TikTok ups Paul Hourican to global head of music ops
TikTok has promoted Paul Hourican to global head of music operations.
The London-based executive joined the business in November 2019 as head of music operations for the UK and Europe.
During his time at the ByteDance-owned platform, Hourican has focused on the major music markets across Europe and has taken responsibility for music strategy and its execution in the region.
Hourican will now lead a team to coordinate the company’s music campaigns globally, including its work with artists and labels.
Prior to joining TikTok, Hourican worked as the head of international artist marketing at YouTube, in New York, between 2017 and 2019.
He was a music curation lead at the platform prior to that, between 2015 and 2017.
Hourican will now lead a team to coordinate the company’s music campaigns globally
Before he worked at YouTube, Hourican was the head of talent and music at MTV UK in London.
Announcing his new role in a LinkedIn post on Thursday (29 September), Hourican said: “More to follow, but very excited and grateful to be taking on a new gig at TikTok as global head of music operations.
“It’s truly a privilege to come to work every day with such an incredibly talented and passionate group of teammates, so I’m beyond excited for the journey ahead, to continue supporting our incredible partners and our artist community and to make some new friends along the way.”
Meanwhile, Isabel Quinteros Annous has been upped to global lead of music partnerships at TikTok.
Quinteros Annous’ staff will collaborate with regional music teams across all territories to amplify key campaigns and tentpole events, as well as maximise artist opportunities across all of parent company Bytedance products.
Quinteros Annous, based in Los Angeles, previously held roles at the Chamber Group, PMK-BNC, Rubenstein and 5W.
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Billie Eilish to debut Bond theme at 2020 Brits
Billie Eilish will perform the official theme song to the new James Bond film live for the first time at the Brit Awards 2020 on Tuesday 18 February.
The Paradigm-repped artist, who recently became the second artist ever to take home all four top awards at the Grammys, is debuting ‘No Time to Die’ with her brother and producer Finneas, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and an orchestral arrangement by Hans Zimmer and Matt Dunkley.
Eilish is nominated for the international female solo artist award at the Brits, along with Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey, Lizzo and Camila Cabello.
Taking place at London’s 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, other performances at the live-focused event will come from Brits rising star winner Celeste, Dave, Harry Styles, Lewis Capaldi, Lizzo, Mabel and Stormzy and will be hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall.
London rapper Dave and scottish singer Lewis Capaldi lead the way with Brit nominations this year, with four apiece for male solo artist, song of the year, album of the year and best new artist.
Billie Eilish will perform the official theme song to the new James Bond film live for the first time at the Brit Awards 2020
Mabel is also nominated for multiple awards, appearing in the female solo artist, song of the year and best new artist nominees. Across the eight categories awarded on the night, the singer is the only woman to receive a nomination outside of the female-only awards, asides from Miley Cyrus’ feature on Mark Ronson’s ‘Nothing Breaks Like a Heart’ in the song of the year category.
Stormzy – who is this year headlining Reading and Leeds, Pohoda and Sziget – is up for male solo artist, song of the year and album of the year.
The Brits is this year partnering with short-form mobile video platform TikTok, which will livestream the arrival of nominees and others on the Brits red carpet, including an exclusive live performance from Lewis Capaldi.
“Our BRITs 2020 partnership is part of a wider UK programme that aims at collaborating with and educating labels, managers and artists to make the most out of the platform, taking advantage of TikTok’s unique creativity to engage with their fans and connect with a new global audience,” comments Paul Hourican, TikTok’s head of music operations, UK.
Hourican will be delivering a workshop on how music industry professionals can make the most of TikTok at the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) on 4 March.
The Brit Awards 2020 is taking place on Tuesday 18 February at the O2, broadcast live on ITV from 7.30 p.m.
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