Indie distributor and music services company Symphonic Distribution is expanding its presence in Puerto Rico through a partnership with recently-formed indie label High Ground Music (HGM) and the appointment of Victor Roque as Senior Director, A&R and Client Development for Latin America.<\/p>\n
The partnership with HGM will combine Symphonic\u2019s distribution platform with HGM\u2019s \u201ccreative vision, fast-release strategy, and artist-first development model,\u201d Symphonic said in a statement on Thursday (September 4).<\/p>\n
HGM is led by several former execs at Rimas Entertainment<\/strong>, the Puerto Rico-headquartered indie label best known for representing Bad Bunny<\/strong>. Among those execs is Kamil Jacob \u201cKJ\u201d Assad<\/b>, HGM\u2019s CEO and a producer and A&R known for helping discover artists such as Eladio Carri\u00f3n<\/strong>, Mora<\/strong>, and ROA<\/strong>, as well as award-winning songwriter Dirty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cHigh Ground\u2019s vision is speed with intention: create, release, learn, repeat,\u201d Assad said. <\/b>\u201cWith Symphonic, we have the platform and scale to deliver that vision globally, while keeping artists at the center.\u201d<\/p>\n Also on HGM\u2019s leadership team is Federico Carmona<\/b>, who serves Co-CEO and Managing Partner & Creative Director. Carmona spent a decade as Senior Label Manager, A&R and Label Relations for Rimas, where he led project management and creative direction for Eladio Carri\u00f3n, Jowell & Randy<\/strong>, \u00d1engo Flow<\/strong>, Corina Smith<\/strong>, Cazzu<\/strong>, and Kiko El Crazy<\/strong>, among others.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is simple, to give artists the high ground they need to elevate and break barriers,\u201d Carmona said.<\/b> \u201cWe see potential where others don\u2019t, we take risks where others won\u2019t, and we keep going when others won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n HGM is launching with a fresh roster of artists including Fonta<\/b>, Okayyy<\/b> and the visionary Colombian producer-artist CUZ<\/b>, whose credits include Bad Bunny\u2019s Velda<\/em>, multiple tracks on Eladio Carri\u00f3n\u2019s latest album DON KBRN<\/i>, Quevedo<\/strong>, Feid<\/strong>, and more.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us at Symphonic as well as High Ground strongly believe in putting artists first,\u201d Symphonic CEO Jorge Brea<\/strong> added. \u201c<\/b>We have big plans for our growth in Puerto Rico and beyond that [are] already beginning to come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHigh Ground\u2019s vision is speed with intention: create, release, learn, repeat.”<\/p>\n KJ Assad, High Ground Music<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Also as part of its effort to expand its presence in Puerto Rico and the broader Caribbean region, Symphonic has appointed business development expert Victor Roque<\/strong> to the role of Senior Director, A&R and Client Development, LATAM.<\/p>\n In this role, Roque will lead Symphonic\u2019s efforts in artist acquisition and catalog growth across the Caribbean region. He will be based in Puerto Rico and will report to Symphonic\u2019s VP of LATAM Business Development, Greg Vinas.<\/b><\/p>\n Roque brings with him a decade of experience leading the marketing team and the LaMusica app for the Spanish Broadcasting System<\/strong> (SBS<\/strong>), a US-based media company specializing in Spanish-speaking audiences.<\/p>\n As National Director of Marketing and Special Events at SBS, he oversaw the teams responsible for radio and events promotion, experiential marketing, and business development for the digital division. He also played a key role in developing and growing the LaMusica app.<\/p>\n Through his company Looking Pop<\/strong>, Roque oversees marketing for artists including Randy Nota Loca<\/strong> from the iconic duo Jowell & Randy, Lenny Tav\u00e1rez<\/strong>, Rafa Pab\u00f3n<\/strong>, Shadow Blow<\/strong>, DJ John Elle<\/strong>, and others.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout my career, my passion has always been to connect with and showcase the incredible talent of Latin American artists,\u201d Roque said. \u201cSymphonic shares this passion and is constantly on the pulse of the best and brightest new talent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c<\/b>We have big plans for our growth in Puerto Rico and beyond that [are] already beginning to come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n Jorge Brea, Symphonic<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cVictor\u2019s deep knowledge of the LATAM music ecosystem and impressive track record made him a natural fit to lead our growth efforts in the region,\u201d Vinas added.\u00a0\u201cI look forward to welcoming the many new artists that will undoubtedly be joining the Symphonic family as a result of both of these exciting developments.\u201d<\/p>\n Founded in 2006 in Tampa, Florida, by Jorge Brea, Symphonic has expanded its presence from the US to Latin America, Brazil, Canada<\/a>, the Caribbean, Europe<\/a>, Africa, and Asia.<\/p>\n Its roster of current and past artists include Imogen Heap<\/strong>, Tokischa<\/strong>, Doechii<\/strong>, Surf Mesa<\/strong>, DJ Muggs<\/strong> (Cypress Hill), Daddy Yankee<\/strong>, Nicky Jam<\/strong>, Ozuna<\/strong>, El Alfa<\/strong>, Juan Luis Guerra<\/strong>, Onyx<\/strong>, Pi\u2019erre Bourne<\/strong>, Nick Murphy<\/strong>\/Chet Faker<\/strong>, Rob Garza<\/strong> (Thievery Corporation), CloZee<\/strong>, Freddie Gibbs<\/strong>, and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The partnership brings Symphonic’s distribution platform together with HGM’s ‘creative vision, fast-release strategy, and artist-first development model’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":239305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[134544,134542,4642,134541,2927,134543],"class_list":["post-239302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-greg-vinas","tag-high-ground-music","tag-jorge-brea","tag-kj-assad","tag-symphonic-distribution","tag-victor-roque"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239302"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239309,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239302\/revisions\/239309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}