Steve Barnett (music executive)
Encyclopedia
Steve Barnett is the Co-president of Columbia Records
.
, Cyndi Lauper
, Foreigner
, and Gary Moore
, among other artists. In 1988 he established Part Rock's U.S. company, Hard to Handle Management, where he served as President.
Barnett joined Epic Records
in 1996 as Senior Vice President International, was named Senior Vice President Worldwide Marketing for the label in 1997, then Executive Vice President/ General Manager in 2001. He was named President of Epic in 2004. At Epic Barnett took a key role in marketing artists including Pearl Jam
, Audioslave
, Shakira
, Jennifer Lopez
, Franz Ferdinand
, Modest Mouse
, Good Charlotte
and Natasha Bedingfield
.
In December 2005 he became Co-president of Columbia Records
, with responsibility for the management of the label.
Barnett has presided over successful campaigns for Beyoncé, John Mayer
, Maxwell
, AC/DC
, Susan Boyle
, soprano prodigy Jackie Evancho
and the marketing and release of the Glee
soundtracks. He has also overseen critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums by artists including Bob Dylan
, Bruce Springsteen
, Barbra Streisand
, Neil Diamond
, Celine Dion
and Harry Connick Jr., as well as breaking new artists such as Grammy winner Adele
, along with two of 2010's Best New Artist nominees MGMT
and The Ting Tings.
Columbia has forged label deals with both Nickelodeon
(producing new artists Miranda Cosgrove
, Big Time Rush
, and Victoria Justice) and Jay-Z
’s Roc Nation, while restructuring the company’s marketing efforts into two teams. He also helped forge an innovative marketing agreement with Integrity Music Group, one of the leading companies in the Christian Music market.
Barnett was instrumental in bringing AC/DC to Sony Music, where they have since sold over 38 million albums.
Columbia’s accomplishments during Barnett’s tenure include scoring the label's biggest first week sales with AC/DC’s Black Ice
which resulted from an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart
(this was also AC/DC’s biggest debut sales week ever). Columbia also delivered I Dreamed A Dream by newcomer Susan Boyle, the fastest and biggest selling album released in 2009. Columbia scored three consecutive #1 albums and over 4 million albums sold worldwide with the TV show Glee. This period also saw Bob Dylan release back to back #1 albums with Modern Times
and Together Through Life
, as well as Neil Diamond receiving his first #1 album with the release of Home Before Dark
.
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...
.
Life and career
Barnett began his music career as an agent in London in 1970, working for the Bron Agency [Gerry Bron] and dealing with legendary bands such as Colosseum and Uriah Heep. He would briefly manage Rough Diamond in 1977, a short lived British band that featured David Byron [ex Uriah Heep], Dave Clempson [ex Colosseum] and Geoff Britton [ex Wings]. In 1980 he became a manager and partner in the UK artist management firm Part Rock, where his clients included AC/DCAC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
, Foreigner
Foreigner (band)
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
, and Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
, among other artists. In 1988 he established Part Rock's U.S. company, Hard to Handle Management, where he served as President.
Barnett joined Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
in 1996 as Senior Vice President International, was named Senior Vice President Worldwide Marketing for the label in 1997, then Executive Vice President/ General Manager in 2001. He was named President of Epic in 2004. At Epic Barnett took a key role in marketing artists including Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
, Audioslave
Audioslave
Audioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...
, Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
, Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...
, Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...
and Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield is a British pop singer and songwriter. Bedingfield debuted in the 1990s as a member of the Christian dance/electronic group The DNA Algorithm with her siblings Daniel Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle...
.
In December 2005 he became Co-president of Columbia Records
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...
, with responsibility for the management of the label.
Barnett has presided over successful campaigns for Beyoncé, John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
, Maxwell
Maxwell (musician)
Maxwell , is an American R&B, funk and neo soul musician. He played an important role in the development of the soul sub-genre, neo-soul.-Early life:...
, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle
Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from ...
, soprano prodigy Jackie Evancho
Jackie Evancho
Jacqueline Marie "Jackie" Evancho is an American child singer described as a classical crossover artist. After entering some talent competitions, issuing an independent album, Prelude to a Dream, and attracting interest on YouTube, she gained wider popularity in 2010 with her performances in the...
and the marketing and release of the Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
soundtracks. He has also overseen critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums by artists including 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...
, 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...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
and Harry Connick Jr., as well as breaking new artists such as Grammy winner Adele
Adele (singer)
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
, along with two of 2010's Best New Artist nominees MGMT
MGMT
MGMT is an American alternative rock band founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. After the release of their first album, the members of their live band, Matthew Asti, James Richardson and Will Berman, joined the core band in the studio...
and The Ting Tings.
Columbia has forged label deals with both Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
(producing new artists Miranda Cosgrove
Miranda Cosgrove
Miranda Taylor Cosgrove is an American actress and singer-songwriter. Her career began at the age of three, where she participated in television commercials. Cosgrove's film debut was in 2003, as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock...
, Big Time Rush
Big Time Rush
Big Time Rush is a Nickelodeon television series created by Scott Fellows about the Hollywood misadventures of four hockey players from Minnesota—Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos, after they are selected to form a boy band. The series premiered with an hour-long pilot episode, "Big Time...
, and Victoria Justice) and Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
’s Roc Nation, while restructuring the company’s marketing efforts into two teams. He also helped forge an innovative marketing agreement with Integrity Music Group, one of the leading companies in the Christian Music market.
Barnett was instrumental in bringing AC/DC to Sony Music, where they have since sold over 38 million albums.
Columbia’s accomplishments during Barnett’s tenure include scoring the label's biggest first week sales with AC/DC’s Black Ice
Black Ice World Tour
Black Ice World Tour was a 2008/2009/2010 concert tour by Australian rock band AC/DC in support of the group's 15th studio album, Black Ice, which was released in October 2008. The tour was the band's first since the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour in 2000/2001.The jaunt began in Wilkes-Barre,...
which resulted from an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
(this was also AC/DC’s biggest debut sales week ever). Columbia also delivered I Dreamed A Dream by newcomer Susan Boyle, the fastest and biggest selling album released in 2009. Columbia scored three consecutive #1 albums and over 4 million albums sold worldwide with the TV show Glee. This period also saw Bob Dylan release back to back #1 albums with Modern Times
Modern Times (Bob Dylan album)
Modern Times is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 32nd studio album, released by Columbia Records in August 2006. The album was Dylan's third straight to be met with nearly universal praise from fans and critics...
and Together Through Life
Together Through Life
Together Through Life is the 33rd studio album by Bob Dylan, released on April 28, 2009, on Columbia Records. The album debuted at number one in several countries, including the U.S. and the UK...
, as well as Neil Diamond receiving his first #1 album with the release of Home Before Dark
Home Before Dark
Home Before Dark is a studio album released by American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond in 2008. It became his first U.S. number-one album ever on the Billboard 200 chart, with sales of over 146,000 copies in its first week. It has also reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. As of June 28, 2008,...
.