Tom March has been named president of Geffen Records in the U.S., the company announced today (March 7). March, who as co-president of Polydor Records made the label one of the top imprints in the U.K., will begin his tenure at Geffen in July.
Geffen Records was relaunched by Interscope Geffen A&M chairman & CEO John Janick two years ago as a label within Interscope, and it launched 2021’s breakout star Olivia Rodrigo, who is nominated for seven Grammy Awards. The label also announced a global partnership with HYBE, home to BTS, Seventeen and Enhypen, and will welcome those artists to the label in the coming months. Interscope Geffen A&M and Polydor are both Universal Music Group labels.
Last week, Geffen had two albums in the Top Ten of the Billboard 200 albums chart: Rodrigo’s multi-platinum debut album “Sour” at No. 5, and rapper Yeat, whose “2 Alivë” debuted at No. 6.
“In 2020 we re-launched GeffenRecords, entering a period of great successby breaking a newglobal superstarand forming important strategic partnerships along the way, all whilereimagining how a modern label should be – nimble with the perfect match of major label resources and entrepreneurial spirit,” saidJanick.“Tom has a proven track record of breaking new artists and shares our commitment to artist development. For the last six years he has looked after Interscope’sexpansiveroster while leading Polydor to become the premiere label in the U.K.He is the perfect executive to lead a Geffen team that has already done such an amazing job these last two years.”
March, who recently chaired the 2022 Brit Awards, has worked at Universal Music Group for 16 years. During his six-year tenure at Polydor, he has worked with such artists as Rodrigo, Glass Animals, Juice WRLD, Sam Fender, Eminem, Billie Eilish, James Blake, Haim, Ellie Goulding, the Rolling Stones, ABBA, Lady Gaga, Michael Kiwanuka, Florence & the Machine, Lana del Rey, Selena Gomez, and others. With March’s move to Geffen, Polydor U.K. will continue under the leadership of Ben Mortimer, who is promoted to sole president of the label.
“It’s been an incredible honor and privilege to have had the opportunity to run Polydor with Ben Mortimer and our team and build it into the best record label in the U.K.,” said March. “Over these past six years, I have had the great fortune to work closely with John, [IGA Vice Chairman] Steve Berman and the IGA team on some incredible artists, so when the opportunity came to join them and continue to propel Geffen into the most exciting modern record label in the world, I couldn’t have been more excited. I would like to thank David Joseph [Chairman & CEOof Universal Music UK] and Sir Lucian Grainge [Chairman & CEO of Universal Music Group] for their help and support in making this happen.”
