Ben Cook Named President of Atlantic Records UK

Warner Music UK CEO Max Lousada announced today that Ben Cook has been appointed President, Atlantic Records UK.

Cook’s promotion is effective from April 14th and follows his successful tenure as President of Asylum Records UK, part of the Atlantic Records UK family of labels and home to some of the most celebrated UK signings of recent years including multi-platinum selling Ed Sheeran and BRIT Award winners Rudimental.

Cook’s new position will see him assume responsibility for the full Atlantic UK portfolio, overseeing the creative and strategic direction of the company as well as the implementation of campaigns for Atlantic’s world-class roster of UK, US and international artists including Paolo Nutini, Bruno Mars, Birdy, Christina Perri, James Blunt, Clean Bandit, Fun., Lykke Li, Janelle Monáe, and Plan B among others, as well as Asylum and its acts such as Ed Sheeran, Rudimental, Skrillex, Charli XCX and Saint Raymond. Cook reports to Lousada.

Max Lousada said: “Ben is an exceptional talent who has made Asylum synonymous with unique, exciting and hugely popular artists. He also personifies what Atlantic stands for – turning creative potential into credible, sustained commercial success. Ben’s promotion completes an incredibly strong leadership line-up for the Warner Music UK family of labels and we’re very excited about what we can achieve together.”

Ben Cook said: “For over 60 years Atlantic has been one of the world’s most iconic labels. To be appointed to run the company is an honour and I’m very excited to build on the successes that Max and the team have had. I would like to thank Max for all his backing and for building the label into such a respected home for career artists; with greatly experienced and talented executives such as Mark Mitchell, Damian Christian and all of the team, Atlantic’s ability to attract and nurture quality talent is second to none. I’m looking forward with great enthusiasm to working with everyone here to grow that reputation still further.”

Cook joined Atlantic in 2007 as Managing Director of Asylum and relaunched the label in 2008 with the seminal Wiley record “Wearing My Rolex.” Under his stewardship Asylum quickly gained status as a label adept at signing ground-breaking talent that is both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Ed Sheeran’s ‘+’ has achieved 6x Platinum status and became the bestselling British male album for two consecutive years in the UK. Last November, he played three sold out solo shows at Madison Square Garden. Rudimental’s run of Number one’s with ‘Feel The Love’, ‘Waiting All Night’ and debut LP ‘Home’ cemented their position as one of the UK’s biggest breakthroughs of 2013 and saw them earn four BRITs nominations as well as the British Single Award.

Forthcoming releases from Atlantic include Paolo Nutini’s ‘Caustic Love’, and debut albums from Clean Bandit and Kwabs, whilst the Asylum imprint has artist albums coming up from Ed Sheeran and Saint Raymond.

ABOUT WARNER MUSIC GROUP
With its broad roster of new stars and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry including Asylum, Atlantic, Big Beat, East West, Elektra, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros., Warner Classics, Warner Music Nashville, and Word, as well as Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world’s leading music publishers, with a catalog of more than one million copyrights worldwide.

Source: Warner Music Group