Jeff Kempler has been appointed to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer, A&R Labels – North America, UK & Ireland at EMI Music. He will report to Nick Gatfield who joined EMI last month as President of A&R Labels. Kempler was formerly COO of EMI’s Capitol Music Group and in his new role will help Gatfield oversee the company’s A&R, as well as, "develop experimental and new commercial models and revenue streams".
Kempler's Bio:
Jeff Kempler joined EMI in October 2005 as Executive Vice President of Virgin Records, and later became COO at Capitol Music Group in January of 2007. Prior to joining EMI, Kempler was General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs for Atari, the global interactive entertainment and game publisher. From 2000 to 2004, Kempler was Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJ), a unit of Universal Music Group.
While at IDJ, he also served as a management board member of the Roc-a-Fella Records joint venture. Before IDJ, Kempler spent nine years as an entertainment lawyer specializing in music industry matters with Greenberg Traurig, LLP, based in Atlanta, where he represented artists and producers such as Bone Thugs & Harmony, LL Cool J, Too Short, Toni Braxton, George Strait, Collective Soul, Desmond Child, Eric Sermon and Dallas Austin, among others. Kempler began his career as an associate in the Entertainment Division of Loeb & Loeb, LLP in New York. Kempler received a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Rochester and a Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School.
From The Press Release:
“EMI is reinventing the major label model and I am excited to be part of the company’s efforts to transform the business,” said Kempler. “I look forward to working closely with Nick and all my colleagues at EMI to offer artists the best services in the world and to enable EMI to become the industry’s most artist-friendly and consumer-focused music company.”
“Jeff has proven music business acumen and strong leadership skills, and he will be an excellent asset for our artists, our team and me,” said Gatfield. “His relationships, experience, strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities will be extremely valuable to us as we build EMI’s A&R activity.”
