Monday, August 22, 2011

Def Jam Downsizes; Hires Bruno Mars' Manager As A&R Consultant

By Roman Wolfe

Legendary hip-hop label Def Jam went through serious downsizing last week, when over 20 employees were laid off.

Over twenty staffers, along with industry executives Jonathan McHugh and Chris Hicks were dismissed from the Island Def Jam/Motown record labels. According to reports, McHugh and Hicks will continue to do consulting work for the label and other companies.

The news of layoffs come almost a month after Island Def Jam CEO Barry Weiss denied a report by TheWrap, which stated the legendary label was ailing.

Today (August 16th) Island Def Jam and Universal Republic announced they were expanding "their creative teams" with the addition of Brandon Creed, who will act as an A&R consultant for both record labels.

Creed is responsible for managing the career of Bruno Mars and songwriting collective The Smeezingtons, who have crafted hits for groups like Sugababes, B.o.B, Brandy Norwood, Flo Rida, Chad Hugo, Lil Eddie, Brave New World, Bad Meets Evil and Cee Lo Green.

"As we continue to expand our creative investments, Brandon is a perfect fit," stated Mr. Weiss. "Besides being a great artists' manager, he is also a talented A&R and creative executive. We plan to get him very involved across our labels at Island Def Jam Motown and Universal Republic."

llhiphop.com

No comments: