Karim Ech-Choayby is a successful A&R executive whose career in the French market has seen him work with a variety of artists in various genres.
In January 2021, Ech-Choayby was named Head of A&R at Columbia Records France, looking after both existing artists on the label’s roster and the signing of new acts to the label.
At Columbia, Ech-Choayby reports to Laurent Chapeau, Directeur Général Columbia Records.
Karim Ech-Choayby: Career to date
Karim Ech-Choayby started his career in 1998 at music magazine, Technikart, before moving to Virgin Records in 2003 as an A&R.
In 2008, he then switched to Capitol Records at EMI before starting up his own label UrbanPop in 2012 at Wagram. A year later, Ech-Choayby moved to Universal France in 2013, once again working on A&R at Capitol (which UMG had acquired the prior year with EMI Music).
Ech-Choayby joined Universal Music Publishing in 2014, rising to Head of A&R at Universal Publishing in 2017.
During his time there, Ech-Choayby signed Belgian artist Damso, one of the most famous and respected artists in France, as well as providing support for artists from a variety of genres ranging from Kendji, Slimane and BOULEVARD DES AIRS; through to Vianney, Gims, Louane, Claudio Capeo and Hoshi.
From 2019-2020, he served as Head of A&R at Def Jam Recordings France, working with artists including Slimane, Kendji, Vegedream, Kungs, Azaar, Romeo Elvis, Cabellero & Jeanjass, Amel Bent and Hatik.
He also oversaw the launch of Vitaa & Slimane’s ‘VersuS’ album, one of the best-selling French albums of 2020.
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