Photos courtesy of Sony Music EntertainmentL-R, Matt Riley Victoria Needs, Sam Potts
AWAL has announced the appointment of its UK executive leadership team.
Effective immediately, Matt Riley has been named Managing Director. Based in London, he will report directly to Paul Hitchman, President of AWAL.
Additionally, Victoria Needs and Sam Potts have been elevated to their respective roles as Senior Vice President for AWAL.
Both executives will report to Riley.
In his role, Riley will expand his current oversight as the Company’s Head of A&R, working closely with Hitchman and AWAL CEO Lonny Olinick to sign new artists and develop AWAL’s global roster.
Since joining AWAL in 2014, Riley has been responsible for signing artists that have reached more than a billion streams including Bruno Major, Rex Orange County and Tom Misch.
Additionally, he’s supported the development of global artists Eloise, Lovejoy, MorMor, Shay Lia and The Wombats.
As the company’s new Senior Vice President, Needs will add the UK market to her existing international marketing remit for AWAL, continuing to drive all global artist campaigns and releases.
Prior to her appointment, Needs served as Vice President of International Marketing for AWAL since 2020, supporting campaign launches for artists such as JVKE, Jungle, girl in red and Lizzy McAlpine.
Potts joined AWAL in 2019, as Vice President of Promotion, overseeing the Company’s UK and international digital accounts team, driving promotional strategy with streaming platforms, as well as overseeing UK radio and TV promotion strategy for AWAL artists.
In his new role as Senior Vice President, Potts will continue to work closely with the executive leadership team to maximize audience development and growth strategies for AWAL artists across digital and traditional media.
AWAL says the announcement of the new leadership team follows its singles chart success in the UK this year with a debut Top 40 chart entry with Lovejoy’s Call Me What You Like and two tracks in the Official UK Top 40 biggest songs of 2023 so far: JVKE’s Golden Hour and Lizzy McAlpine’s Ceilings – which spent seven weeks in the UK Top 10 singles chart, and charted in 15 territories worldwide.
“I’m really happy and super energised having formed a formidable leadership team with Sam and Victoria. We are working hard every day to build a fantastic team and culture at AWAL.”
Matt Riley
In making the appointments, Hitchman said, “AWAL’s mission is to be the world’s best artist development company and, by creating a new leadership team for the UK that spans A&R, marketing and promotion, we have all of the skills and focus to deliver on that aim for UK artists.
“Matt, Victoria and Sam have all proven themselves as market leaders in their respective fields and have highly complementary skills. The combination will be an unstoppable force as we look to take the AWAL business to the next level in the UK.”
“AWAL’s mission is to be the world’s best artist development company and, by creating a new leadership team for the UK that spans A&R, marketing and promotion, we have all of the skills and focus to deliver on that aim for UK artists.”
Paul Hitchman, AWAL
Riley added: “I’m really happy and super energised having formed a formidable leadership team with Sam and Victoria. We are working hard every day to build a fantastic team and culture at AWAL, delivering fantastic results for our artists through hard work, storytelling and above all a commitment to artist development.”
“Seeing the company and our artists grow is what gets me up in the morning and I’ve never enjoyed coming to work this much.”
Sam Potts
Added Potts: “Seeing the company and our artists grow is what gets me up in the morning and I’ve never enjoyed coming to work this much. We’re having more success now than at any point in AWAL’s illustrious journey from startup to future-facing record company and are uniquely placed to be the home of maverick and uncompromising artists with global ambition.”
“To be part of AWAL UK’s leadership driving the next phase of the business with Matt & Sam is incredibly exciting.”
Victoria Needs
Said Needs: “To be part of AWAL UK’s leadership driving the next phase of the business with Matt & Sam is incredibly exciting.
“Working with our impressively strategic, collaborative & creative marketing teams every day, it’s a privilege to be able to tell the stories of our artists and find audiences for their music in all corners of the world.”
