The veteran label executive and manager on D’Angelo, data and C-suite shakeups
FEW THINGS MAKE A RECORD executive happier than kicking off a new year by landing the No. 1 single in the country. Doubling up with a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as Migos did with their lead single “Bad and Boujee” and sophomore release Culture already in 2017, was welcome vindication for 300 Entertainment cofounder/CEO Kevin Liles.
The one-two punch couldn’t have come at a better time for the 3-year old independent company, founded in November 2013 by Liles, Lyor Cohen, Todd Moscowitz and Roger Gold as a forward-thinking, data-driven music company. Born in Baltimore, the 49-year old Liles joined Def Jam as an intern in 1991, rose to president in 1998 and, alongside Cohen and Moscowitz, built the label into a global powerhouse with stars like Jay Z, DMX and Ja Rule. In 2004, all three left for Warner Music Group, where Liles served as executive vp until 2009, when he left to form KWL Management, representing such artists as D’Angelo, Trey Songz and Mariah Carey.
The launch of 300 served as a reunion for the trio, and by 2015, the company was on a run of success with rappers like Fetty Wap and Young Thug and rock band Highly Suspect. But last September, Cohen abruptly announced he was leaving the company, in which he remains the largest individual investor, to become the global head of music at YouTube; six weeks later, Moscowitz followed him out the door to launch his own label, Alamo Records, in a joint venture with Universal Music Group.
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