Between the success B.o.B’s 2010 debut Lupe Fiasco’s Lasersdebuting at number one last week, Atlantic Records has been on a winning streak as of late. Now, in a recent article in Billboard Magazine, Atlantic’s newly elected president of black music broke down how the label and its parent company Warner Music Group are restructuring their urban music roster.
Over the past year, WMG’shas been expanding its urban music department with roster that includes Lupe Fiasco, T.I., Waka Flocka Flame, Wiz Khalifa and recent acquisitions Curren$y and Rick Ross’s Maybach Music Group. According to Kyser, as the head of black music at WMG’s top earning subsidiary label, i his primary goal was to refocus the label’s how urban music made.
“When I came into Atlantic, we were kind of all over the place in R&B/Hip Hop,” explained Kyser. “The one thing I wanted to focus on was putting together a tight lineup – not anymore than 20 artists on the roster. We’ve got 15 now…this is a singles market right now. But people are buying into acts they truly believe in. For them to plunk down $9.99, they have to believe in that artist.”
The full article can be found in Billboard Magazine’s latest issue, which features OFWGKTA on the cover.
