THE YEAR’S HOTTEST GROUPS: The
Grammy nominations, announced with requisite fanfare on 11/8, brought glad tidings to multiple majors. They also underline the preeminent industry narratives of 2024 regarding the realignment of the major companies in the
UMG world, and how those two companies have dominated the landscape in current and overall market share and remained at the forefront of artist development, as well as the transformation of both top labels at
WMG.
Republic and
Interscope have had incredible years, and
Sir Lucian Grainge’s shrewd reorganization of the East and West Coast under
Monte Lipman and
John Janick, respectively, continues to work brilliantly. Both companies racked up boffo Grammy-nomination scores, and during the past year,
Island broke not only two major artists in
Chappell Roan and
Sabrina Carpenter but two major executives in
Imran Majid and
Justin Eshak, who were handpicked by LG. The blazing 2024 enjoyed by Island (under the larger Lipman umbrella) could well be the biggest story of the year.
Mercury’s
Tyler Arnold and
Ben Adelson, also part of Republic, oversaw the wildly successful relaunch (actually, “reboot” seems apt here) of
Post Malone and the long tail of their other big act,
Noah Kahan, surging in 2024. Post’s big, Grammy-nominated album (which earned him multiple noms in Country), along with fellow nominees
Morgan Wallen (on
Seth England’s
Big Loud) and
Jelly Roll (via Jon Loba’s
BBR), helped give the Lipmans an 18% current country share, far and away the biggest for a coastal label not affiliated with a traditional Nashville major.
All this took place as Republic’s former murderer’s row of
Drake,
Ariana Grande (nominated in Pop) and
The Weeknd spent a relatively quiet 2024—unlike #1 home-run hitter
Taylor Swift, who, remarkably, has posted a personal market share of 1.7 (about 15.6m U.S. units; you could probably add another 6m from global activity), which is bigger than Mercury, Big Loud and
Imperial combined. And that’s just so far this year; slated to hit shelves on 11/29 is
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: The Anthology (physical only), just in time to stuff 2024's stockings.
As for Ari, she’s about to reclaim the spotlight in a big way as the co-star of
Wicked. Those who’ve had an early look at the film expect it to have a seismic impact on the nation’s multiplexes. Even so, we really miss
Bert Lahr.
WIDENING SCOPE: House Janick trumpeted its 75 nods, including those earned by
Capitol—led by Big 4 love for
Billie Eilish,
Kendrick Lamar (who earned seven apiece) and
Lady Gaga. Janick,
Steve Berman,
Tom March,
Top Dawg and their teams also cheered a BNA nom and substantive Rap-category love for
Doechii, another big artist-development story.
Janick’s artist-development prowess looks unmatched, given Eilish’s career-defining year (now including noms for AOTY, ROTY and SOTY), which has included switching lawyers (to
Don Passman) and agencies (from
Wasserman to
WME). Other ICLG highlights include genre nominees
Gracie Abrams (who recently scored a
Spotify U.S. #1) and
GloRilla, not to mention bringing Capitol into the Interscope way of doing business. In less than nine months, the aggressive March and team have made Capitol a competitive label again. Is Doechii now poised to level up? Meanwhile, Gaga is positioned for a huge 2025 with her next album on the heels of her SOTY-nominated Bruno Mars duet, “Die With a Smile,” and Kendrick Lamar, with ROTY and SOTY nods for “Not Like Us,” keeps growing his massive reach ahead of what will be a gargantuan
Super Bowl look. Add Grammy love for
Eminem,
J. Cole,
Jacob Collier,
Kali Uchis and promising kids like
The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones, to name but a few, and you have a sense of Team Janick’s mood at present.
“
THINGS” AND STUFF: The other major story dominating the yearly news cycle was WMG’s late-year shakeup of
Atlantic and the breaking of
Aaron Bay-Schuck and
Tom Corson’s regime with two major artists,
Benson Boone and
Teddy Swims, at the top of the year, following the explosive growth of
Zach Bryan. Benson and Teddy both made the BNA shortlist, though the former’s smash, “Beautiful Things,” was completely snubbed, to the bewilderment of Grammy watchers.
Despite his disinterest in Grammyland, Bryan has become a major sales force in North America in both streams and tickets. Indeed, it’s believed his
Hyde Park show will be even bigger than Morgan Wallen’s last year, and that it could jump-start momentum for the Warner star in Europe.
Then there's the monumental changing of the guard at Atlantic engineered by WMG topper
Robert Kyncl after a 20-year stewardship by
Julie Greenwald and
Craig Kallman, whose market share had dipped from double digits to under 5% over the last few years. Beyond the numbers, a kind of malaise had infected the company, depressing morale. This overall decline had prompted the decision by WMG leadership to bring in fresh blood. That move appears to have been spot on, judging by the immediate aftermath, as the careers of multiple Grammy nominee
Charli xcx and
BLACKPINK member and solo artist
ROSÉ are going gangbusters—and the early returns on the
Elliot Grainge administration seem to have House WMG feeling upbeat about new beginnings. Meanwhile, label superstar
Bruno Mars is seeing a renewed career arc thanks to his MVP role on the top two records on Spotify’s global chart (with Gaga and ROSÉ). What’s next for the artist during this prolific phase? Are new singles or an album in the offing?
VIEWING PLATFORMS: We expect Taylor Swift and
Beyoncé to figure prominently on the Grammy telecast. How will the
Academy throw enough goodies at Tay, the biggest ratings-grabber in the galaxy, to make sure she shows up?
Ben Winston and team have tweaked the format, resulting in the best ratings in years—notably taking a page from the
Golden Globes by putting stars at tables up front, where they can be observed in their natural habitat.
Will 2025 be the year Bey, the most-nominated artist this year (and of all time) finally gets her AOTY trophy, or will one of the other strong contenders give us a new champion? Is a long-shot surprise in the works? In any case, we know Bey’s bound to win Album sooner or later. In other news, could the strength of this year’s nominees help drive greater voter turnout?
FULL HAND: Of course the 2024 story of
Rob Stringer's
Sony Music is about more than Bey’s armload of poker chips; the company began its fiscal year in April hot as a pistol, with
Travis Scott,
Future (who just earned four noms) and
Hozier on fire.
Meanwhile,
SZA (who also snagged a nom) remains one of the most important acts in the business,
Doja Cat’s career continues to grow, with touring numbers through the roof, and rock band
The Red Clay Strays is clearly one of the year’s best signings. As for other top noms,
André 3000’s experimental flute set on
Epic is an AOTY contender.
Still, the Academy’s decision not to acknowledge Future in the top categories, or Scott or Hozier at all, seems like a real miss—especially the latter, who had a comeback megahit, “Too Sweet,” that was one of the year’s biggest songs and who possesses an extra-cool vibe. Why couldn’t the Academy find a way to acknowledge this engaging smash? The snub has us scratching our heads. In any event,
Ron Perry’s Columbia spent most of this year developing new acts like
Central Cee,
Addison Rae and
Megan Moroney and is poised for further growth in 2025.
