, a process that will proceed over the coming months.
As the global independent music division of UMG, Virgin Music Group says that it is “expanding as a stand-alone organization, now under common Virgin branding, working within a proprietary global system that includes a unified infrastructure, platform, product suite, and team”.
Moving forward, Virgin Music Group will be organized into five key regions, with country leaders reporting to newly appointed regional leaders.
Jacqueline Saturn has been named President of Virgin Music Group North America, and EVP of Global Artist Relations.
Thomas Lorain and Nick Roden have been named Co-Presidents of Virgin Music Group Europe. UK President Vanessa Bosåen will continue to lead the UK market, and Jim Chancellor will run Fiction Records as a distributed label of Virgin Music Group.
Victor Gonzales has been named President of Virgin Music Group Latin America & Iberian Peninsula. Cris Garcia Falcão has been named Managing Director of Label & Artist Strategy and General Manager of Virgin Music Group Latin.
Nathan McLay has been named Managing Director of Virgin Music Group Australia & New Zealand. Managing Director Tim Janes will be focused on marketing international repertoire in the region.
Michael Roe has been named Managing Director of Virgin Music Group Africa, Middle East, and Asia (AMEA), focusing on fast-expanding growth markets.
In addition, Virgin Music Group has named a centralized global leadership team that it says “will focus on maximizing the impact of marketing, commercial, and operational initiatives around the world”.
- Jay Blomquist has been named Chief Technology Officer of Virgin Music Group.
- Jeremy Kramer has been named Executive Vice President of Global Marketing for Virgin Music Group, leading the company’s marketing strategy around the world.
- Joy Larocca has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Virgin Music Group.
- Liz Morentin has been named Senior Vice President of Global Communications and Brand Strategy for Virgin Music Group.
- Matt Sawin has been named Head of Global Product Strategy and Operations for Virgin Music Group.
- Nina Rabe-Cairns has been named Head of Global Growth Strategy for Virgin Music Group, and will be “working closely with global and local leadership to identify business opportunities and expand the company’s reach”.
- Zack Gershen has been named Executive Vice President of Global Commercial & Digital Strategy for Virgin Music Group.
The newly appointed global leadership team will report directly to Virgin Music Group Co-CEOs JT Myers and Nat Pastor.
“Together this executive team will provide independent artists and labels with a powerful global team to help them build their audiences around the world.”
Nat Pastor, Virgin Music Group
Nat Pastor, Virgin Music Group, Co-CEO, said: “As we continue to deepen our relationships within the growing independent music sector, each of these veteran executives will help to ensure that Virgin Music Group has the kind of global infrastructure and expertise that is nimble, efficient, and puts innovation and creativity at the center of everything we do.
“Together this executive team will provide independent artists and labels with a powerful global team to help them build their audiences around the world.”
“It is an enormously exciting time to be working in the independent sector of our business.”
JT Myers, Virgin Music Group
JT Myers, Virgin Music Group, Co-CEO added: “It is an enormously exciting time to be working in the independent sector of our business.
“In today’s market, visionary music entrepreneurs can be successful on a global scale if they have the right team and infrastructure to empower them.
“That’s what we are building at VMG, a company that combines the industry’s leading technology, brand identity, and executive expertise with unparalleled global scale in order to help our partners in the independent community to achieve their goals.”
The news arrives a year after Universal Music Group acquired mtheory Artist Partnerships, the label division of US music company mtheory, founded in 2010 by widely respected executives, JT Myers and Nat Pastor.
That deal effectively served as an ‘acqui-hire’, with mtheory’s founders being appointed as Co-CEOs of a new global division called Virgin Music Group that consolidates UMG’s artist services businesses.
As part of that consolidation, Ingrooves, the music distribution and marketing firm acquired by UMG in 2019, became a subsidiary of Virgin Music Group, alongside mtheory Artist Partnerships.
Virgin Music Label and Artist Services, which was launched by Universal in 2021, also fell under the new global division.Music Business Worldwide
