ADA Worldwide continues its global expansion with the launch of ADA Russia and ADA Italy.
Warner Music’s services division has also made several key hires across Central Europe, India and Latin America. It follows the 2020 launches of teams covering Benelux; Latin America, Portugal and Spain; Asia; Japan; and France.
Cat Kreidich took the reins as president of ADA earlier this year.
Cat Kreidich said: “I’m thrilled to continue ADA’s global expansion with the launch of ADA Russia and Italy, and these key hires around the world. There is so much opportunity in this space. I’m confident that our services stand out and am excited to offer even more artists and labels all over the world the benefits of both a global network and local intelligence and networking. I can’t wait to work with these teams as ADA continues to be the global indie music community’s biggest champion.”
ADA Russia is headquartered in Moscow and led by Alexander Kasparov. Having started out as a music journalist, Kasparov most recently served as marketing director for Warner Music Russia for the past seven years, and also co-founded his own Berlin-based record label, East Blok Music.
Alexander Kasparov said: “The Russian music scene is exploding at the moment and independent labels and artists are at the heart of the action. We’re excited to be open for business and I think you’ll see us expand rapidly over the next few months.”
The local operation has already signed deals including the catalogue of rock band Gorky Park and singer Olga Kormukhina, as well as working with Artyom Umrikhin’s Self Made Music label. ADA Russia’s launch follows the unveiling of Atlantic Records Russia in March.
ADA Italy is headquartered in Milan and led by Davide D’Aquino, who oversees A&R and business development for the newly formed group. His extensive music experience background includes distribution, management and PR at companies including Parole & Dintorni, one of Italy’s leading music PR agencies, and RAI, Italy's public broadcasting company.
D’Aquino joins ADA Italy from Artist First, where he served as head of A&R. He will be supported by new A&R and marketing manager Riccardo Cresseri, who also joins ADA from Artist First, where he spent three years working in A&R. D’Aquino will report to Marco Alboni, chairman and CEO of Warner Music Italy.
Davide D’Aquino said: “Italy has always had a strong indie scene, but we want to do more to help our independent artists reach a global fanbase. We’re also here to complement Warner Music Italy’s presence domestically to broaden the routes to market we can offer to local artists.”
ADA has also made a number of additional key hires in markets where it already operates.
ADA Central Europe has named Larissa Lueters as head of ADA Central Europe, based in Hamburg. ADA India has brought in Swapnali Pundlik to accelerate its activity in the region.
ADA Latin, led by Juan Paz, has continued to build out its teams across the region with the appointment of Ignacio Alarcon, commerce and marketing manager for ADA Iberia. He was previously a member of the commercial team for Universal Music Spain, where he was the lead account manager for Spotify.
Catalina Cordoba, commerce & marketing manager for the Andes region (which includes Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru), handles relations with digital service providers and distribution marketing efforts. Cordoba’s background includes working for the Red Bull Latin America team, Sony Colombia, and Deezer.
Gonzalo "Chalo" Galvan is now A&R and business development manager for ADA Mexico, while Karla Ollie has been appointed as commerce & marketing manager, ADA Brazil. Eduardo Rivadeneira has moved from Sony US Latin to become manager, operations & support, ADA Latin, overseeing operations for the entire ADA Latin team.
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