In our latest roundup, we present eight more stars of tomorrow from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
This week's entrants will also find their faces in our latest mag. Thankfully, they can lament this mortifying experience from the comfort of their air-conditioned spaces.
Emmy Lovell
Global Head of Music, SoundCloud
For Lovell, nothing tops being part of the little things that make the big things happen, such as soundchecks and rehearsals in empty rooms, stadiums and arenas around the world. Presently, she’s focused on finding, building and breaking the household names of tomorrow, including
IIXL/SoundCloud’s latest signing,17-year-old Brooklynite
Laila!, whose debut single, “Like That,” increased its global streaming consumption 16X from February to April, reaching 1.6m weekly streams. Lovell is named after
Emmylou Harris. We’re fortunate our given name isn’t loser.
Peter Madana
A&R/Manager of Digital Rights, Create Music Group
Celebrating his birthday with
Tory Lanez in the studio previewing
Daystar (110m+
Spotify streams) was a standout moment for Madana. He’s now spearheading
NE-YO’s debut independent release, “2 Million Secrets,” which is trending on
Instagram Reels and has surpassed 1m
YouTube views. He also managed the rollout of
TroyBoi’s
4 ON DA FLOOR EP, which included appearances at
Coachella and
EDC 2024. Madana’s been a touring DJ and producer for 15+ years, having shared stages with the likes of
Smiley,
Jay Sean and
Ludacris. Most people would like us lower in the mix.
Anna Cage
VP, Radio, Warner Music Nashville
Cage savors surreal career moments like
Dan + Shay’s heartfelt stage acknowledgment in her hometown, intimate wine-tasting with
Cole Swindell, singing with
Zach Bryan at
Red Rocks before a snowy backdrop and being part of the project that gave
Randy Travis his voice back. Now, she’s driving radio success for artists like
Kenny Chesney, who recently secured his 33rd #1, and
Bailey Zimmerman, who achieved a record-setting run of hits. Cage once flirted with a fencing career, even attracting an
Olympic coach’s attention. Too bad she’s been foiled by us.
Jazmin Covarrubias
Senior Director, Commercial Partnerships, AWAL
From fulfilling her teenage dream of working with the
Jonas Brothers at
Radio Disney to launching
Kim Petras’ annual Halloween takeover on
Apple Music 1 at AWAL, Covarrubias’ career is nothing short of exciting. She’s now boosting the streaming success of
Djo’s “End of Beginning” (790m+ streams), prepping for
Moses Sumney’s summer EP and
Laufey’s sold-out
Hollywood Bowl show on 8/7, while supporting emerging acts like
hemlocke springs and
The Beaches. Covarrubias’s dog
Leo, @loco4leo, will be featured in an
Amazon product ad. We still haven’t had all our shots.
Shauni Caballero
Senior Director, Creative, Sony Music Publishing
Caballero is still riding the high from
Central Cee &
Dave’s “Sprinter” topping the U.K. charts for 10 weeks and achieving gold status in the U.S. Now based in NYC, she’s focusing on creating international opportunities for U.K. acts like Central Cee,
Nemzzz and
Nippa, leveraging SMP’s global network. She notes that Central Cee’s recent collaboration with
Lil Baby on “BAND4BAND” exemplifies the narrowing gap between the U.K. and U.S. rap scenes. A big fan of
The Walking Dead, Caballero dreams of starring in a zombie film. She should experience our editorial meetings.
Priscilla Felten
General Manager, Immersive Music
Having worked on
Reneé Rapp’s breakout in tandem with
Adam Mersel, Felten is proud to have steered the release of
Snow Angel—2023’s biggest female pop album debut. She also helped manage Rapp’s
SNL and
Coachella appearances and her sold-out international tour, and she’ll play a role in upcoming festival gigs including headlining
All Things Go. She’s now producing
Ben Platt’s Broadway residency at the renovated
Palace Theatre and his U.S. tour. Felten once raced
Olympic gold medalist
Katie Ledecky in a high school swim meet. Just reading those words makes us reach for our inhaler.
Bo Martinovich
Senior Director, Promotion, Sony Music Nashville
Martinovich will never forget bowling with
The (then-
Dixie)
Chicks in 1999, fresh off their success with
Wide Open Spaces and
Fly. That moment, a year after graduating from
MTSU, solidified his passion for music promotion. He’s since worked with iconic artists like
Gretchen Wilson,
Miranda Lambert,
Maren Morris and
Megan Moroney. Now, he’s promoting
Graham Barham’s new song, “Whiskey Whiskey,” while reveling in the joy of watching artists rise to stardom. Martinovich says his phone autocorrects “Bo” into words. That must be Bo annoying.
Abhi Kanakadandila
Co-Founder & CEO, D36
Kanakadandila saw the release of the remix “tu hai kahan” by Pakistani band
AUR f/
Zayn Malik earn 25m+ streams and 1b+ social impressions in its first month, serving as a glimpse of what D36—a new JV with
Sony—aims to achieve globally. Blending music with cinema, he was chuffed for the release of
Abdullah Siddiqui’s score from
Joyland and looks forward to an in-house film capturing a pivotal Indian movement. Kanakadandila once explained rocket science to
Takashi Murakami via a translator outside
SpaceX. Too bad he can’t explain this feature.
