James Diener - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

James Diener is the CEO-President of A&M/Octone Records

A&M/Octone Records

A&M/Octone Records is an American record label and a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Octone Records, also known as OctoScope Music...

, a joint venture between Octone Records and Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

. Headquartered in New York City, A&M/Octone Records

A&M/Octone Records

A&M/Octone Records is an American record label and a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Octone Records, also known as OctoScope Music...

is home to worldwide multi-platinum pop-rock superstars Maroon 5

Maroon 5

Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...

, platinum modern-rock act Flyleaf

Flyleaf

Flyleaf is an American alternative metal band, formed in the Belton and Temple, Texas regions in 2000. The band has charted on mainstream rock, Christian pop and Christian metal genres. They performed around the United States in 2003 until releasing their eponymous debut album, Flyleaf, in 2005....

, gold-selling modern rap-rockers Hollywood Undead

Hollywood Undead

Hollywood Undead is an American rap rock band from Los Angeles, California. They released their debut album, Swan Songs, on September 2, 2008, and their live CD/DVD Desperate Measures, on November 10, 2009. Their second studio album, American Tragedy, was released April 5, 2011...

, and internationally acclaimed hip-hop artist K'naan

K'naan

K'naan , born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978, is a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Somalia, K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there during the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia's most...

.

Previously in 2000, Diener established Octone Records, an independent label distributed through BMG

BMG

Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...

, while simultaneously holding the position of Senior Vice President of A&R-Marketing for the RCA Music Group

RCA Music Group

RCA Music Group was an umbrella group of labels distributed by Sony Music Entertainment that existed between March 2004 and 2009 and for a short period of time between July 2011 and October 2011 until all RCA Music Group labels were merged with RCA Records....

, now a division of Sony Music Entertainment

Sony Music Entertainment

Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....

, where he signed and developed platinum singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw

Gavin DeGraw

Gavin Shane DeGraw is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is known for his songs "Chariot", "Follow Through", "I Don't Want to Be" , "In Love with a Girl", and "Not Over You".-Early life:DeGraw grew up in the Catskills in South Fallsburg,...

. He formed a joint venture with Sony Music that gave his company the option to upstream successful acts signed to Octone with the RCA Music Group

RCA Music Group

/J Records

J Records

J Records was an American record label, owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment, and was distributed through the RCA Music Group.-Company history:...

.

Upon its launch, Diener was also well-known in the music industry for the entrepreneurial private-equity financing model.http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle/culture-inc/arts/2007/03/29/Sounds-Like-Money http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=507082&_requestid=30685

Prior to his dual status as President of Octone Records and Senior Vice President of A&R and Marketing at RCA Music Group

RCA Music Group

, Diener was Vice President of A&R and Marketing at Columbia

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

/SME Records

Sony Music Entertainment

from 1992 to 2000, where he worked with such platinum and developing artists as Aerosmith

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

, Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

(through American Recordings), Black Crowes (through American Recordings), Clutch

Clutch

A clutch is a mechanical device which provides for the transmission of power from one component to another...

, The Jayhawks (through American Recordings), Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

, Roger Waters

Roger Waters

George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...

, Chris Whitley

Chris Whitley

Christopher Becker Whitley was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Whitley changed his sound frequently, and achieved modest mainstream success while maintaining a small but devoted following...

, Jesse Malin

Jesse Malin

Jesse Malin is a rock musician. He has played with Heart Attack and D Generation. He is currently a solo recording artist.-Biography:...

, Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...

, Terence Trent D'Arby, and New Kids on the Block

New Kids on the Block

New Kids on the Block are an American boy band from Boston, Massachusetts, assembled in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr. The band currently consists of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood.New Kids on the Block enjoyed success in the late 1980s and...

, among others.

He is an accredited record producer and voting member of both NARAS the Academy of Magical Arts

Academy of Magical Arts

The Academy of Magical Arts is a California non profit mutual benefit corporation organized and devoted to the promotion and development of the art of magic.Although begun in 1952 as a loose association of magicians by William Larsen, Sr...

.

Diener began his formal career in 1991 at Columbia Records. Prior to that, he held various industry positions as a personal management associate and recording engineer. As the subject of a 2007 Harvard Business School case study, Diener has also been an invited guest speaker at New York University, Harvard Business School, Wharton School of Business, Berklee College of Music, and the Benjamin N. Cordoza School of Law. He delivered the Keynote Speech at the 2010 NARM Convention in Chicago.

Diener graduated in 1991 with honors with a Bachelor of Arts in both economics and sociology from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

External links

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