Parlophone Records has announced a flurry of key promotions and hires aimed at strengthening its position in the market and expanding its search for new UK talent.
Jack Melhuish has been named the label’s new general manager, reporting to co-presidents Nick Burgess and Mark Mitchell. Melhuish joined Parlophone as director of marketing, partnerships and strategy in 2018 and has played a key role in the label’s success since then, leading significant campaigns for the likes of Ashnikko, Coldplay, David Guetta, Gabriels, Gorillaz, Kano, PinkPantheress and Sam Ryder.
In his new role, he will continue to oversee and strategize campaigns for Parlophone’s roster of artists, while also taking on wider responsibilities within the label.
Mitchell said: “We’re delighted that Jack is taking on the new role of General Manager. Jack is one of the most dynamic and culturally insightful marketing executives in the industry today. His natural ability to understand artist positioning, narrative and the streaming ecosystem, make him an invaluable asset to our artists and the Parlophone label. With Jack’s increased responsibility over our artist campaigns, we look forward to continuing to break new acts and becoming an increasingly important music company and partner for our artists”
Melhuish added: “It’s an honour to step up into this role and I’d like to thank Nick and Mitch for giving me this huge opportunity. Parlophone is known for its unorthodox and boundary breaking artists and I want to continue delivering great results for them while contributing to the growth and success of our label.”
Parlophone also announced four key hires to bolster its A&R team. Arina Logacheva, Molly McNulty and Seb Smith have been appointed as senior A&R Managers, while Jason Ngimbi has been recruited as a junior A&R manager.
Logacheva joins from Universal Music, where she was a senior A&R manager based in Germany working across Virgin Records, Polydor and Island Records, and had major success with signings such as Medusa and Sophie and the Giants. McNulty moves to Parlophone after seven years at Kobalt Music Publishing, where she was most recently a senior A&R manager, signing acts such as Cat Burns, Knucks and Sam Fender. Smith joins Parlophone from Believe Music where he signed Knucks, Sainte and Nia Archives. Jason joins as a Junior A&R manager from BMG.
Speaking of the appointments, Burgess said: “Bringing in Arina, Molly, Seb and Jason re-affirms our belief that A&R is more vital than ever to Parlophone. Each one of them is an inspiring A&R, with excellent taste and a depth of musical knowledge that will bring an abundance of diverse and vibrant energy to the label. They will be fundamental in helping us to continue our mission to be at the forefront of signing and breaking culturally exciting artists.”
Parlophone has also promoted Grace O’Neill and Sam Palm, to head of radio and head of insight, respectively. O’Neill transferred to Parlophone from Warner Music Australia in 2019, where she was Head of Radio and has been a key figure in breaking acts such as Ashnikko, Diplo, PinkPantheress and Sam Ryder, amongst many others, at UK radio.
Palm will now oversee the newly created Insight department, where he will build on the work he’s been currently doing as the label’s streaming lead, by incorporating more extensive audience data to provide the label with increased expert analysis and value to artists’ campaigns. Both will report to Melhuish.