Our Label Friends

 


Jason McColl | Sr. Director A&R, Sony Music Nashville

After graduating from Belmont University, Jason spent three years at Universal Music in the competitive field of radio promotions, building relationships in Country radio and helping drive singles from Universal’s artists up the charts.

He joined Warner Music Nashville as catalog manager in 2018. After recognizing that “Jason has an innate song sense that can’t be taught,” Co-chair/Co-president Cris Lacy promoted him to Director A&R so he could take on a larger creative role with their present and future signings as well as looking for new talent to sign.
In 2022 Jason was hired by Sony Music Nashville as Sr. Director, A&R where he is responsible for finding songs for Sony artists, signing and developing new talent and maintaining publisher relationships.

Jason will meet with you by Zoom. The meeting should be scheduled within one year at a time convenient for him. There is no guarantee of any outcome other than 30 minutes of his time. Bidding for this meeting will end at 2:08 pm, Sun. Oct 1st.

 


JoJamie Hahr | Executive VP, Recorded Music/BMG Nashville.

JoJamie oversees day-to-day operations of BMG Recorded Music in Nashville, including BBR Label Group and its roster and imprints Broken Bow Records, Stoney Creek Records, and Wheelhouse Records.

Hahr was promoted to SVP of BBR Music Group in 2020, where she oversaw all artist project strategy, brand partnerships, strategic marketing, as well as digital and creative efforts for each of the BBR Music Group’s three imprints. She has been with the company for eight years, previously serving as VP of Promotion, and then VP of Marketing. Prior to joining the BBR team, Hahr served as the National Director of Field Promotion for The Valory Music Co. Her 20 years in the industry include stops at UMG, WSIX and WWKA.

Under Hahr’s tenure, superstar Jason Aldean has achieved ACM Entertainer of the Year three times, has been named the ACM Artist of the Decade, and recently tallied his 27th No. 1. In 2022, Broken Bow Records was named the Country Aircheck/Mediabase No. 1 airplay label for country music, Dustin Lynch notched his eighth No. 1. and Lainey Wilson broke through with wins at the 2022 CMA Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year, and 3 ACM awards in 2023 including Female artist of the year. Jelly Roll notched a No. 1 at rock and country and has spent an outstanding 22 weeks atop the Billboard Emerging Artists chart.

JoJamie is a member of CMA, ACM and the CCMA’s and is a graduate of Leadership Music. She was honored in MusicRow‘s Rising Women on the Row class of 2022.

JoJamie will meet with you by Zoom or in person. The meeting should be scheduled within one year at a time convenient for her. There is no guarantee of any outcome other than 30 minutes of her time. Bidding for this meeting will end at 3:00 pm, Sun. Oct 1st.

 


Kaleena Arbuco | Sr. Director, International Marketing & Digital, Def Jam Recordings

Arkansas native Kaleena Arbuco is an international marketer with a decade of experience in the music industry and passion for helping artists and songwriters achieve their creative goals. Upon graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Recording Industry Management in 2013, she began her career at music rights management company BMG in Nashville, TN and eventually transferred to the company’s NYC office as an executive assistant to the president, CFO & COO.

Working her way up as an A&R administrator and recording studio manager, Arbuco landed a role as BMG’s first US global recordings employee where she oversaw East Coast frontline repertoire, spearheading efforts for internationally successful records such as Lil Dicky’s “Freaky Friday (ft. Chris Brown)” and Toots and the Maytals’ Grammy Award- winning album Got To Be Tough.

Joining the Def Jam Recordings team in 2021, Arbuco is currently the Senior Director, International Marketing & Digital where she works with artists including Justin Bieber, Rihanna & DJ Khaled, to name a few. Recent accolades include leading global efforts for standout hip-hop artist Armani White’s 2022 viral hit “BILLIE EILISH.” which has amassed over 11B streams RTD and is certified 4x Platinum in Australia, 2x Platinum in India, Platinum in Canada & Gold in the U.S., Brazil & Poland.

