Music Industry Moves: Chingy Signs With Kinkead Entertainment Agency
Chingy has signed with Kinkead Entertainment Agency for representation in all areas, including touring, film, television, music, voiceover and private engagements. The St. Louis, Missouri native has seen a string of hit songs, including “Right Thurr,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 100 in 2003, “Holidae In” and “One Call Away,” and has appeared in several TV series including “My Wife and Kids,” “One on One,” “George Lopez,” “Yo Momma,” and in the movies “Scary Movie 4” and “Speed Dating.” He got his start as an opening act for Nelly in 2002 and would later be mentored by Ludacris and his manager, Chaka Zulu.
Says Bob Kinkead, CEO of The Kinkead Entertainment Agency: “Chingy is a singular talent who transcends genres and all facets of entertainment. We are thrilled to represent Chingy in every facet of the business to find unique opportunities connecting him to audiences and consumers.”
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Chingy is represented by Scott Adkins for publicity and artist management.
Bun B, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, David Banner and Nate Dogg are among the artists who have appeared on remixes and features on Chingy projects.
Wednesday, Sept. 15
Wasserman Music, Casey Wasserman’s newly minted agency, has promoted five agents: Amanda Ilgunas, Paige Maloney and Lauren Marker, as well as brand partnership agents Edenized Perez and Mallory Smith. Additionally, the company welcomes two new tour marketing directors to its team with the hires of Stephanie Gherini and Mika Posecion.
<img class="wp-image-1235065910 size-large" src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Wasserman-Music-promotions-and-hires-7-across.jpg?w=1024" alt=". - Credit: Courtesy Wasserman Music" width="1024" height="228" srcset="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Wasserman-Music-promotions-and-hires-7-across.jpg 4500w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Wasserman-Music-promotions-and-hires-7-across.jpg?resize=150,33 150w, https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Wasserman-Music-promotions-and-hires-7-across.jpg?resize=300,67 300w" sizes="(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px" />Courtesy Wasserman Music
“We take great pride in developing strong careers for our colleagues, as well as for our clients,” said EVP & Managing Executive Lee Anderson. “Amanda, Paige, Lauren, Edenized and Mallory have grown into outstanding professionals, and we’re honored to welcome them to our agent team. The addition of Stephanie and Mika to our exceptional tour marketing team represents a big step forward in Wasserman’s ability to empower and guide our clients’ touring careers.”
Ilgunas, based in San Francisco, started her career as a receptionist at Paradigm Talent Agency and worked her way through the ranks at the agency (whose music division was acquired by Wasserman this year). She then joined Paradigm’s partner agency AM Only. She represents Dom Dolla, Charlotte de Witte, DJ Seinfeld, NALA and others.
Maloney, based in Nashville, began her career as an administrator at Live Nation in Philadelphia before joining Paradigm in 2015. Her client roster includes Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Black Pumas, Brett Dennen, Noah Kahan, Elizabeth Cook, Katie Pruitt and more.
Marker, based in Los Angeles, joined WME in 2018 as agent Brent Smith’s booking assistant before moving to Wasserman Music alongside Smith earlier this year; she continues to work with him as an agent.
Perez, based in New York, joined AM Only as a receptionist and then Paradigm’s brand partnerships team with agent Anthony DiStasio; Smith, also based in New York, was previously at Warner Records and joined Paradigm alongside Chief Marketing Officer Lori Feldman in 2019.
Stephanie Gherini, based in Nashville, and Mika Posecion, based in L.A., both join Wasserman Music as directors of tour marketing. Gherini spent five years in tour marketing for the touring division at Live Nation’s Los Angeles headquarters, while Posecion joins following five and a half years at WME.
+ Beatclub, the growing marketplace of beats, loops, sounds, acapellas and demos offering contributions from top music creators like J. Cole, Mike Dean, Cash Money AP, Tommy Brown, Jozzy, Illmind, Larrance Dopson, Federico Vindver, Boogz, Tainy and Mike WiLL Made-It, has been invited to join the IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator. A mentorship program for startups, Beatclub, which was co-founded by Timbaland and his longtime manager Gary Marella, marks the first music-tech venture to receive the prestigious invitation for the fourth annual confab.
+ WME has hired Bailey Greenwood as an agent in the electronic music department, based in Beverly Hills. She joins the agency after almost a decade at Liaison Artists and is part of WME’s rapidly growing electronic dance music division, which Stephanie LaFera joined the company to lead in March 2020.
