Bison, a New York- and Los Angeles-based music publisher, has formally launched with a roster of songwriters and a new leadership team. The company says it intends to find songwriters early and develop them throughout their careers.
Leadership team#
- Andrew Bergman, chief executive officer (CEO)
- Tom Lee, chief operating officer (COO) and founder of Catchweight Entertainment
- Juba Lee, chief creative officer, who previously led Diplo’s Mad Decent Publishing and has a background in artists and repertoire (A&R)
- Jenny Ilibassi, general manager (GM), who was formerly chief of staff at Downtown
Initial roster#
The launch roster features longtime Diplo collaborators Maxime and Clément Picard, together known as the Picard Bros., alongside the following writers and acts:
- Leclair, songwriter of “Swim”
- Maesic, writer of “Closer to You”
- Nitti, member of Sidepiece
- Kaien Cruz, writer of “Into the Sun”
- BomboCat, writer of “Saving This Bottle”
- Akira Evans, writer of “Body to Body”
- Groupthink
Bison expects to announce further signings “in the coming months.”
Stated goals#
Bison says it will focus on nurturing writers, creating new songs and growing its roster, with an emphasis on development and partnership. Diplo said the company would serve as a long-term professional home for its writers.
“At a moment when it feels like music needs an injection of originality, our writers are in a position to shape where music goes next,” Diplo said. “Andrew and I are creating a home for those writers, with a team that knows how to develop them and a company built to back them for the long term.”
Bergman said the company is built around discovering songs from writers the listener has not heard before, which he described as the core of music publishing.
“For me, there’s still nothing more exciting in music than discovering a great song from someone you’ve never heard of,” Bergman said. “That’s always been at the core of what makes music publishing a great business. And it’s what excited me about partnering with Diplo, one of the leading creative forces in the modern music business, and tmwrk, his management team and longtime business partners.
“We’re designed to identify and sign writers early, nurture them through the harsh realities of the music business and allow them to reap the benefits of their creative endeavors. Writers and the music publishers that serve them are at their best when they are in a collaborative mode and we intend to operate that way internally and externally,” he said.
