Welcome to another edition of Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. While you’re here, we also have a weekly interview series spotlighting a single executive and a regularly updated gallery honoring many of the industry figures we’ve lost throughout the year.

Warner Music welcomed seasoned artist manager and marketer Oscar Scivier as its Hong Kong-based senior director of A&R for Asia. The label said Scivier will work closely with regional management on developing A&R strategies, plus support WMG’s over-arching vision to introduce local artists to global audiences. Scivier was most recently head of music at Digital Arts and Sciences, which followed a five-year run at First Access Entertainment, where he A&R’d Rita Ora, Madison Beer, DJ Regard and others. He also made earlier stops at Ultra Music, working with Steve Aoki, Kygo, OMI and Benny Benassi, and Three Six Zero, where he day-to-day’d Deadmau5 and Michael Woods. “Adding Oscar to our worldwide A&R team strengthens our ability to swiftly seize artist development opportunities and reaffirms WMG’s commitment to providing the best platform for the most impactful and popular talent,” said Kabiru Bello, vp of global A&R at Warner Recorded Music. “His wide-ranging experience as a producer, label manager and artist manager will make him a superb addition to our company’s leading team of A&R executives.”

Stern Management secured the services of industry veteran Marisa Jeffries in the newly created role of general manager. She’ll work closely with the company’s roster, which includes The Black Angels, Phosphorescent, Metric, Finn Wolfhard and others. Jeffries was most recently U.S. lead of label partnerships at TikTok, where she nailed down opportunities for the likes of Taylor Swift, Rosalia, Steve Lacy and Omar Apollo — quality work that earned her a spot on Billboard‘s Women in Music list in 2023. Earlier in her career, Jeffries drove marketing strategy for Sony Music’s catalog division and prior to TikTok she spent five-plus years working label relations at SoundCloud. “I have been constantly inspired by Marisa and her community of colleagues and friends who break artists in new and inventive ways,” said Stern Management founder Nick Stern. “Her superpower has always been drawing out the best in people and building long-lasting partnerships founded on trust, excitement and a love for doing cool things.”

Universal Music Sweden tapped Mattias Caliste to lead the newly launched Def Jam Recordings Sweden. The label’s opening roster includes Asme x Sarettii, Sebastian Stakset and Zikai. His team will include Hamid Jamshidi, Hermon Alemseghed and Mathilda Sachs, plus UMG’s regional and global network. Caliste is a former member of Swedish hip-hop group Fjärde Världen (Fourth World) and was most recently in charge of Virgin Music Sweden, where he worked with artists including 23 and Asme. “Def Jam raised me!” Caliste said. “I grew up on artists like Public Enemy, EPMD, LL Cool J, Redman & Method Man, Warren G and many others who all released some of their most outstanding albums under Def Jam. The label has a legacy that is incredibly important for hip hop as both a genre and a subculture.”

Stern Management secured the services of industry veteran Marisa Jeffries in the newly created role of general manager. She’ll work closely with the company’s roster, which includes The Black Angels, Phosphorescent, Metric, Finn Wolfhard and others. Jeffries was most recently U.S. lead of label partnerships at TikTok, where she nailed down opportunities for the likes of Taylor Swift, Rosalia, Steve Lacy and Omar Apollo — quality work that earned her a spot on Billboard‘s Women in Music list in 2023. Earlier in her career, Jeffries drove marketing strategy for Sony Music’s catalog division and prior to TikTok she spent five-plus years working label relations at SoundCloud. “I have been constantly inspired by Marisa and her community of colleagues and friends who break artists in new and inventive ways,” said Stern Management founder Nick Stern. “Her superpower has always been drawing out the best in people and building long-lasting partnerships founded on trust, excitement and a love for doing cool things.”

Jake Owen and Keith Gale launched Good Company Entertainment Records, a label and artist services appendage of their management company of the same name (sans the ‘Records’ part). GCE Records aims to provide marketing services, digital and creative tools, global distribution and management services for new and established artists, including first signing Styles. “GCE Records is an alternative model to introduce artists and new music,” explained Gale. “Providing key services similar to that of the traditional record label, but dissimilar to the label structure in various facets, our artist partners and their teams have the creative freedoms to remain true to their unique brand of music that sets them apart.”

