Executive Turntable: Believe Unveils New Unified Structure; Suno Hires Marketing & Music Biz Development Execs

Believe has announced a major organizational restructuring designed to unify its commercial, product, and technology divisions to enhance its support for independent music creators. The move coincides with significant executive hires at Suno, which has brought on veterans from Atlantic Records and YouTube to lead its artist marketing and business development sectors. These leadership changes, along with a new CMO appointment at Luminate, reflect a broader trend of music companies integrating data, technology, and traditional industry expertise to drive future growth.

Believe has appointed Romain Becker as the company’s new group COO and Elsa Bahamonde Bourgain as president of artist services and label & artist solutions. This leadership change is part of a multi-year effort to unify Believe’s product, tech, and operations organizations, a process that includes the full integration of the DIY distribution platform TuneCore. Bahamonde Bourgain will be supported by Liubov Kevkhaian, the new VP of label & artist solutions, and Emmanuelle de Hosson, the new VP of artist services. CEO Denis Ladegaillerie stated that this unified structure is designed to sharpen the company's impact and create synergies between commercial and technical teams as the company pursues its 2030 ambitions.

AI music company Suno has expanded its leadership team by hiring Grace James as VP and head of artist marketing and editorial, alongside Christian Bowne as director and head of music business development. James brings extensive industry experience from previous roles as executive VP of creative marketing at Atlantic Records and marketing leadership positions at Roc Nation and TIDAL. Bowne joins after a 16-year tenure at YouTube, where he focused on major label business development. These hires signal Suno's intent to deepen its relationship with the professional music community, with James focusing on artist career sustainability and Bowne working to build technology partnerships that create long-term value for the music ecosystem.

Luminate, the data provider responsible for powering the Billboard charts, has named Brian Czarny as its new chief marketing officer. Czarny transitions to the music industry from Jupiter Intelligence, a climate risk analysis firm, where he also served as CMO. In his new role, Czarny will oversee marketing for a company that sits at the critical intersection of data and entertainment, providing the trends and signals used by major labels, publishers, and platforms to make business decisions. This appointment comes as Luminate continues to position itself as a primary source of market intelligence for the global music industry.