BMG names Nashville label exec Jon Loba president of entire North American label group

22 years after arriving at Nashville's Broken Bow Records, BMG Nashville President Jon Loba has, via a new promotion, become the pilot in charge of global music's most significant modern adaption, to date, of the strength of Music City's country-to-pop-crossover output.

As part of the plan, BMG Nashville president Jon Loba will become president of frontline recordings, North America, taking charge of BMG's entire North American frontline records business -- now including the Rise (Spiritbox, Sum 41) and RBC (Chief Keef, Run The Jewels) imprints as well as the main BMG label -- across Nashville, Los Angeles, New York and Canada.

Also, Thomas Scherer, previously running BMG's publishing and recordings in Los Angeles and New York, will become president of global catalog recordings while retaining his responsibilities as president of music publishing in North America. Alongside CFO North America Joe Gillen, they will comprise BMG's US-based leadership.

Berlin-based BMG -- for seven years, the parent company of 25-year-old Nashville independent label Broken Bow Records -- has, via a press statement, announced it will "double down" on its investment in its US record labels and North American operations.

BMG's Nashville-led boom

BMG is the world's fourth-largest international music company, with 22 offices across 13 core music markets. The company also currently represents over three million songs and recordings.

Of late, on the back of the success of acts including Jason Aldean and Dustin Lynch, plus the post-pandemic chart-topping success for, chronologically, Blanco Brown, Parmalee, Lainey Wilson and BMG-distributed Jelly Roll -- the global "big three" giant's North American operations now account for more than 50 percent of the label's revenue.

BMG's renewed focus on the US forms part of a new strategy announced by CEO Thomas Coesfeld in Oct. 2023. Loba, in large part, spurred it by delivering BMG its first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 yet with Jason Aldean's "Try That In A Small Town," plus Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson accounting for six of the 12 awards presented at 2023's Country Music Association Awards.

In the past quarter, BMG has announced direct deals with Spotify and Apple Music and developing a new physical recorded music distribution deal with Universal Music Group. The company has also streamlined its domestic business model to focus on core music publishing and recording businesses, local-to-global marketing and global sales efforts.

BMG's Nashville-to-global plans, expanded

The move follows a May 2022 contract extension announcement for Loba and Scherer, as BMG's revenues had already risen nearly a third on pre-pandemic levels.

In 2022, Loba added publishing duties to his Nashville plate of responsibilities, while Scherer became the lead on catalog rights acquisition in the United States.

Aldean, Lynch, Wilson and Jelly Roll's success combines with Scherer's work with the songwriting catalogs of a diverse set of creators, including George Harrison and Ringo Starr, plus Juice WRLD, D'Mile, Pitbull, Diane Warren, and Lewis Capaldi, plus BMG's domestic recording interests with 5 Seconds of Summer, AJR, Bebe Rexha, Jennifer Lopez, Maxwell, Nickelback, Slash, Bryan Adams, plus the recording catalogs of Mötley Crüe, John Legend and Paul Simon.

Loba offered the following statement:

"We have created something special with our artists in Nashville. I am excited at the opportunity to apply the timeless formula we have employed there – genuine partnership with authentic new artists -- to BMG's broader North American recorded business. I am grateful to Thomas Coesfeld for his constant inspiration and trust and to the broader BMG team. It's been an exciting six months since Thomas was named CEO. His energetic and strategic approach to the business has been very inspirational for all of us because that's the way our Nashville team runs. I'm looking forward to working even closer with our staff throughout North America and, as importantly, helping bring the visions of our amazing artists to life."

"Under Jon Loba, BMG Nashville has exceeded our expectations year after year. Jon is not only one of the most accomplished record executives in Nashville, the multi-genre success he has achieved with Jelly Roll makes him the ideal person to take additional responsibility for our Los Angeles, New York and Canada recordings business as we further pursue our objective of making BMG the most effective and artist-friendly destination for artists, both established and new. Jon is a true entrepreneur and combines music savvy with an instinctive and well-rounded managerial style. I am delighted he is stepping up to take on this challenge," BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld added.

Thomas Scherer said, "BMG's L.A.-based global catalog hub will be a genuinely digital-first catalog operation with dedicated digital, marketing and content creation teams to add value to the priceless catalog we have built and will add to with further acquisitions. I am grateful to Thomas for the opportunity to build BMG's Global Catalog operations to become the destination of choice for established and iconic artists worldwide."

For more information on BMG, visit http://www.bmg.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: BMG names Nashville label exec Jon Loba president of entire North American label group