Michele Anthony | |
---|---|
Occupation | Music industry executive |
Years active | 1990 – present |
Organization | Universal Music Group |
Michele Anthony is an American music industry executive and the Executive Vice President of Universal Music Group.
Anthony first worked as a partner of the Beverly Hills entertainment law firm, Rosenfeld, Kassoy, & Kraus, with clients such as Rick Rubin, The Sugarcubes, The Pixies, Alice in Chains, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N' Roses, Soundgarden, The Go-Go's, Kiss, The Eagles, [1] [ dead link ] and Mother Love Bone. [2]
In 1990, she joined Sony Music as senior VP of domestic operations, and was responsible for managing the company's regional A&R offices, as well as overseeing new company projects and development. In 1994, Sony Music named her the executive vice president, and she was named COO in 2004. She was appointed president of Sony Music Group in 2005.She played a pivotal role in the signing of key artists such as Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, Rage Against the Machine, and The Offspring. [3]
In 2006, she left Sony and founded 7H Entertainment, a consulting and management agency with clients that included Pearl Jam, Prince, Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne, Bjork, Soundgarden [1] and Macy Gray.
After heading 7H for six years, Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group, named Michele Anthony as executive vice president of Universal Music Group, a newly created role, in 2013. [4]
Anthony serves on the company's executive management board and helps with the daily management of the labels and the company's operations. [4] Among her responsibilities, she oversees the company's Commercial Services Division which includes sales, live events, label merchandising, college marketing and fan and consumer engagement. She also oversees UMG's global brand partnerships, Universal Music Canada, and Universal Music Enterprises, UMG's catalog division. [5] Additionally, she jointly oversees UMG's film, television and theatrical projects. [6]
Michele Anthony also chairs the Global Poverty Project (GPP) - Global Citizens Ticket Initiative and is an advisor for GPP's Annual Central Park Global Citizen Festival. She has served on the boards of several music industry organizations, including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Rock the Vote. [4]
In 2014, Anthony topped Billboard's Women in Music list, credited with reviving the Island and Def Jam record labels, and helping to reshape the company's strategy for the marketplace. [7] In 2015, she was again named to Billboard's Women in Music list, credited for expanding revenue "in areas of expertise that we either didn't have or that needed to be reimagined." [8] Anthony made the list again in 2016, credited with building UMG's branding strategy, sponsorships, and digital marketing. [9] For almost twenty years, Anthony has been named one of the top women in entertainment in The Hollywood Reporter's annual "Women in Entertainment" issue. [1]
Michele Anthony grew up in the music industry as her father, Dee Anthony, managed artists including Tony Bennett and Peter Frampton. She began working in his office at age 12 [10] and by 14 she was on the road with Joe Cocker. "It was a unique childhood that really gave me an education in the music industry," Anthony told Gillian G. Gaar in She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll. [11] She graduated from George Washington University, and also holds a J.D. from the University of Southern California. [1] In an interview with Billboard, she named her father and Gloria Steinem as the two biggest influences in her life [12] and credits her mother for her work ethic. [13]
Parlophone Records Limited is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss, the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwide success over time, with the success of platinum performers Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, Phil Collins, OMD, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, the Sex Pistols, and Mike Oldfield among others, meaning that by the time it was sold, it was regarded as a major label, alongside other large international independents such as A&M and Island Records.
A record label, or record company, or simply records, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos, while also conducting talent scouting and development of new artists, and maintaining contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.
Universal Music Group N.V. is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. The biggest music company in the world, it is one of the "Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG prior to its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The company went public on September 21, 2021, at a valuation of €46 billion.
Badmotorfinger is the third studio album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on October 8, 1991, through A&M Records. Soundgarden began the recording sessions for the album with new bassist Ben Shepherd in the spring of 1991. The album maintained the band's heavy metal sound, while featuring an increased focus on songwriting compared to the band's previous releases. AllMusic considered the album's music to be "surprisingly cerebral and arty"; alternative tunings and odd time signatures were present on several of the album's songs, and lyrics were intended to be ambiguous and evocative.
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953, but later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of genres, including pop, R&B, rock, and hip hop.
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released rock, funk, R&B, doo wop, soul music, blues, pop, rock and roll, and jazz records. In the United States, it is operated through Republic Records; in the United Kingdom and Japan, it is distributed by EMI Records.
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a holding for their record companies, and was renamed "PolyGram" in 1972. The name was chosen to reflect the Siemens interest Polydor Records and the Philips interest Phonogram Records. The company traced its origins through Deutsche Grammophon back to the inventor of the flat disc gramophone, Emil Berliner.
The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by Universal Music Group. It consists of labels created under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordings. On April 1, 2014, Universal Music Group publicly announced the disbandment of the Island Def Jam Music Group, leaving IDJMG and its affiliated subsidiaries as separate sister labels.
Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an imprint of the Universal Motown Republic Group, and was renamed Universal Republic Records after a reorganization in 2006 before going back to its original name in 2012.
Def Jam Recordings is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop.
David Massey is a British-born, American record executive and former artist manager. Massey previously served as president of Universal Music Group's Mercury Records from 2007 until 2013, when he was named president/CEO of Universal's Island Records.
William Lloyd Tanous is a French-born record executive. He has served as Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer for Universal Music Group since 2021.
Interscope Geffen A&M Records (IGA) is an American umbrella label owned by Universal Music Group. It currently consists of record labels Interscope Records and Geffen Records.
Sir Lucian Charles Grainge is a British record executive who has served as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Universal Music Group since 2010. Beginning as an A&R staffer in the late 1970s, Grainge has worked in the music industry his entire career. Billboard magazine named him the most powerful person in the music business on four occasions in the 2010s, and was named the inaugural Executive of the Decade in 2020.
Jody Gerson is the Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group. Upon assuming the role on January 1, 2015, Gerson became the first female CEO of a major music publisher and first chairwoman of a global music company. Gerson serves on the Executive Management Board for Universal Music Group.
Mary Kathryn "Polly" Anthony (1953–2013) was an American music industry executive. One of the first women to head a major record label, she was the president of Epic Records from 1997 until 2003.
Boyd Muir is Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and President of Operations for Universal Music Group.
On June 1, 2008, a fire broke out on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, an American film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. The fire began when a worker used a blowtorch to warm asphalt shingles that were being applied to a facade. He left before checking that all spots had cooled, and a three-alarm fire broke out. Nine firefighters and a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy sustained minor injuries. The fire was extinguished after 24 hours.
Phylicia Fant is an American music and entertainment industry executive. She is the head of music industry partnerships at Amazon Music and former head of urban music at Columbia Records. She is also the founder and CEO of The Purple Agency, a public relations and marketing agency. She also a produced the 2021 documentary film, Eggs Over Easy: Black Women & Fertility.