Sony Music Entertainment announced a pair of big promotions on Monday, elevating Melissa Thomas to executive VP of International Marketing, U.S. Repertoire and Monica Cornia to Senior VP of Sales, Commercial Music Group.
Thomas (pictured above left), who was previously SVP, will continue to report to Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer. According to the announcement, highlights of her sting include spearheading global marketing campaigns for Lil Nas X, Camila Cabello, Harry Styles, DJ Khaled, Travis Scott, AC/DC, the Kid Laroi, Rosalía and Giveon. She began her career with SME at Sony Music U.K. in 2005; she had previously held roles at Universal Motown Records in New York and then Universal Music in her native Canada.
In making the announcement, Stringer said, “Melissa knows how to harness the global power of our Company to help break our U.S. artists around the world. Her teams, in conjunction with our U.S. Record Labels, have created unique marketing campaigns that resonate with audiences and push our artists to success.”
Cornia (pictured, above right) will oversee all U.S. sales strategies for the company’s catalog. Cornia takes on this role after three years serving as co-head of the International Marketing department for U.S. repertoire, where she developed SME’s new and established U.S.-signed artists across global markets. She previously was VP of International Marketing for RCA Records from 2014 to 2018; before that role, she managed Kesha at Vector Management.
In making the announcement, Darren Stupak, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Sales, SME said, “From the very start of Monica’s career at Sony Music, she has always embodied our artist-first approach, showing fantastic insight, expertise and a strong track record in bringing our U.S. artists to new audiences.”
+ Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), the global catalog division of Universal Music Group, has named Grammy-winning producer Dennis Wolfe vice president of A&R. In this newly created role, Wolfe will work closely with the company’s senior management team and the senior leadership at UMG’s labels, as well as artists, managers and estates, to develop strategic initiatives across UMG’s vast catalog. Additionally, Wolfe will develop multi-media projects that drive value for UMG’s artists, fans and stakeholders. He will be based in Los Angeles and report to Jane Gowen, Executive Vice President, Marketing and A&R, UMe.
As a consultant to UMe, Wolfe led UMG’s HD Remastering Initiative in partnership with YouTube, which brought more than 1,000 classic music videos from the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s to HD and high-quality audio for the first time. Wolfe previously served as Head of Catalog A&R for Capitol Records prior to UMG’s acquisition. In that role, he worked closely with major artists including The Beach Boys, co-producing “The Smile Sessions,” which won the Grammy for Best Historical Album. While at Capitol, Wolfe also worked with The Smashing Pumpkins, REM, Megadeth, Lenny Kravitz, A Perfect Circle, Bob Seger and more.
In making the announcement, Gowen said, “Dennis’ involvement with numerous artists and managers, as well as being a former recording artist himself, are key to his collaborative, long term relationships with artists spanning UMG’s labels. Additionally, his background in branding and content strategy will help us build core activations beyond the traditional releases.”
+ Publicist Nina Lee is joining the Oriel, the firm established by Carleen Donovan, Chloe Walsh and Jen Appel last year, and will be starting in June. She is joining after six years at Shore Fire Media and will be director of communications based in Oriel’s New York office.