Chris Walters is now chief financial officer of Gateway Studios & Production Services, a St. Louis-based live events company that provides lighting, audio and high-tech video services for artists and festivals including Phish, Greta Van Fleet, Governors Ball, Professional Bull Riders and more. The “Studios” part of the company’s name refers to the massive, 330,000 square-foot tour and live event rehearsal campus it is currently building in STL’s Chesterfield Valley area. When online, the facility will house five separate studio spaces where events and tours destined for small theaters, stadiums and everything in between can be produced and rehearsed from soup to nuts before hitting the road. Walters has been at Gateway since 2021, following a six-year run at Emerson Automation Solutions.

Top Drawer Merch elevated Robbie McPhail to vp of sales. As part of his new role, McPhail will take lead on sales strategies for both e-commerce and in-person festival/tour merchandising, plus oversee logistics, inventory and shipping matters. McPhail joined Los Angeles-based TDM in 2016, working on-site operations at festivals such as Cali Vibes, Portola, Invisible Friends and dozens more. “His experience behind the booth gives him a unique perspective on which sales strategies are successful and which initiatives need to be implemented in the future,” the company said.

Brett Kaminsky was made partner at Felcher & Freifeld LLP, where the Cardozo School of Law grad has posted up for nearly 11 years. Most recently a senior associate, Kaminsky handles a broad swath of legal matters for F&F’s recording artists, songwriters, producers, managers and entertainment executives, including contract negotiations, licensing and branding matters and performance agreements.

Charlotte-based live events management and production company Midwood Entertainment has Joel Grubb as talent buyer and event producer. Grubb previously served as a promoter at Rival Entertainment in Atlanta, managing outdoor and special events at venues including Sweetland Amphitheatre and Chandler Park Music Festival, and contributing to booking shows at Rival’s venues including Eddie’s Attic and The Earl. In his new role, Grubb will oversee booking for a variety of venues, festivals, concert series, and special events across the southeast and beyond. Grubb also played a key role in developing/curating the indie rock festival Highball. –Jessica Nicholson

Agua Caliente Casinos hired Nick Sitar as the chain’s new director of entertainment. Based in Rancho Mirage, Calif. and reporting to Saverio Scheri, COO, Sitar is tasked with booking artists at all three of ACC’s properties in California. Prior to joining the company, he served as regional director of entertainment programming at Caesars Entertainment, where he handled bookings at all of the company’s non-Vegas properties.

ICYMI:

Christoph Behm was named the new CEO of Sony Music Germany, Switzerland and Austria (GSA), replacing Patrick Mushatsi-Kareba, who is exiting the company at the end of August … Jonathan Roberts will spearhead UTA‘s new Christian music division … and former Billboard editorial director Bill Werde will lead Syracuse University‘s new master’s degree in music business as part of the school’s prestigious Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries.

Last Week’s Turntable: Warner Chappell Promotes Zach Bryan’s A&R Guy

Taylor Swift gave shout-outs to two of her friends Friday (Aug. 23), praising both Sabrina Carpenter‘s new album Short n’ Sweet as well as Zoë Kravitz‘s film Blink Twice on Instagram Stories.

Of her former Eras tour mate, the pop superstar wrote: “Short. Sweet. Has made an extraordinary album.”

Sharing a photo of her posing with Carpenter at a Kansas City Chiefs game in October, Swift also gave followers a call to action. “Go support our girl!!” she wrote.

The “Espresso” singer dropped her sixth studio album Friday, featuring the Billboard Hot 100-topping hit “Please Please Please” and new single “Taste,” for which she also offered a music video costarring Jenna Ortega. The project comes more than five months after Carpenter concluded her run as Swift’s opener on the Eras Tour’s Latin American, Asian and Australian dates.

Reposting Swift’s praise on her own Story, the Girl Meets World alum simply wrote, “:’) ily.”

Also on Instagram, the “Anti-Hero” artist raved about Blink Twice, Kravitz’s directorial debut starring the Batman star’s fiancé, actor Channing Tatum. “This film is incredible,” Swift wrote, sharing the psychological thriller’s poster. “Thrilling, twisted, wickedly funny, and visually stunning. The performances are phenomenal.”

“Zoe Kravitz conceptualized this, wrote it, obsessed over every detail, and directed it with such a clear and bold vision,” Swift continued of her friend. “I’m so blown away by what she’s accomplished here and I can’t wait to watch everyone discover this film and this brilliant filmmaker.”

