QUICK HITS: New IFPI CEO • WCM + EA • Believe + Kidding Aside • King Street Sounds is back!

IFPI, the recording industry’s worldwide trade group, has named Victoria Oakley its new CEO. Oakley will join IFPI in June from Portland, the global strategic communications and advocacy consultancy, where she is currently CEO.

Oakley spent three years at Portland before joining Google as its Global Public Policy Director, then returned to Portland in 2022 to take up the CEO role.

Oakley will lead IFPI’s global operations to promote the value of recorded music and the rights of its 8,000 record company members from 70 countries around the world.

• Warner Chappell Music (WCM) has entered into an exclusive publishing agreement with Electronic Arts (EA) to administer music across its gaming portfolio.

WCM Co-Chair and COO, Carianne Marshall, “Steve [Schnur] and I have known each other for over twenty years and collaborated on countless amazing projects. He and his team are best in class, and it’s great to be working together once again to administer their catalog and drive even more opportunities for their songs.” 

• Believe and Kidding Aside have announced a strategic partnership with the creation of All Night Long electronic music label. 

The label will provide artists with a comprehensive toolkit, specialized digital know-how, and dedicated promotional and marketing teams tailored to electronic music’s specificities. The initial lineup of artists includes NTO, Folamour, TDJ, Urumi, The Acid Arab Collective, and Trym.

• Following BEAT Music Fund’s acquisition of King Street Sounds, Armada Music is honoring and preserving the Black and LGTBQ-led house movement that started 30 years ago at Paradise Garage with the relaunch of the label.

The relaunch includes a remix package featuring talents like South African DJ Kasango, Demuja, and Demi Riquisimo and a documentary on the history of the label, created in partnership with Beatport.

Bruce Houghton