Alison Ball, former VP of A&R at Warner Bros, has been named President of independent record label TuneGO Music Group.
Ball brings more than 25 years of industry experience to the role having worked at the likes of Warner Bros, RCA, EMI and CBS.
She will oversee all aspects of TuneGO Music Group’s activities including the development of existing signings, developing new talent and initializing fresh strategic alliances.
Ball was VP of A&R at Warner Bros for seven years up until 2002, where she supervised a cumulative budget of $40m and a roster which included the likes of Prince, Chaka Khan and Curtis Mayfield.
She also also signed and developed artists including the Grammy-nominated neo-soul act Eric Benet, who topped Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 1999 with Spend My Life With You.
Prior to Warner Bros, Ball was was Senior Director of A&R at RCA Records and Director of A&R for EMI Records. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkley.
Post-Warner Bros, she has worked as a Music Supervisor in Hollywood, in addition to running her own Alicat Productions company.
“The music industry has become very corporate and buttoned-up and very afraid to take chances on new artists. TuneGO is just the opposite; all the platform wants to do is find new artists to champion.”
Alison Ball (pictured)
Said John Kohl, CEO of TuneGO, Inc: “With the recent launch of our own record label and the release of the first studio single by Three Guests we are making big strides and fulfilling our promise to be a place where independent artists can have a chance at a real music career.
“The addition of Alison to our already illustrious team can only increase our already growing influence and create more opportunities and access into the music industry,”
Said Ball: “When I was introduced to TuneGO and TuneGO Music Group’s mission, I knew this was the place for me – they want to change the status quo.
“The music industry has become very corporate and buttoned-up and very afraid to take chances on new artists. TuneGO is just the opposite; all the platform wants to do is find new artists to champion. They also value the artist and their music, it is what a record label is suppose to be.”
Ball joins Marcus Spence, Head of A&R for TuneGO Music Group and Senior Vice President of Mosley Music Group, who has worked with artists such as Timbaland, One Republic, Chris Cornell and Nelly Furtado, as well as producer Ron Dante (Joan Jett, Cher, Barry Manilow).
“I have worked with Alison and agree with the management team at TuneGO that she will make a great addition to the team. I am excited to work with her again, advocating for independent artist’s music and shepherding them through the often daunting process of building a solid music career,” said Spence.
“Alison’s experience in the music industry is indisputable and her reputation as someone who gets the job done and is willing to go the extra mile for the artists she works with makes her the right person to join our team.”
John Kohl, TuneGo Inc
Added Kohl: “Alison’s experience in the music industry is indisputable and her reputation as someone who gets the job done and is willing to go the extra mile for the artists she works with makes her the right person to join our team. I’m a believer in Alison’s ability to make great things happen for the artists who are part of our platform.”
TuneGO dubs itself as platform which ‘connects independent artists with a global community of music fans’.
The company raised a $3.6m investment in December last year in a Series A funding round, having raised $1.7m in 2015.
Its acts are given a TuneGO ‘Score’ based on combination of social media following, fan engagement, song plays, streaming, downloads, live performance data and industry reviews.
The service promises artists who clock up a high Score ‘access to career-boosting benefits including sync licensing contracts, airtime on the TuneGO radio network, music reviews and feedback by some of the world’s most accomplished producers, introductions to major music labels, the production of music and music videos, and more’.
TuneGO Music Group aims to use ‘big data’ from the TuneGO platform to ‘identify and develop emerging artists with mainstream potential’.Music Business Worldwide