NEW YORK, NY (August 1, 2016) – Spirit Music Group has expanded its creative team with the appointment of respected music executive James Cheney to Senior Director of A&R, as announced today by David Renzer, Chairman & CEO, Spirit Music Group. Throughout his 15-year career in music, Cheney has established an impressive track record of signing, developing and helping facilitate career-long success for songwriters. Cheney, who will assume his new role on August 1st, will be based out of the company’s Los Angeles offices.
“Spirit is a songwriter-first publisher, and we pride ourselves on the many investments we’ve made to better serve our writers. Obviously, that starts with having a great creative staff, and to that end James is an ideal fit for us. He has a proven ability to find and develop new talent as well as help established songwriters build and maintain successful careers, so he’s a great asset for our writers. We’re thrilled to have him join Spirit,” said Renzer.
“I’m really excited to join a company that is as dedicated to serving songwriters as Spirit is. I look forward to working with David and the rest of the team at Spirit and I’m honored for the opportunity to work with such a truly incredible roster of writers,” said Cheney.
As Senior Director of A&R at Spirit Music Group, James Cheney will be a high-level contributor to Spirit’s US creative operations, where he’ll be responsible for finding, signing and developing new talent as well as identifying opportunities for Spirit’s existing catalog and roster of artists, songwriters and producers.
As the premier global independent music publisher, Spirit Music Group’s roster features some of the most legendary names in popular music. Its repertoire includes music by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Santana, The Beach Boys, Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Alice Cooper, Chicago, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Eagles, Brad Paisley, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, The Go-Go’s, Madonna, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Ricky Martin, Keith Urban, Usher, Dido, Jewel, Jason Aldean and Mary J. Blige. The company also publishes the complete catalogs of such icons as Pete Townshend, Marc Bolan, Boz Scaggs, The Marshall Tucker Band, Toto, Billy Squier, Graham Nash, Joe Walsh, Charles Mingus, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Henry Mancini, and T.Bone Burnett, among many others.
Cheney got his start at Universal Music Publishing Group where he was Creative Director and from there went on to work at Songs Music Publishing, and Global Entertainment Publishing. Throughout his extensive career in A&R, Cheney has worked with some of the most talented artists, songwriters and producers in music, including The RZA, The Roots, The Matrix, DJ Mustard, and recent signings Jeff Gitelman and Jarami, to name a few. Cheney also brings experience in artist management and music supervision to Spirit.
ABOUT SPIRIT MUSIC:
Spirit Music Group, founded in 1995, is one of the world’s leading independent music publishers, owning and/or managing more than 75,000 songs spanning seven decades and every musical genre. The company’s repertoire reflects some of the most beloved songs and songwriters of all time, including hits by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley, Dion, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Santana, The Beach Boys, Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Alice Cooper, Pure Prairie League, Chicago, Crosy, Stills & Nash, The Eagles, Brad Paisley, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, The Go-Go’s, Madonna, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Ricky Martin, Keith Urban, Usher, Dido, Jewel, Jason Aldean and Mary J. Blige; the complete catalogs of such iconic songwriters and writer/artists as Pete Townshend, Marc Bolan, Boz Scaggs, The Marshall Tucker Band, Toto, Billy Squier, Graham Nash, Joe Walsh, Charles Mingus, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Henry Mancini, T.Bone Burnett, Rick Nowels, C&C Music Factory; and the breakthrough work of such newer artists as Scissor Sisters, The Naked & Famous, Matt & Kim, Kodaline, San Cisco, Zooey Deschanel, Eric Paslay, Big Data and James Bay.
Spirit has earned a strong reputation as an aggressive royalty administrator and a peerless promoter of its songs into film, television and advertising productions as well as a wide range of new media. In recent years, Spirit has helped transform the publisher’s role beyond royalty collection and song promotion to proactive career and legacy partnership by creating and executing marketing plans to revitalize its clients’ songs and expand their brands.
Spirit Music Group is headquartered in New York with offices in London, Los Angeles, Nashville and the Netherlands. Spirit is a portfolio company of Pegasus Capital Advisors, the New York-based private equity fund manager that has been providing creative capital and strategic solutions to growth companies since 1996.
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Spirit Music Group Media Contact:
Black Market Creative
Heather Glenn
310.765.1927 x707
hglenn@blackmarketcreative.com
