Better Noise announces promotion of Dan Waite to President as company expands its global footprint and ventures further into film 26 Feb 2021
Waite Set to Oversee All Music and Film Releases Across the Company’s Global Offices, Including Upcoming Projects from Papa Roach, Escape The Fate, Mötley Crüe, All Good Things, and the Highly-Anticipated Feature Horror Film ‘The Retaliators’
Today, Better Noise Music CEO Allen Kovac announced the promotion of Dan Waite to President of Better Noise Music. Upped from Managing Director, UK & Europe, Waite, based in the UK, will oversee all artist relations, and music and film content releases across the company’s global offices in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto, London, Berlin, Sydney, and newly opened offices in South America and South East Asia. He will report directly to Kovac.
A music industry veteran, Waite has a broad entertainment perspective and years of experience in all facets of the music industry from recorded music through to touring, TV and Radio broadcast, documentaries, print media, social media, streaming and physical distribution. Prior to joining Better Noise in 2017,he held positions at MTV Viacom International, Universal Records, Virgin Records, NME, O2 Arena, and BBC Studios and is an active member of AIM (Association of Independent Music), FAC (The Featured Artists Coalition), MMF (Music Managers Forum). He also sits as a current IMPALA Board Member where he’s recently been heavily involved in the organization’s diversity efforts to level the playing field across all hirings and freelancers.
“Dan Waite is a forward-thinking creative, and we are lucky to have him helping to steer the Better Noise ship with this new title of President,” said Kovac. “I’m elated that he’s quickly taken such a leadership role with all our staff, partners, artists and filmmakers. His diverse background in content development has been vital to our multimedia efforts. Dan is a consummate professional, and we look forward to him expanding our global footprint.”
“This promotion comes at an exciting time for Better Noise,” Waite added. “Mötley Crüe have some surprises in store for their fans in this their 40th anniversary year. Five Finger Death Punch already have 3 number 1’s from their current album F8, giving them a career total of 11 number 1’s. We have signed Tempt managed by Steve Strange and Andy Gould, and Eva Under Fire managed by Tony Couch & Mike Newman and Hyro the Hero managed by Scott Sheldon, Berko Pearce and Peyton Marek.”
Of the company’s global expansion, Waite continued, “Our expansion on the ground in Australia has paid dividends and our revenues have grown so we are looking to replicate that and expand into South America and then South East Asia, looking to either start local offices or purchase existing labels.”
Waite has also started to grow the Better Noise staff ahead of the company’s busy 2021, recruiting talent in key leadership roles. He said, “I was happy to be able to recruit Jimmy Harney as my first hire, who has joined as Head of Publicity from Sunshine Sachs to oversee the press from the label and also Better Noise Films. Jimmy will be running the press on our next film The Retaliators which features cameos many of our labels artists in the film and on the soundtrack and stars Marc Menchaca (Black Mirror / Ozark) and Joseph Gatt (Game of Thrones).”
Upcoming music releases from Better Noise’s label side include Papa Roach’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2 - The Better Noise Years due March 19, and Escape The Fate’s highly-anticipated new album Chemical Warfare, arriving April 16. Other upcoming releases include new projects from rock-focused bands like Nothing More, The Hu, Bad Wolves, country/rock artist Cory Marks, and alternative groups AWOLNATION, Dirty Heads, and Atlas Genius.
In addition to The Retaliators arriving later this year, Better Noise already has established itself as a film force with the release of 2020’s indie feature Sno Babies, which earned rave reviews for lead actress Katie Kelly, and 2019’s The Dirt, the Mötley Crüe biopic which premiered to millions of viewers on Netflix and saw Kovac in a producer role. Better Noise is also currently developing a scripted series.
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THE HEADLINES
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UK parliamentarians join call to regulate most powerful AI systems (see News)
Martin Mills is trying to thwart a record industry takeover by Universal (see Features)
IMPF says members should reject AI deals that do not value songs properly (see News)
Which songs do we replay the most? (see Analysis)
Spotify Wrapped 2025 goes live (see Digital)
Daddy Yankee files lawsuit against former manager and third parties for alleged royalty scheme (see News)
EU touring: Impact of Brexit worsening, says UK Music report (see Reports)
ORCA released a report analysing the economic investments and social impact of nine leading independent record labels (see Reports)
Jorja Smith’s label requests share of royalties from ‘AI-cloned’ song (see News)
A creative nation is a thriving nation (see Opinion)
Australian report also highlights how other non-US English-speaking countries are hit by algorithms (see Reports)
AI slop: Spotify, Tunecore, and credibility (see Comment)
