Arista Records President and CEO David Massey has hired a trio of key executives to work across the newly-relaunched Sony label’s marketing team.
Brian Vinikoor has been named Vice President of Marketing. In this role, he will be responsible for driving Arista’s overall marketing strategy, working closely with the company’s partners across the industry to create innovative and comprehensive plans for developing the careers of Artista’s artists and bringing their releases to market.
Dieuwertje (“Dee”) Heuvelings has been named Senior Director, A&R and Marketing. In this role she will be responsible for both identifying new artists across all genres, including urban and hip-hop, and building digital-focused marketing strategies for the entire Arista roster.
Ethan Geltzer has been named Senior Director of Digital Marketing & Branding. In this role he will be responsible for creating and executing digital marketing strategies to build awareness around Arista artists and releases, as well as working with artists on developing their brand identities. He will also be responsible for further advancing the label’s brand identity as an iconic tastemaker.
Based in New York, Vinikoor, Heuvelings and Geltzer report to Massey.
Vinikoor joins Arista from management services company, mtheory, where he was Senior Director of Strategic & Digital Partnerships, responsible for conceptualizing and executing partnerships across a roster of over 80 artists, including Major Lazer, Twenty One Pilots, Kacey Musgraves, NF, and Flume. During this time, he also helped to revive the historic Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, NY, and from 2009-2013 he launched and headed the marketing division of Secret Road, a music management and licensing company. He began his career with Glassnote Records.
“We are building Arista as a new model major label, and they each are forward-thinking industry professionals with experience outside of the recorded music business who bring a tremendous amount of creativity and expertise to the company.”
David Massey, Arista
Heuvelings joins Arista from Spotify where she was an Amsterdam-based Senior Editor responsible for curating 75 official playlists across R&B, Pop, Hip-Hop and Dance. This included oversight of a number of influential playlists, such as Mellow Bars, Bedroom Jams and Low Key, that drove global fan awareness of many new and developing artists. Previously, she served in A&R and curation roles for MassiveMusic.
Prior to joining Arista, Ethan Geltzer was founder and CEO of KNCTRNL Artist MGMT, a full service artist management company working with a roster of producer and DJ clients including Lookas, smle, Rob Garza, Just A Gent, and MEMBA. He previously served as Digital Marketing Manager at Island Records where he initiated and executed digital marketing strategies on behalf of artists including Mike Posner, Fall Out Boy, The Killers, Neon Trees, American Authors, and The Vamps.
Stated Massey, “I am delighted to welcome Brian, Dee and Ethan to the team. We are building Arista as a new model major label, and they each are forward-thinking industry professionals with experience outside of the recorded music business who bring a tremendous amount of creativity and expertise to the company. I look forward to working with them to develop progressive and innovative approaches to marketing, branding and discovery that will help our artists advance their careers and connect with audiences on a global scale.”
Stated Vinikoor, “I am thrilled to join David Massey in relaunching Arista Records. This is a rare opportunity to build a music company from the ground up, and I look forward to helping create an environment that fosters innovation and puts the careers of our artists at the center of each and every marketing decision. To be part of this iconic label’s next chapter is truly exciting, and I can’t thank David enough for including me on this journey.”
Stated Heuvelings, “Arista is a legendary label run by a marvelous team and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of its next chapter. I’d like to thank David Massey for this amazing opportunity and I look forward to being part of the development and the creative process while continuing to do what makes me truly thrive, finding great talent and introducing artists to an audience.”
Stated Geltzer, “I would like to thank David Massey for this incredible opportunity. I’m really excited to work with such an inspiring and talented team on building an iconic label from the ground up, and I look forward to helping our artists create authentic brands that resonate with fans around the world.”
[Pictured L-R: Brian Vinikoor, Dee Heuvelings and Ethan Geltzer]Music Business Worldwide
