Asylum Records boss Ben Cook has been appointed President of Atlantic Records in the UK. He will report into Warner Music UK CEO Max Lousada.
Cook’s promotion is effective from April 14th and follows his successful tenure at Asylum – home to multi-platinum selling artist Ed Sheeran and BRIT Award winners Rudimental. Before Asylum, he earnt his A&R spurs at Ministry Of Sound.
Cook joined Atlantic in 2007 from Ministry Of Sound, where he earnt a reputation as a consistent hitmaker. He relaunched the Asylum label in 2008 with Wiley’s Wearing My Rolex. Cook then signed Ed Sheeran, whose ‘+’ has achieved 6x Platinum status and became the bestselling British male album for two consecutive years in the UK.
Rudimental’s run of UK No.1 singles with ‘Feel The Love’, ‘Waiting All Night’ and debut LP ‘Home’ cemented their position as one of the UK’s biggest breakthroughs of 2013 and saw them earn four BRITs nominations as well as the British Single Award.
Cook will now oversee the entire Atlantic UK portfolio, featuring UK, US and international artists including Paolo Nutini, Bruno Mars, Birdy, Christina Perri, James Blunt, Clean Bandit, Fun., Lykke Li, Janelle Monáe, and Plan B.
He will keep responsibility for Asylum and its acts such as Ed Sheeran, Rudimental, Skrillex, Charli XCX and Saint Raymond.
Max Lousada said: “Ben is an exceptional talent who has made Asylum synonymous with unique, exciting and hugely popular artists. He also personifies what Atlantic stands for – turning creative potential into credible, sustained commercial success. Ben’s promotion completes an incredibly strong leadership line-up for the Warner Music UK family of labels and we’re very excited about what we can achieve together.”
Ben Cook said: “For over 60 years Atlantic has been one of the world’s most iconic labels. To be appointed to run the company is an honour and I’m very excited to build on the successes that Max and the team have had.
“I would like to thank Max for all his backing and for building the label into such a respected home for career artists; with greatly experienced and talented executives such as Mark Mitchell, Damian Christian and all of the team, Atlantic’s ability to attract and nurture quality talent is second to none. I’m looking forward with great enthusiasm to working with everyone here to grow that reputation still further.”Music Business Worldwide