The 14-time Grammy winner’s post comes a few days after Tatum shared a sweet video of his and Kravitz’s date night at one of Swift’s Wembley Eras Tour shows. “The love is real and @taylorswift13 is an absolute force!” he captioned the clip, which showed him kissing the actress on the cheek as she danced along to “Shake It Off.”

Swift and Kravitz have been close friends for years, and even collaborated on the former’s Midnights track “Lavender Haze.” In 2022, the Divergent alum told GQ that she and the “Karma” artist were in each other’s quarantine pods, with Swift telling the publication: “Zoë’s sense of self is what makes her such an exciting artist, and such an incredible friend. She has this very honest inner compass, and the result is art and life without compromising who she is.”

If there’s one thing Mötley Crüe mastered in their hair metal heyday it was fighting for the right to party. But on the veteran band’s new single, they steal a page from another famously hard-partying crew from the 1980s: the Beastie Boys.

The originally snot-nosed rap trio quickly transformed into more evolved, socially conscious musos by the early 1990s, while the Crüe, well, they keep on Crüe’in. On Friday (August 23) the group announced the upcoming release of a three-song EP, Cancelled (Oct. 4), which in addition to their recently released original rocker “Dogs of War,” features a guitar-heavy cover of the Beasties’ 1986 Billboard Hot 100 No. 7 hit “Fight For Your Right.”

Other than the title, it’s an improbable left turn for the Vince Neil-fronted band, though a release announcing the EP noted that the group’s take on “Fight” has become a live fan favorite since it was first rolled out during a secret 2023 club show for 450 fans at the Underworld in London.

Produced by the band’s longtime studio consigliere Bob Rock, the Crüe’d take is pretty much what you’d expect from the group that also features original members drummer Tommy Lee and bassist Nikki Sixx and former Rob Zombie/Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, who replaced original guitarist Mick Mars after his retirement in 2022. Packed with squealing guitars, pounding drums and Neil’s yowls over the chorus’s shouty gang vocals, the lyrics about smoking, drinking, parental complaints about long hair and raging all night somehow seems on message for the now-sixtysomething members who once made unadulterated debauchery their calling card.

The band’s debut release on Big Machine Rock marks the Crüe’s first new music since the one-off 2019 single “The Dirt (Est. 1981)” with Machine Gun Kelly. “It was really great getting in the studio and working on some tracks together,” they said in a joint statement announcing the EP, which will also feature the title track. “What started out as a couple demo ideas turned into this EP produced by Bob Rock. We look forward to getting back into the studio again soon and writing more new music, as well.”

Listen to Mötley Crüe’s “Fight For Your Right” cover below.

Just a few hours after the release of her new album Short & Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter dropped the music video to “Taste” Friday (Aug. 23) — but there’s nothing sweet about the Death Becomes Her-inspired bloodbath that ensues in the visual, unless you count the unlikely friendship she forms at the end.

The video opens with Carpenter singing a creepy lullaby: “Rock-a-bye baby, snug in your bed/ Right now you are sleeping, and soon you’ll be dead.”

She then sneaks into her ex-boyfriend’s house to hack his new girlfriend — played by Jenna Ortega — to bits with a machete, before realizing that the Wednesday actress had set up a decoy in the bed. Ortega jumps out from hiding and starts shooting Carpenter with a rifle, sending her falling out the second-story window, with the singer impaled on the fence below.

Such begins a gory cat fight between the two ladies who keep coming back from the dead — à la the 1992 Oscar-winning film starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn — involving weaponized hospital defibrillators, voodoo dolls and Ortega chopping off Carpenter’s arm after the latter bursts in on the former and her nameless beau in the shower. It all culminates with the “Nonsense” singer and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star having a steamy makeout sesh by the pool, before Ortega mistakenly murders their shared boy toy with a chainsaw.

“I heard you’re back together and if that’s true/ You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you,” Carpenter sings. “If you want forever, I bet you do/ Just know you’ll taste me too.”

At the funeral for their late love, the girls realize they’re better off as friends than as enemies. “Very insecure,” Ortega complains of her lover-turned-murder-victim, to which Carpenter responds, cackling, “Very insecure! You kill me.”

