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JOHN JANICK, 39
Chairman/CEO, Interscope Geffen A&M
STEVE BERMAN, 54
Vice chairman, Interscope Geffen A&M
Last Year’s Rank: 27
DAMN, WHAT A YEAR: Interscope was among the top labels in music consumption — 12.3 million album sales, 44 million singles sales and over 29 billion streams, 12 percent of them generated by Kendrick Lamar‘s DAMN. (3.4 billion audio streams).
VERS-ART-ILITY: Although its roster has no shortage of album-selling artists, including Lady Gaga and Eminem, Interscope has revamped its strategy to emphasize streaming. The label viewed Selena Gomez‘s 2015 album, Revival, for example, as a collection of singles. “We consciously put out single after single, making sure she was one of the most-streamed females,” says Janick. Berman adds that flexibility is key. “In some cases it’s about that body of art — an album,” he says. “And for some artists it’s a fluid experience where they’re creating and releasing singles.”
POTENTIAL INDUSTRY PITFALL: (Janick) “The business has been blindsided by technology before. We can’t think streaming is the endgame.”
