Hollywood News Now: Music Industry Moves: Grammy-Winning Songwriter and Producer Autumn Rowe Signs to Spirit Music Group

Spirit Music Group has signed Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Autumn Rowe to a worldwide publishing administration deal that encompasses a select catalog as well as a go-forward publishing deal.

Rowe's songwriting real estate includes co-writing credits on Jon Batiste's "We Are," which was nominated as record of the year and won in the album of the year category at the 2022 Grammys. She's also worked alongside such celebrated acts as Dua Lipa, Pitbull, Diana Ross, Zendaya, Ava Max, FKA Twigs and Leona Lewis.

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Rowe is also a prominent figure in the fight for songwriters' rights, serving as a member of the Songwriters of North America (SONA) board. She also co-founded and became co-director of the Songwriter Fund, a nonprofit enterprise that has raised and distributed more than $500,000 in an effort to support songwriters affected by COVID.

"Autumn is an undeniably talented writer and producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in the world. On top of that, she's a remarkable advocate for the interests of songwriters and producers and exactly the type of partner we look to work with," said Jon Singer, chairman of Spirit Music Group. "We're thrilled to welcome Autumn to the Spirit Music Group family and to have the opportunity to represent her as her publisher."

Pictured L-R at the Songwriters Hall of Fame awards ceremony in New York: Nancy Matalon, Vice President, A&R, Spirit Music Group; Autumn Rowe; and Jon Singer, Chairman, Spirit Music Group.

+ Jaxsta's former CEO Beth Appleton has stepped down from her post and will be replaced by Josh Simmons, effective immediately.

"I will relish my time at Jaxsta and the initiatives that I drove," said Appleton. "I wish Josh, and the incredible team, all the very best for the future. I'm proud to have been a part of the Jaxsta evolution, and look forward to watching the business continue on its mission."

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Simons joined Jaxsta following the completion of the acquisition of Vampr earlier this June and was appointed chief strategy officer, however, he will now assume these responsibilities in addition to his appointment as CEO.

Added Simons, "Jaxsta has a clear vision and product roadmap going into FY24, and that's a credit to the Board, Beth and the team who have done a remarkable job. Revenue, cost efficiency and profitability remain the top priorities for Jaxsta and I look forward to building on the current momentum. We have the foundation for a transformational global music product as we continue to integrate Vampr into the business and scale the VINYL.com platform."

+ GEMA CEO Dr. Harald Heker will be retiring on Sept. 30 and Dr. Tobias Holzmüller, chief legal counsel of the collective management organization since 2013, will succeed him starting Oct. 1.

GEMA represents the copyright of more than 90,000 members (composers, lyricists and music publishers) in Germany, and more than two million copyright owners globally. Dr. Holzmüller has headed GEMA's legal department since 2013 and was appointed CEO of ZPÜ (Zentralstelle für private Überspielungsrechte, Central Organisation for Private Copying Rights) in 2016.

"We look forward to continuing GEMA's successful trajectory with [Holzmüller]and tackling the immense challenges that lie ahead for us and the entire music industry," commented Dr. Ralf Weigand, chairman of the supervisory board, in a statement. "In particular, the topic of artificial intelligence in creative processes will keep us creators fundamentally busy in the coming years. This will be comparable to the challenges of digitalization over the last decade. The entire Supervisory Board and I myself are very much looking forward to working with Tobias and are convinced that we have found the best person for this tough job."

+ SoundCloud has hired former Meta employee Devi Mahadevia as its new senior VP of strategy. The platform simultaneously announces the promotions of Tracy Chan to chief content officer, and Ama Walton to senior VP of music licensing and deputy general counsel.

At Meta, Mahadevia drove consumer partnerships and product integrations for the company's metaverse, AR, and VR efforts. Chan previously aided SoundCloud in its efforts to increase creator subscriptions while Walton oversaw all legal efforts for SoundCloud for Artists, establishing new ways for artists to generate income on SoundCloud, and led the processes required to update the company's monetization and distribution offers to creators on the platform.

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