Bella Figura Music make two key hires

28 February 2024 - Press release

Billy Millar appointed Senior Vice President of Creative
Chris Presland named Catalogue Project Manager

Bella Figura Music, the independent creative music rights company founded by Alexi Cory-Smith and Neelesh Prabhu in 2022, has announced two key appointments.

The company , which since launch has made a number of high profile acquisitions from artists, writers and producers such as David Gray, R3HAB, Jeff Silverman, Darrel Brown and Guy Chambers, also has a boutique recordings division.

Billy Millar, who previously held senior executive roles at BMG and Hipgnosis, has been named Senior Vice President of Creative, with a remit to oversee global sync & creative output, while proactively creating new opportunities for the company’s catalogue.

With over a decade of experience and expertise across sync, publishing, recorded music & music acquisitions Billy has worked with numerous high-profile artists and has been a key part of creative and sync campaigns for the likes of Blink-182, Bon Jovi, Labrinth, Bicep, The Heavy, John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, Robbie Williams & many more.

Billy whose appointment is effective immediately, will be based in London and will report directly to Hannah Overton, Head of Operations.

He said, “I’m really pleased to be a part of Alexi & Neelesh’s vision to build a home for established catalogues. We aim to be as creative & innovative as possible to bring these iconic copyrights & recordings to new audiences.”

Alexi Cory-Smith Co-Founder & CEO of Bella Figura Music said, “When drafting the role of the person who would build and lead our sync business from scratch we wrote down, “creative, experienced, commercial, ambitious, data and tech orientated, self-starter, must share our values, passion and energy and will roll up their sleeves and do the dirty work as well as the big ticket and high-level stuff.” I had worked with Billy at BMG, and I knew he would be a great fit for Bella Figura. I am delighted he felt the same way.”
 
Bella Figura Music has also announced the appointment of Chris Presland to the role of Catalogue Project Manager. Among other responsibilities Chris will oversee the transition of David Gray’s recorded output to Secretly Distribution, which will include his bestselling album ‘White Ladder’, with global digital support and vinyl reissues across the entire catalogue.

Based in London Chris started his new role earlier this month and will also report to Hannah Overton who said, “We’re very pleased to have Chris join us to manage our catalogue, his knowledge, passion and skills will be of huge benefit to our artists.” 

Chris who joins Bella Figura Music from AWAL, where he spent eight years working on campaigns for a wide range of established artists and labels said, “I’m absolutely thrilled to have joined the team at Bella Figura and excited to be helping to build a truly innovative and forward-looking company. It’s a privilege to be part of such a world-class group of industry experts with a mission to nurture and grow the legacies and careers of some of the greatest artists in music. There’s a palpable sense of passion in the office that’s inspiring to be around, and I can’t wait to see what we achieve.”