The Dave Meyers-directed project marks the third music video in Carpenter’s Short & Sweet era, following visuals for smash hit “Espresso” and Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Please Please Please,” which starred her boyfriend, actor Barry Keoghan. The new album marks the musician’s sixth studio album, following 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send, which reached No. 23 on the Billboard 200.

Watch the “Taste” music video above.

Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.

This week, Sabrina Carpenter releases her new full-but-not-too-full-length, Lainey Wilson captures two years’ worth of career hubbub on her latest LP, Coldplay leads a global All-Star prayer circle and much more.

Sabrina Carpenter, Short n’ Sweet

The wait is over: Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet is here, on the backs of the consecutive smashes “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” with 10 additional pop confections. Those range from the delectable obvious third single “Taste” to the rollicking acoustic betrayal of “Coincidence” to the frisky soft ’80s pop-funk of “Bed Chem.” For fans hoping for a coherent mix of the hooky confidence and slinky seductiveness of Carpenter’s latest singles with the clever detail and revealing lyrics of Emails I Can’t Send should have no complaints about Short n’ Sweet — outside of the brevity, anyway.

Lainey Wilson, Whirlwind

“Whirlwind” is the too-appropriate title to summarize Lainey Wilson’s career since 2022 breakthrough LP Bell Bottom Country, with the past two years being a blur of hits, gigs, cameos and accolades for the always-rising singer-songwriter. The mania has most recently led to her fourth studio album, in which she sounds more self-assured than ever on tracks like the strutting victory lap “Country’s Cool Again,” the Jerry Reed-inspired kiss-off “Ring Finger” and the rip-roaring lead single “Hang Tight Honey.” But she allows she probably won’t be able to do it forever, pleading “I can’t keep trying to keep up with Jones” on the album’s George Jones-referencing opening track.

Coldplay, Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyana & TINI, “We Pray”

Few would expect Chris Martin & Co. to lead off a New Music Friday single featuring an All-Star global cast of singers and rappers — but Coldplay have extended their pop-rock superstardom into its third decade largely due to their willingness to embrace younger artists and new sounds. So it’s not exactly shocking — and decently rousing — to hear Martin belting “We’ll be singing, Baraye!” over a booming Max Martin-co-produced beat as voices from around the world support him in hoping for simpler and safer times. “We Pray” will be featured on the band’s upcoming Mood Music album, due in October.

Central Cee, “Billion Streams Freestyle” & “Bolide Noir”

“Said that my b–ch was gay, got a billion streams,” U.K. rapper Central Cee boasts about his breakthrough hit “Doja” apparently passing the 10-digit mark in online plays. The hitmaking MC, whose takeover continues to make its way across the pond, releases two new songs this week to celebrate his achievement, both the gleeful “Freestyle” and the more downbeat “Bolide Noir,” featuring Paris rapper JRK 19, in which a bleary-eyed Cench raps, “When you’ve been through all the things that I have/ Everything else is a walk in the park.” Another rewarding release from one of the decade’s most exciting new rappers.

Mk.gee, “Lonely Fight”

In a year of major pop breakthroughs, bubbling up below the surface has been singer/songwriter Mk.gee, whose acclaimed debut album of emotional, intimate guitar ballads Two Star & The Dream Police has already earned him a fairly devoted cult following. That album only came out half a year ago, but the artist born Mike Gordon is already back with a new song: the gorgeous “Lonely Fight,” another transmission of aching guitar and warm fretless bass tied together by Gordon’s evocative but open-ended crooning. If you haven’t gotten on the bandwagon yet, be sure to hop on before LP2.

New Radicals, “Murder on the Dancefloor” & “Lost Stars”

The New Radicals hadn’t released any new music since their cult classic 1998 debut LP Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too spawned one of the most enduring pop-rock gems of its era, the recently DNC-featured “You Get What You Give.” Last night, however, they debuted two quasi-new songs, along with an open letter to Kamala Harris’ “super fan” husband Doug Emhoff, and a stated hope “to rally the cause of democracy and encourage all artists to get out the vote.” The “quasi” is due to both of the songs being covers of originals already penned by frontman Gregg Alexander — Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Saltburn-revived “Murder on the Dancefloor” and “Lost Stars” from the 2013 film Begin Again — so not quite enough to raise hopes for any kind of full Brainwashed sequel, but long-Radicalized fans will still undoubtedly be very grateful for the new releases.