A few days ago, we reported that Roadrunner Records president Jonas Nachsin stepped down, officially ushering in the new era of Roadrunner, as a "brand" of the Atlantic Music Group, which is a subsidy of Warner Music.
At the end of the day, nine additional employees were let go, "mostly in the finance, royalty and IT areas" according to Billboard, but we also know of a publicist being let go. Anyway, the question remained, who would take charge of the label? We now have the answer…
Billboard reports:
Mike Easterlin, head of promotion at Roadrunner Records, has ascended to GM, filling the void created by the departure of label president Jonas Nachsin, which was announced yesterday.
Earlier this month, Easterlin received another promotion when he was named GM of Fueled By Ramen. A source told Billboard.biz that Easterlin will oversee both Roadrunner and Fueled by Ramen but that they will have separate staffs.
In taking the reigns at Roadrunner, Easterlin, who will report to Atlantic Records Group co-chairman/CEO Craig Kallman and co-chairman/COO Julie Greenwald, will work with senior VP of A&R David Rath and senior VP of marketing & creative services Madelyn Scarpulla in running the label.
I don't quite understand how one person can maintain two, relatively major labels, but I guess that's the type of priority Warner is giving their baby hard rock/metal label these days.
I spoke to a few people who work at Roadrunner and the thought process seems to be that the worst of it is behind them, with the restructuring done at this point. Everybody is now trying to look toward the future and working releases in the new year.
I'm hearing the label is more interested in signing new and established metal acts than they have been in the last few years. The label will be moving to the Midtown Atlantic Records office in early December. The move is being met with some positivity, as the Atlantic office has a lot more assets that the label could use to their benefit.
We hope things work out for Roadrunner, as a label. It's been a staple of the metal community for over 30 years, and here's hoping they continue to be a driving force in the metal community.
