Anglo-Scandinavian artist and songwriter management/publishing company Lateral MGMT is coming to the U.S. The company, which currently operates out of London and Stockholm and manages hit U.K. artists Paloma Faith and Taio Cruz, tells Billboard that it will open a new office in Los Angeles by September.
The independent, self-financed Lateral was formed from the 2008 merger of Murlyn Management, part of the Stockholm-based Murlyn Music Group and co-founded by Christian Wåhlberg, with London management company J-DID, headed by Jamie Binns. The business was integrated as Lateral MGMT in 2010, with the pair as managing partners alongside Jan Carl Adelswård.
The company has helped Faith and Cruz, signed to RCA/Sony and Universal Island respectively, to platinum-selling U.K. success, and will launch former Swedish House Mafia vocalist John Martin as a solo act on Universal, with a first single due in September.
Says Wåhlberg: “With myself, Jamie and Jan Carl travelling to L.A. a week every month, it seems logical to set up an office. We’re going to hire an A&R assistant, who’s going to be our eyes and ears on the ground.
“We’re also employing our own licensing person over there, which is a big business for us, and we’re putting together a small marketing team, to be a good support to the artists and writers we look after, with the labels we work with.”
Lateral’s roster also includes other such new acts as Londoner Kenzie May and Sweden’s Teddybears; and composers including the Arcade Boys, co-writers of Conor Maynard’s U.K. top ten hit “Animal,” featuring Wiley, and Måns Wredenberg, who co-wrote the U.K. No. 1 “I Could Be The One” by Avicii vs. Nicky Romero.
Martin was the voice of Swedish House Mafia’s major global hit “Don’t You Worry Child,” which topped the U.K. chart on Virgin/EMI last October and has sold 2.4 million downloads in the U.S. on Astralwerks/Capitol, according to SoundScan. Cruz’s biggest-selling U.S. song is “Dynamite,” with 6.5m sales; Faith’s best showing is with “Picking Up The Pieces,” on 32,000. Its parent album, her sophomore set “Fall To Grace,” was certified double platinum by the BPI for 600,000 U.K. shipments in March.
Wåhlberg says the increased U.S. presence “is not going to mean that we will travel [to the U.S.] any less, it’s just that we could be a lot more present during the three weeks of a month when we’re not there.” [Billboard.biz]
