Latest Music Industry Hires: Ivors Academy, Secretly, MNRK, More

Hannah Angst, Secretly Distribution’s director of label and shared services. Photo Credit: Secretly

Here’s a recap of recent music industry hires and in-house promotions as of May 22nd, 2026.

If you have a job shuffle to share, we’re all ears. Send us a note to news@digitalmusicnews.com. If you’d like to post a job on our Job Board, just send us a request to noah@digitalmusicnews.com. And, keep track of all the latest music industry hires here.

Ivors Academy

The Ivors Academy has announced Elton John as its first president. In the “newly established ambassadorial role,” the 14-time Ivor Novello winner will champion “the value of music creation” and advocate “for the rights and recognition of music creators worldwide.”

Secretly Distribution

Secretly Distribution has welcomed The Orchard vet Hannah Angst as director of label and shared services. Additionally, after more than 20 years with the company, Jacqui Resur has been boosted to client relations VP.

MNRK

MNRK Music Group has elevated Dan Hawie from marketing and A&R director to MD at Last Gang Records.

Spin Magazine

Spin has expanded into Canada and named NXNE founder Michael Hollett editor-in-chief.

IDOL

Indie distributor IDOL has brought on longtime Secretly exec Evan Whikehart as GM for North America.

UK Music

Catriona Laing is set to begin as UK Music’s chair on June 1st.

Sony Music Publishing

SMP has upped ZaZa Kazadi, who came aboard in 2024, to senior A&R director for the UK and Europe.

AEG Presents UK

Ahead of British Airways ARC’s June 16th opening night, AEG Presents UK has brought on longtime live professional Robbie Powell as the venue’s GM.

Stability AI

Former Universal Audio chief digital officer Ethan Kaplan has signed on as Stability AI’s head of audio product.

Y Royalties

Previously with KPMG and PwC, Paritosh Dagar has joined Y Royalties as chief technology and AI officer.

Merlin

Merlin has confirmed four promotions, bumping: Jim Mahoney (who’s been part of the team for 12 years) to chief membership officer; Bela Zecker (three years) to senior director of global membership development; London-based Joe Mercer Danher (six years) to member relations director; and Ben Sperling (the better part of three years) to global membership development manager.

Missing Piece Group

Missing Piece has boosted 13-year team member Erik Andersen to VP of publicity.

PRS

The PRS Members’ Council has added writers Dobs Vye and Emily Phillips, besides welcoming back Audio Network’s Simon Anderson. Additionally, UMPG’s Ross Greening has been appointed as a publisher member.

BMG + Concord

RTL Group CEO Björn Bauer is expected to step in as CFO of the combined BMG and Concord; existing BMG CFO Mathis Wolter is poised to transition to a new role at Bertelsmann.

Ticketek

Ticketek Entertainment Group CEO Brad Banducci is preparing to step down at May’s end, when COO and global ticketing head Cameron Hoy will assume the role.

Activist Artists

Longtime Activist Artists manager and A&R exec Anna Kolander has become a partner.

Records

Sony Music’s and Barry Weiss’ Records has promoted Andrew Saltman and Sara Gil to artist development SVP and GM, respectively.