Tap Music co-founders Ben Mawson and Ed Millett are on the front cover of today’s new issue of Music Week – and they’ve also announced a raft of new developments as the company expands in 2020.
One key development is the appointment of David Glick as non-executive chairman. Glick is a music business veteran, having co-founded leading music and entertainment law firm Eatons, before going on to launch Edge Investments.
Edge’s investments span fast-growing businesses such as A Million Ads, Jungle Creations and Festicket, the world’s largest community website for music festivals.
Mawson said Glick was being brought in to “help across everything we do, developing our business in all the areas that we’ve got going on and the new ones we’ve started”.
“In recent years, I have focused on helping exceptional entrepreneurs in creative businesses seek global opportunities to solve problems, improve lives and advance the world,” said Glick. “Having worked in and around the music industry for 30 years, I am excited to be supporting some of the best talent the industry has to offer. I look forward to working closely with Tap’s founders Ben Mawson and Ed Millett in my role as non-executive chairman, assisting them with business strategy and acquisitions as they look to expand, while sharing market insights and operational expertise to ensure Tap’s clients continue to receive a level of representation which is second to none.”
Glick has also been both an executive and a non-executive director of Entertainment Rights (now part of DreamWorks), the UK media business which was quoted on the Official List and which grew from a start-up to a market capitalisation of approximately £380 million.
In our exclusive cover story, Mawson and Millett outline plans to move into other areas beyond music, including sports and fashion representation. And they are also keen to bring their record label and publishing operations up to the level of their management division, which represents superstar artists including Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding and Dermot Kennedy (all of whom are also interviewed in this week’s issue).
And Tap’s publishing ambitions have been boosted by the signing of top songwriter Karen Poole. Poole, once of ‘90s pop group Alisha’s Attic, has written with Del Rey and been behind hits for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Sugababes, The Shapeshifters and many more. She was previously represented by Ekko Music Rights Europe.
“I’m super excited to have signed my publishing to Tap,” said Poole. “Ben, Ed, Chris [Woo, senior A&R] and the team are forward thinking, dynamic and inspiring. I’m really looking forward to working together.”
“She’s an incredible writer so that’s a very exciting signing on the publishing side,” said Mawson. “We’re really looking forward to getting started.”
Mawson and Millett said there were other significant potential publishing deals in the works as they ramp up that element of the business. Tap Music Publishing is run in partnership with Universal Music Publishing Group. Mawson and Millett are shortlisted for Manager Of The Year at the 2020 Music Week Awards.
* For further revelations about Tap Music’s future plans, see the new issue of Music Week, available now. To make sure you can access Music Week wherever you are, sign up to our digital issue by clicking here.
FOLLOW 