Arbuco is also an accomplished studio musician who is endorsed by Hohner Harmonicas and is an active member of the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH). She spends her spare time in upstate New York with her husband and Belgian Malinois rescue, Ellie.

Kaleena will meet with you by Zoom. The meeting should be scheduled within one year at a time convenient for her. There is no guarantee of any outcome other than 30 minutes of her time. Bidding for this meeting will end at 3:16 pm, Sun. Oct 1st.

 


Katie Kerkhover | VP A&R BBR Music Group

Katie is responsible for BBR Music Group’s roster of recording artists across imprints Broken Bow Records, Stoney Creek Records and Wheelhouse Records. In addition to scouting, signing, and developing new talent for the roster, she screens songs for artists including Jason Aldean, Chase Rice, Dustin Lynch, Lainey Wilson, Tyler Farr, Jimmie Allen, Blanco Brown and more.

Her music dreams were born in a town of 47 people in Southern Illinois where she began playing violin at age 4. By her early 20’s, she was playing 100’s of shows a year in stadiums and at the biggest country festivals, with top Nashville artists Sara Evans and Billy Currington. Touring gave her real-life experience in what it takes for songs to connect with an audience.

This served her well when in 2018 she joined Sony/ATV as Creative Manager, where she helped them celebrate over 40 #1 songs with writers like Tom Douglas, Tony Lane, and Brice Long, and artists including Charlie Worsham.

In October of 2020, she made the move to publishing giant, BMG, where as senior creative director she worked with BMG’s chart-topping Nashville publishing roster as well as signing and developing new songwriters and artists. BMG acquired BBR Music Group in 2017 and Katie was promoted to her current position in 2022.

Katie will meet with you by Zoom at a time convenient for her. The meeting should be scheduled within one year. There is no guarantee of any outcome other than 30 minutes of her time. Bidding for this meeting will end at 2:00 pm, Sun. Oct 1st.

 


Kelly Sayer | A&R, Atlantic Records

Kelly Sayer is an A&R manager at Atlantic Records. Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, she first arrived in the USA in 2013 to study Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music. After graduating and relocating to LA, she began her career working as Alex da Kid’s head engineer at KIDinaKORNER studios.

During the many hours spent in the studio with songwriters and artists – including 070Shake, Bazzi, Sabrina Claudio, A$AP Ferg, and many others – she fell in love with the record-making process. This led her to pursue a career as an A&R, and ultimately brought her to Atlantic Records, where she joined the A&R team in early 2019.

Most recently, she has been working with GAYLE, who’s breakout hit “abcdefu” held the #1 spot at Top 40 radio for 3 simultaneous weeks. Kelly is currently building out her artist roster at Atlantic and is grateful that her job allows her to combine her 3 main passions: record-making, engineering, and being a spokesperson for the creatives who inspired who to pursue this career path. Bidding for this meeting will end at 2:16 pm, Sun. Oct 1st.

 


Stephanie Davenport | VP of A&R, Warner Music Nashville

A lifelong lover of country music, Stephanie moved to Nashville in 2003 to attend Belmont University, during which time she realized her passion for developing and nurturing artists and songwriters. Upon graduating, Stephanie first worked at WME (William Morris Endeavor) booking concerts for their country roster before making the move to Warner Music Nashville in 2011.

In her current A&R role at Warner, Stephanie oversees artist projects for Ian Munsick, Randall King, Austin Snell, Madeline Edwards, Drew Parker and others in addition to soliciting songs for artists such as Blake Shelton, Cole Swindell, Cody Johnson, Gabby Barrett, Michael Ray, and Kenny Chesney.

Stephanie will meet with you by Zoom. The meeting should be scheduled within one year at a time convenient for her. There is no guarantee of any outcome other than 30 minutes of her time. Bidding for this meeting will end at 3:46 pm, Sun. Oct 1st.

 


Jason McColl JoJamie Hahr Kaleena Arbuco Katie Kerkhover Kelly Sayer Stephanie Davenport