Los Angeles-based Artist Partner Group (APG) has promoted Miles Beard to SVP, A&R, Eli Piccarreta to VP, A&R, and Jessica Kelm to VP, Digital Marketing.
In addition, Nikisha Bailey has been hired as VP, A&R Admin & Operations.
Beard, Piccarreta, and Bailey will report to Mike Caren, CEO, APG, and Kelm will report to Elyse Rogers, EVP, APG.
The Artist Partner and Artist Publishing Groups offer dedicated A&R, marketing, sync, video content, art, international, legal, accounting, and recording studios.
Artist Partner, a fully integrated and supported arm of Warner Music Group’s Atlantic Records, provides an array of white label services for artists, producers and music entrepreneurs .
APG ingested a multi-million dollar investment from Warner Music Group in 2016 and launched a recruitment drive last year to ‘build a runway for the future’.
Beard, who previously served as VP, A&R, signed Charlie Puth (30X Platinum) and 2019 breakout star Alec Benjamin, whose platinum hit, Let Me Down Slowly is officially certified in over 20 countries.
Benjamin’s mixtape, Narrated For You, has accumulated over 1.6 billion streams and counting across all platforms. As a publisher, Beard recently signed Pink Sweat$ and will be responsible for chart-topping songwriter, Amy Allen.
The A&R veteran has also been instrumental in developing songs for the likes of Ava Max, David Guetta, and many more.
Since joining APG in 2016, Piccarreta has helped develop emerging hip-hop stars like YoungBoy Never Broke Again, whose music has been streamed over 8.1bn times across all platforms.
The rapper has been YouTube’s most watched artist across all genres in the US for a record 152 weeks, and landed a No.1 album on the Billboard 200 this past October with AI YoungBoy 2. Piccarreta also discovered Quando Rondo, Rico Nasty, and NoCap, among others.
Kelm joined APG in 2017 as Senior Director of Pop Marketing and is responsible for implementing digital strategy and advertising for artists such as Charlie Puth, Ava Max, and Alec Benjamin.
Prior to that, Kelm served as Senior Talent Manager at Collab, Inc., a full service influencer agency and digital studio.
With nearly a decade of music industry experience, Bailey has held posts at Def Jam Recordings, Cash Money Recordings, and Atlantic Records.
Having served as Head of A&R Admin since joining Atlantic/APG in 2018, she will remain essential in overseeing logistics of the entire recording process and driving A&R innovation.
Just this past year, Bailey was elected as Governor for the Recording Academy’s New York Chapter.
“Miles and Eli have demonstrated their ability to identify and develop true talent, and Nikisha and Jessica are strategic thinkers who are committed to executing artists’ visions.”
Mike Caren, APG
Caren said: “APG’s chart toppers and accolades in 2019 were due to the collective strength of our team.
“Miles and Eli have demonstrated their ability to identify and develop true talent, and Nikisha and Jessica are strategic thinkers who are committed to executing artists’ visions.
“I look forward to seeing how they collectively develop new creative ideas and push boundaries to build upon APG’s success in 2020.”
Pictured Top [Left-Right]: Nikisha Bailey and Eli Piccarreta; Bottom [Left-Right]: Miles Beard and Jessica KelmMusic Business Worldwide
