Respected execs Morgan Hughes and Russell Fogden replace Bill Ashton, recently named co-managing director of Warner-owned live music discovery service Songkick.
The British arm of Warner Music’s Artist Services team is under new joint leadership following Morgan Hughes' appointment as head of creative and Russell Fogden as head of commercial.
The Artist Services U.K. department — which is a division of WEA and handles direct-to-fan sales, merchandising, ticketing, website design and VIP fan club experiences — was previously run by Bill Ashton, who was this week named joint managing director of Warner-owned live music discovery service Songkick alongside Aaron Randall.
Hughes and Fogden will be based in Warner Music’s London offices and report to Emmy Lovell, executive vp WEA Europe. Warner’s Artist Services’ U.S. division is not affected by the change.
“The artist services market has changed so much in the last few years, with new global opportunities opening up at an unprecedented rate,” said Hughes and Fogden in a statement.
The duo pointed to a recent global pop-up retail campaign for Atlantic/Warner artist Ed Sheeran as a “great showcase of what’s possible in today’s environment” and said they want to keep developing strategies that “maximise the creative and commercial opportunities for our artists around the world.”
Both execs come into the joint roles with years of experience in merchandising and artist services under their belts.
Hughes joined Warner Music Group in 2011 as U.K. head of merchandise and has worked on campaigns for Biffy Clyro, Blur, Ed Sheeran, Gorillaz, Joy Division, Liam Gallagher, New Order and Royal Blood.
Fogden joins the label from Universal-owned merch company Bravado, where he was London-based vp retail and sales, running artist campaigns and coordinating retail partnerships with entertainment brands.
Campaigns that he has worked on include retail collections for Justin Bieber’s Purpose and Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next tours, and the launch of Kanye West The Life of Pablo pop-up shops in 21 cities across the globe on the same weekend in 2016. More recently, he created pop-up shops for Billie Eilish, BTS and Yungblud.
Lovell called it “a major coup” to lure Fogden from Bravado to Warner’s Artist Services team.
“He’s hugely respected by artists, management and retailers and is well-placed to help us deliver the sort of integrated strategic campaigns that will benefit all our partners,” said Lovell.
She was also full of praise for Hughes and described his partnership with Fogden as “a dream team” that will “drive the most cutting edge campaigns in the industry.”