Lots of A&R personnel moves to report: fourteen A&R Executives left their jobs within the last eight weeks while only five new A&R Execs were hired. Among the transitions were Shawn Barron (Atlantic), Steve Allen, Ben Durling and Bill Holland (Warner Bros.), Sam Mumford (RCA), Ericka Grayson (A&M), Durius Jones (Capitol), David Wright and Angelo Sanders (Def Jam) and Jamie Nelson (Mercury).

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Out of Step Entertainment

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There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. Among the most notable changes include the return of Rob Cavallo as Chief Creative Officer for Warner Music in California, Ed Johnson joining Warner Bros. from EMI Music Publishing, and Darby Bowen joining Epic.  Over in the UK, there was a lot of activity as Zack Strubel joined Columbia, Jos Watkin joins Parlophone, Scott Jason joins Polydor, and Steve Proud joined Warner Bros. Ollie Hodge returns to Columbia-UK from his short stay at Columbia–NY, Angus Blair exits Island, Marc Jones exits Columbia, and Gary Harris exits Warner Bros. In New York, Steve Ralbovsky’s label Canvasback Music joins Atlantic from Sony while Pete Giberga exits Epic, Daniel Davis exits Atlantic while Jamaal Meeks exits SRC. And the big label news (as in not so quietly kept secret) is that Universal Music Group’s CEO Doug Morris is making plans to have Universal’s international chief Lucien Grainge take over as CEO sometime this summer (Morris is expected to remain as Chairman).

There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. Among the most notable changes were former RCA A&R Executive Matt Marshall and EMI Music Publishing Executive Ed Jefferson who both join Tom Whalley’s A&R team over at Warner Bros in Burbank. In New York, A&R Veteran Steve Ralbovsky has brought his Canvasback Music label to Atlantic from Sony. Georgina McAvenna joins Rob Stevenson’s team over at Virgin, while Julius Garcia joins Jove and Daniel Mitchell joins Bad Boy. Meanwhile, Ben Adelson exits Universal Republic. Across the pond in London, Columbia’s Nick Huggett joins Island while Philipe Ascoli and Zack Strubel both join Columbia’s A&R team. Former Sony International A&R Executive Ricardo Fernandez joins Geffen. Phil Christie exits Virgin, former Sony Urban A&R Veteran Kawn Prather joins Def Jam South in Atlanta. Also joining Def Jam South is DJ Khaled. In a massive reorganization, Bill Bennett is exiting Warner Bros. Nashville and is being replaced by John Esposito (WEA’s current Ex VP Distribution).

There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. At Sony in New York, Scott Graves exits Epic while Steve Ralbovsky exits Canvasback. Over at Atlantic, Shani Gonzales and Steve Owens exit while Joe Augustine exists Hybrid. Eddie Weathers and Eric Spec both exit Island leaving no Creative A&R Staff at Island Records in New York. Over at EMI, Mike Bailey exits Manhattan while Gabriella Cudjoe exits Music World. Over in the UK, both Valerie Gross and Oliver Warzola exit Decca, John Leahy exits Domino and Ricardo Fernandez exits Sony. Josh Sarubin joins Virgin and Kevin Carvell joins A&M/Octone as West Coast A&R. Lorne Behrman joins Razor & Tie, Jeff Sledge joins Battery, Lisa Ramsey joins Sony Music in Nashville and Samantha Rosenman joins Music World. We also want to make sure that you are aware that several companies have moved to new locations including Astralwerks, Lizard King-NY, Nashville Underground, Breaking, Great Society and Robbins-NY. Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation (Sony) has opened their doors in New York and Lil Wayne’s new label Young Money (Universal) is open as well.

There have been massive changes on the A&R front over the last few months. Jeff Levin joins Atlantic while Sunny Lee joins Motown and Tom Lee joins Mercury. Max Gousse, David Wright and Angelo Sanders all join Island’s West Coast office. We’re always sad to report exits from the A&R World. Kenny ‘Tic’ Salcido and Joseph Weinberger exit Warner Bros., Lorne Behrman exits Blue Note, Susan Riley exits Word in Nashville and Steve Buckingham exits Vanguard. – A&R registry