+ L.A.-based singer-songwriter Drumaq has signed with ICM Partners for global representation. He released his latest single, “Claim,” with Olivia O’Brien, last week, the second from his forthcoming debut EP “D.I.Y.” due on Snafu/AWAL. Drumaq has collaborated with O’Brien, G-Eazy, and Ant Clemons.
+ Shore Fire Media has named Brian Giglio senior media strategist, based in the company’s Brooklyn office. He joins the company from Activist Artists Management, where he served as an artist manager and media specialist, and previously was an account supervisor at Rogers & Cowan PMK.
Tuesday, September 14
Brad Smith, the founder and CEO of Simplecast, has been named ‘Head of Podcast Products’ at SiriusXM, effective immediately. In the newly-created role, Smith (pictured above) and his team will be responsible for SiriusXM’s podcast product strategy across all of its owned platforms — including SiriusXM, Pandora, and Stitcher — for both creators and listeners.
Simplecast, a leading podcast management and analytics platform, was acquired by SiriusXM in 2020. That acquisition, along with Pandora, pioneering podcast platform Stitcher, and digital ad tech leader Adswizz, has contributed to a major push by SiriusXM into podcast hosting, production, distribution, analytics and monetization.
Monday, Sept. 13
Republic Records today formally launched Imperial Music, a new independent music company led by former Astralwerks executive Glenn Mendlinger that soft-launched last year.
According to the announcement, the New York-based label is a new division of Republic and signs, develops and markets emerging independent artists and creators, and partners with Ingrooves Music Group for distribution services. Mendlinger reports to Republic co-founders Monte and Avery Lipman —”a structure that provides Imperial the flexibility to uniquely upstream artists to Republic who require more resources.”
The label has already released several charting albums: G Herbo’s “25,” Bo Burnham’s “Inside (The Songs),” Tomorrow X Together’s “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze” and Twice’s “Taste of Love.” Other Imperial artists include Baby Gravy, the Chemical Brothers, Jelani Aryeh, Brye, the Score, Chri$tian Gate$ and Laurel.
“Imperial Music was created to support the incredible emerging talent that continues to grow in the independent music sector,” Mendlinger said. “Artists and creators are seeking more independence, speed to market and services that scale with their needs. I’m thrilled with the quick and successful impact Imperial Music has made in the marketplace to support the next generation of musicians and creators.”
Before joining Republic Records to launch Imperial, Mendlinger spent 21 years at Astralwerks, working closely with Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia.
+ The 2022 Clio Music Awards — which recognize creativity in music marketing and the use of music in advertising — are officially open. New categories include New Medium: Use of Music in Sonic Branding; New Category in Music Marketing: Sound Design within the Film/Video Craft Medium; and Music Supervisor and Distribution Company options have been added in the individual and company credits for entries. For more information on all 19 mediums plus 8 additional student mediums, fees, and deadlines, see https://clios.com/how-to-enter/our-programs/music
+ The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) kicks off the Libera Awards season by opening the submissions process for the annual event. The awards honor the independent artists, labels, and music industry leaders. People will be able to submit nominees for each awards category until submissions close on December 6. This year, A2IM unveils new awards categories to choose from, totaling 36.
The first round of voting for the A2IM Libera Awards runs January 24, 2022 through February 8. Nominees will be announced and the final voting round will open on March 23, with voting closing on April 6. For a list and descriptions of all A2IM Libera Award categories and to submit nominees, click here.
+ Sony Production Music has announced that after ten years, EMI Production Music has returned to its flagship brand name KPM Music. Russell Emanuel, President & CEO, Sony Production Music said, “Professional music aficionados throughout the industry hold KPM Music in the highest regard. Through the golden age of TV theme music, KPM set the bar that is still the blueprint for many of today’s high-end production music libraries. It is with the greatest respect that we retire the EMI Production Music name, and it is an honor and privilege to steer the ship into the future with the KPM brand as our figurehead.”
With a history spanning over sixty years, KPM is known for creating the original blueprint for synch music. Originating as a partnership in 1830 between musical instrument makers Robert William Keith and William Prowse, the company began operating as KPM (Keith Prowse Maurice) in 1960 after merging with the Peter Maurice music company. In 1969, KPM became part of EMI, and was rebranded to EMI Production Music in 2011. It has provided themes for such television shows as the U.K.’s “Animal Magic,” “Grange Hill” and “Mastermind” to famed U.S. shows like “Peoples Court” and “Monday Night Football.”
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