Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment revamps website and hires new staff
300 Entertainment, described as a “music content company” by its founder Lyor Cohen, has launched a new website and expanded, hiring 16 new members of staff.
300 was officially unveiled in November 2013 as a partnership between Cohen, Todd Moscowitz and Kevin Liles. The company had a 15 million war chest - curtesy of investors like Google and Columbus Nova - and made a big splash at Midem, where it announced a much-discussed partnership with Twitter which would enable it to use analytics for A&R purposes. Since then the company has gone on to develop a roster of artists that includes Alex Winston, Jacquie Lee, ASTR and Raz Simone.
The decision to revamp the website is due - according to Cohen’s interview with Billboard - to the need to re-focus the company around the artists that it signed so that the executives that had given it its initial momentum could take a back seat. The site’s introduction in fact is a YouTube video showcasing some of its key artists. The website also hints at a “new day zine”, called "I’m Only Bleeding Volume 1", which the site cryptically states is going to be released on October the 23rd. A magazine? A compilation? We’ll have to wait and see.
Cohen also took part in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit last night (21st of October). He was asked where he sees revenue possibilities in the future and listed streaming as number one, advertising as numb two, sales at number three, auxiliary licensing at number four and sync at number five.
Talking about A&R on the AMA he wrote: “I think A&R in general is GIGANTIC reason for a label to differentiate itself from the pack.”
Asked about where hip-hop music is heading, he said: "I think that one of the diseases of the music business is feeling like we could predict the future. Instead of taking care of the present. And the future will depend on us as an industry creating safe environments for our artists to create the future.”
Finally, His response to a detailed question on the Twitter partnership was more cryptic, limited to “We are constantly working with Twitter to help figure out the best tool for the creative community to use.”
Whilst the company caused a minor earthquake in the music community when the launch of another venture to which Cohen is associated as advisor - MADE Music - coincided with the appearance of a Tombstone and RIP sign on the 300 website, Cohen’s recent interview and the Reddit AMA shows that he’s as committed as ever to his venture. 300’s focus on A&R is another positive sign towards the longevity of the company since developing new artists takes time.
It will be interesting to see whether there will be any ties between MADE Music and 300 Entertainment going forward, since the former aims to reshape traditional artist development and there seem to be a high potential for collaboration between the two entities.
(Andrea Leonelli)