EMI MUSIC UK ANNOUNCES TWO SENIOR APPOINTMENTS IN MUSIC SERVICES AND PROMOTIONS & PUBLICITY

13 January 2012

EMI Music UK & Ireland has made two key appointments to its UK management board as part of its commitment to delivering successful outcomes for its roster of artists.

Effective immediately, Kevin McCabe is promoted to SVP EMI Promotions and Publicity and Michael Roe is promoted to SVP Music Services and Abbey Road Studios. Both McCabe and Roe will continue to report to EMI Music UK & Ireland CEO Andria Vidler.

Roe was previously VP Music Services for EMI Music UK. In this role, he was responsible for EMI’s Music Services department which provides services such as marketing, promotion, sales, distribution, etc for independent labels and artists, as well as Brand Partnerships in the UK. He now adds responsibility for Abbey Road Studios and the team there, led by Jonathan Smith, SVP EMI Studios.

McCabe was previously VP Promotions and PR where he was responsible for all promotions campaigns at the Parlophone label and more recently EMI’s catalogue release projects as well as the EMI Artist Publicity press team. In this new role, he will now oversee all promotions across EMI Music UK, including Virgin Records, and the publicity team will continue to report to him.

Vidler said: “I’m delighted to announce these very well deserved promotions for Kevin and Michael. They are both incredibly strong executives with the right combination of expertise, dedication and loyalty to the artists we work with and to EMI. EMI Music has undergone a huge transformation over the last few years which has made us stronger and more effective. Michael and Kevin have played crucial roles within the team in helping us to adapt to those changes and so I’m very pleased to give them these expanded responsibilities.”

McCabe said: “I’ve been so fortunate over my years with EMI to have worked with the incredible artists on Parlophone and more recently with the likes of Noel Gallagher through Label Services and Pink Floyd through our catalogue division, and now I get to work with the fantastic artists on Virgin Records as well. To oversee and lead the planning and executing of promotional and publicity strategies for the whole amazing portfolio of artists at EMI is a huge honour, as is leading our brilliant team of promo people and publicists who are the best in the business.”

Roe said: “It’s been so rewarding to have been part of the team that formed and has built EMI Music Services and I’m very excited about the potential it has for future development. The work we have done with Noel Gallagher, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and so many other amazing partners shows we’ve developed and can deliver a meaningful alternative for artists to the traditional record company relationship. Abbey Road is simply the best recording studio in the world and it’s every music lover’s dream to work with them. It’s as important today as it ever was and I’m so excited about this opportunity to help Jonathan and his world class team there.”

Roe held a number of roles at HMV before joining Virgin Records’ sales team as West Midlands rep in 1989. In 1995 he was appointed Field Sales Manager and two years later became Sales Manager for the whole label. In 2002 Roe was promoted to European Sales Director for EMI Music and in 2009 was appointed Vice President of the newly formed EMI Music Services division in the UK. Since then Roe has overseen the growth of EMI Music Services into one of the industry’s leading services providers, working with artists including Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Noel Gallagher, Beady Eye, Charlene Soraia, Little Dragon, I Am Kloot, Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Journey and Yes. In 2011 he was named VP Music Services, adding responsibility for EMI Music’s Brand Partnerships team.

McCabe started working at EMI in 1990 in the sales division before joining Parlophone’s regional radio promotions team in 1993. He moved to national radio promotions in 1996, becoming Head of Radio Promotions for Parlophone in 2003, and in 2008 was promoted to VP Promotions and PR. During his career McCabe has worked with a wide variety of artists including Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Tinie Tempah, Radiohead, Blur, Lily Allen, Eliza Doolittle, Noel Gallagher, Pink Floyd and The Beatles. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his work for EMI’s artists including winning National Radio Plugger of the Year at the Radio Academy Awards five times, most recently in 2008.