Universal Music Group has unveiled plans to consolidate all of its classical and jazz repertoire under New-York based Verve Label Group – which will now have a global artist development and marketing strategy for those genres under a unified management structure.
Verve Label Group will now be led by Dickon Stainer (pictured), President and CEO of Universal Classics and Jazz, with the move seeing the departure of Verve President & CEO Danny Bennett, who will continue to run his artist management and marketing company RPM Productions.
Universal formed Verve Label Group in May 2016, and has since been led by Bennet – the long-time manager of his father Tony Bennett as well as a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning music, film and television producer.
Commenting on his time at the company, Bennet says that “being the CEO and president of Verve Label Group has been a remarkable experience and an incredible opportunity”.
Stainer takes up the new role in addition to his existing responsibilities overseeing Deutsche Grammophon and the Decca Label Group and will divide his time between New York and London.
Graham Parker, President, Universal Music Classics US, will report directly to Stainer.
Verve Label Group is home to the historic Verve and Impulse labels, and the US home to Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and ECM, with a roster and catalog that includes iconic artists such as Diana Krall, John Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as up-and-coming artists J.S. Ondara, Shabaka Hutchings, Ezinma and City of the Sun.
The label group’s new global focus follows a significant year success for Universal Classics and Jazz – including Andrea Bocelli’s first-ever US and UK No.1 album on Decca, the continued growth of Deutsche Grammophon composer Max Richter and the emergence of Decca’s star British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.
Last year also saw the launch of Deutsche Grammophon’s 120th anniversary celebrations, which will be followed in 2019 by ECM’s 50th, Blue Note’s 80th, and 90th for Decca.
Blue Note Records in the US continues to operate as part of Capitol Music Group.
“I look forward to accelerating our efforts by unifying these teams under a single global strategy so we can deliver the greatest possible success for our artists.”
Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO, Universal Music Group, said: “Dickon is an extraordinarily creative leader with an open-minded approach to identifying artists and then marketing them in groundbreaking ways.
“I’ve personally witnessed his success for two decades, dating to our work together to ensure classics and jazz were highly present in contemporary music. Most recently he has placed our classics and jazz artists and composers at the center of the streaming revolution.
“I look forward to accelerating our efforts by unifying these teams under a single global strategy so we can deliver the greatest possible success for our artists.”
Added Grainge: “I’d like to thank Danny for helping to revitalize Verve and bringing some extraordinary artists into the UMG family. We look forward to working with him in the future.”
“Being the CEO and president of Verve Label Group has been a remarkable experience and an incredible opportunity. I’m proud to be able to say that the company is now the leading Jazz and Classical label in the US.”
Danny Bennett
Bennett said: “Being the CEO and president of Verve Label Group has been a remarkable experience and an incredible opportunity.
“I’m proud to be able to say that the company is now the leading Jazz and Classical label in the US.
“It has been an honor to work with Sir Lucian Grainge and Michele Anthony, along with the whole UMG family, and I’m thankful for the privilege of being able to build an amazing roster of new artists as well as a talented team of creative professionals who share my passion for the music.”
“Classical and jazz are amongst the musical wonders of the world. Streaming has opened a flood of discovery and has further enabled us to ensure our artists have a global reach.”
Dickon Stainer
Stainer said: “Classical and jazz are amongst the musical wonders of the world. Streaming has opened a flood of discovery and has further enabled us to ensure our artists have a global reach.
“The developing international success of Max Richter, Gregory Porter, Lang Lang, Jacob Collier and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, among others, has demonstrated that we need to work with a seamlessly coordinated global approach achieves the greatest results possible on behalf of our exceptional artists.”Music Business Worldwide
