Sony Music Entertainment Latin-Iberia has struck a new partnership with WK Records

Sony Music Entertainment Latin-Iberia has struck a new partnership with WK Records, the record label founded by WK Entertainment CEO-founder Walter Kolm. WKR artists include reggaeton star Alex Rose, Grammy-nominated/ Latin Grammy-winning producer-artist Foreign Teck, singer-songwriter Emilia, Argentine trap artist Seven Kayne, and Colombian artist Cheo Gallego, with more signings to be announced in the coming weeks. WKR is led by CEO and WKE head of music Horacio Rodriguez (who joined last year after 15 years at Universal Music Latin), with a pop and urban division led by WKR GM/co-founder Oscar Guitián, and a regional Mexican division led by producer-composer-executive Alberto De León, who previously held roles at Universal, Capitol Latin, Machete Music and  Fonovisa/Disa. “We have an incredible relationship with the entire WK family,” said Sony Latin-Iberia chairman-CEO Afo Verde. “This was a natural next step for us, and we’re excited to work with WK Records to launch a whole new generation of international superstars together.” “This partnership is personally meaningful to me because of the trust and admiration that I have for Rob Stringer, Afo and Sony Music,” said Kolm. “It confirms our shared vision to continue to lead and impact the Latin music industry with an unparalleled world-wide magnitude, as we combine our strengths and build an unprecedented alliance.” + Ari Lennox and her management team Black Wax have “amicably decided to part ways,” according to an announcement from her rep. She first signed with the company in 2012 and “still considers them family and is beyond thankful for the business ventures and memories.” Lennox is currently working on her sophomore album and seeking new management. + Stem, the distribution and payments platform for independent musicians and labels, has hired Charleton Lamb as head or marketing. In that role he will lead the team responsible for introducing Stem’s tools and services to the industry, shaping its visual identity, and crafting communications from the brand. He joins after four years at Spotify on the Spotify for Artists team. “Charleton has been a powerful advocate for independent artists and labels for a long time, and he’s one of the best at breaking down the complexities of the music industry into simple messages and engaging creative,” says Milana Lewis, CEO of Stem. “We’re thrilled to have him on the team.” + Crush Music has named Jenny Kaufman head of streaming and sales, reporting to CMO Dan Kruchkow.  She joins from Terrorbird Media, where she was head of digital strategy. “We love the entrepreneurial spirit that Jenny is bringing to Crush from Terrorbird, we thrive off that here. The way records break is changing by the minute so we’re excited to have more of that ask for forgiveness, not permission attitude in the building,” Kruchkow said. + Grandstand Media has hired Jessica Puchli as director of tours and festivals. Based in Los Angeles, she from Goldenvoice, where she oversaw publicity and some promotions for club and theatre events in Southern California, as well as select regional festival properties. Touring has always been a vital part of our clients’ business,” said Grandstand Co-Founders Kate Jackson, Meghan Helsel, Dana Erickson & Lisa Gottheil. “It provides significant structure that we can utilize to extend the album life cycle, build artist profile and support management teams in their desire to build bigger and more engaged audiences. This, coupled with our growing festival roster, moved us to seek out an expert in the field that could head up our internal touring teams. Having interacted with Jess all these years, her attention to detail and her marketing and press expertise as they directly relate to ticket sales made her the absolute best candidate for the position and we are so thrilled to have her on board.”

+ The recipients of ASCAP’s 2022 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards, recognizing gifted jazz composers under 30, have been named by the performing rights organization. “These emerging voices are taking their music in creative new directions, and we deeply appreciate the Herb Alpert Foundation for helping to nurture the craft of jazz with this enduring partnership,” said ASCAP president Paul Williams, thanking the Alpert Foundation for the support that had the award renamed in his honor 10 years ago.

The recipients are: Evan Abounassar, age 22 of Los Angeles; Ben Beckman, age 21 of New Haven, CT; Sonya Belaya, age 27 of Brooklyn, NY; Max Bessesen, age 27 of New York, NY; Gabriel Chakarji, age 28 of Brooklyn; Jessica Curran, age 28 of Boston; Kira Daglio Fine, age 25 of Bosto; Sebastian de Urquiza, age 29 of New York; Michael R. Dudley Jr., age 27 of Potsdam, NY; Joseph Durben, age 18 of Buffalo, MN; Quinn Dymalski, age 23 of Los Angeles; Conner Eisenmenger, age 29 of Seattle; Eliana Fishbeyn, age 25 of New York; Brandon Goldberg, age 16 of FL; Vicente Hansen, age 29 of Brooklyn; Ennis Suavengco Harris, age 23 of Los Angeles; Daiki Nakajima, age 19 of San Jose, CA; Yu Nishiyama, age 27 of Hawthorne, NJ; Robert Perez, age 29 of Los Angeles; Gary (Kaiji) Wang, age 26 of Miami; and Griffin Woodard, age 23 of Boston. Composers receiving honorable mention are: Claire Dickson, age 25 of Brooklyn; Michael Echaniz, age 27 of Los Angeles; Amanda Ekery, age 27 of New York; Chase Elodia, age 27 of Brooklyn; Peyton Nelesen, age 14 of CA; and Malcolm Xiellie, age 14 of CA.

One of this year’s winners will be picked to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival this summer. Judges for the 2022 competition were Fabian Almazan, Chuck Owen and Camille Thurman.