Variety magazine recently made some major moves in their music coverage, bringing on Shirley Halperin, as Executive Editor, Music and Jem Aswad, Senior Music Editor, from Billboard to oversee music editorial.
The team of Halperin and Aswad made a splash recently when they landed rock legend Bruce Springsteen on the cover of the magazine for a rare interview. That was not a fluke. Proving Variety is very serious about the newfound commitment to music, they launched their first franchise this past weekend with their first annual Hitmakers party, celebrating the Hitmakers issues featuring three separate covers – Kendrick Lamar, DJ Khaled and Scooter Braun.
“This is Variety's first music franchise since I arrived six months ago,” Halperin says.
It launched in a big way as Lamar, Hitmaker of The Year, and Khaled, along with Machine Gun Kelly, Imagine Dragons, Hailee Steinfeld, who took home the Crossover Artist Award, Stranger Things’ Gaten Matarazzo, Diplo and more all attended the intimate brunch at Sunset Tower.
It’s a very strong turnout of talent for a first-time event, one that sets a high bar for the franchise going forward. And Halperin says there will be indeed future events.
“Since the song charts change from year to year, that means it won't always be the same songwriters and producers,” she says. “A lot of power lists really don't vary much from one to another, particularly when they're based on titles or ranks of executives. This event and list honors the true architects of songs.”
While understandably it’s the name artists, as well as industry powerhouse Braun, who are on the covers, the package inside celebrates songwriters and producers. So how did the honorees, from Alex Da Kid and Benny Blanco to “Despacito” songwriter Erika Ender to Interscope A&R Senior VP Sickamore, make the cut?
“What makes a hit song? Is it the beat, the hook, or the chorus? Sure. Is it the sound? The lyrics? Absolutely. But it’s also the people. For Variety’s inaugural Hitmakers list, we pored through the credits of BuzzAngle’s 30 most consumed tracks of 2017 to find the true architects of songs that ride their way up the charts. The chosen 77 are those who make the hits -- the songwriters, producers and creatively involved publishers who harvest earworms for a living – and those who break them, including the promotion, A&R and label executives that wield experience and influence.,” Halperin explains, citing the intro to the package. “We also included a handful of managers who played pivotal roles in launching their clients’ respective smashes.”
The intimacy of the event was unquestionably a huge part of its success. Lamar was open to meeting well-wishers, Imagine Dragons hung poolside with Matarazzo, industry leaders grazed the omelet station, bagels and lox and open bars. It was an A+ networking event.
“People really responded to the fact that it took place during the daytime,” Halperin says. “As music people, we're always out at night or going to concerts. It's actually quite rare to see each other when the sun is out. I think that gave the event a sense of intimacy and joy. There's nothing quite like a boozy brunch.”