Charlie Walk

Charlie Walk
Walk in 2014
Born	(1968-09-02) September 2, 1968 (age 56)
Alma mater	Boston University
Spouse	Lauran Walk
Website	www.musicmastery.com
Signature

Charlie Walk (born September 2, 1968) is an American music executive and entrepreneur. He was the president of Republic Records from 2016–2018, and the president of Epic Records from 2005–2008.^[1] In 2018, he appeared as a judge on the Fox reality series The Four: Battle for Stardom.^[2][3][4]

Early and personal life

Walk said he first wanted to work in the music industry when he was eight years old, when he listened to Boston's WRKO on his portable radio.^[5] Walk started out in 1987 as a college marketing representative for Sony Music Distributions New England branch while he was attending Boston University's School of Management (Questrom School Of Business).^[6] He graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.^[7]

Walk married Lauran Miller in 1997. The couple lives in Tribeca and Water Mill since 2003 and have four children.^[8]

Career

Columbia Records

Walk worked at Columbia Records in 1990 as a marketing and promotion manager covering the Northeast Region. His first job was to work with the New Kids on the Block over their first days on their local promotion, trying to break them into the mainstream.^[9] Since 1994, he is Director, since 1997 Vice President in Pop Promotion.^[7]

During his time at Columbia he became vice president for promotion at the label, and was profiled by The New York Times as one of the music industry's "young guns" in 1998.^[10] At Columbia he worked with Destiny's Child and Beyoncé Knowles,^[11] Will Smith, Maxwell, John Legend, Mariah Carey, The Fugees, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, John Mayer, Bruce Springsteen, and Aerosmith.^{[12][failed verification]}

He was named executive vice president, promotion, in 2000 from the position of senior vice president of pop promotion. In 2004, he was promoted to executive vice president of creative marketing and promotion at Columbia where he was in charge of developing strategies in non-traditional marketing areas, along with licensing.^[13][14]

Epic Records

In December 2005, Walk became president of Epic Records.^[15] Jessica Simpson moved from Columbia to Epic to follow Walk.^[16] He also worked with the label’s established artists, including RedOne.^[17]

He also created a partnership with ABC to integrate Epic artists with their programming, which enabled viewers to purchase songs they heard on ABC television shows.^[18] Walk also broke new artists at Epic including The Script, Sean Kingston, The Fray, Sara Bareilles and Natasha Bedingfield.^[19] He was let go from the label in December 2008.^[20]

JWALK

In February 2009, Walk started his own entertainment company CWE Media to create content for Endemol, with a talent management and strategic branding divisions.^[7][21] Walk was executive producing the television content developed by the company.^[18][22] The company was functioning until 2011.

Later in 2009, Walk co-founded RJW Collective, later known as JWALK.^[23] The company's clients include the retailer Lacoste and the television broadcaster ABC.^[12][24]

Republic Records

In 2013 Walk joined Republic Records as its executive vice president.^[6] His position involves overseeing the marketing, PR and promotion teams for the label.^[23][25][26] On July 2, 2014, Walk produced a one-off revival episode of Total Request Live on MTV entitled "Total Ariana Live".^[27] He has also helped bring in John Varvatos Records.^[28]

In 2014, Walk led Enrique Iglesias' "Bailando" single campaign, which crossed the song over from Latin radio to Top 40 radio. The song has a blend of English and Spanish lyrics, and became the highest charting bilingual single since "The Macarena" in 1996.^[29] Walk spearheaded Taylor Swift’s "Shake It Off" campaign which led Swift to become the first artist to have a single debut at number one on the pop music radio charts.^[30] Additionally, Walk led the promotion for Lorde's quadruple platinum single "Royals". The Wall Street Journal wrote that Walk "is working on creating partnerships with radio stations, concert venues and music publications or blogs that will circulate her music without catapulting it into the mainstream. Instead of sending her music to KIIS, a famous top-40 Los Angeles radio station, they've turned to San Francisco's Live105 and Chicago's Q101, alternative stations."^[31] Walk also signed Hailee Steinfeld to Republic.^[32][5]

In February 2016, Walk was named president of the Republic Group, a newly formed grouping under the Universal Music Group, where he was charged with developing strategic partnerships with sister labels in addition to his role in charge of promotions and artist development.^[33] In 2016 Walk co-founded Guess Music, after approaching Paul Marciano to discuss his expanding their partnership into a full-fledged label.^[34] He also signed DNCE.^[35]

Aspen Artists

In 2023, Walk launched Aspen Artists, a media platform for marketing, branding and promoting music artists. Their offices are located in New York City and Mexico City^{[36] [better source needed]}

Allegations of sexual misconduct

Walk was accused of sexual misconduct on January 29, 2018. He denied the allegation. On January 31, Republic placed him on leave, pending an investigation. He resigned from his position as a judge on The Four: Battle for Stardom on February 1. In a statement, he said: "Out of respect for the contestants, my fellow judges and everyone involved with the show, I have made the decision not to attend the finale of The Four. I do not want my presence to be a distraction. Needless to say this is very upsetting."^[37][38]

In March 2018, following an internal review, Universal and Walk agreed to "mutually part ways."^{[39][40][41][38][42]}

In March 2021, Walk filed a lawsuit seeking $60 million in damages from Marc Kasowitz, the attorney who negotiated his Universal exit deal. The suit stated that rather than defending Walk against "facially incredible claims," Kasowitz and his law firm "passively cooperated with UMG, leaving Mr. Walk defenseless."^[43] The suit was dismissed in January 2022 by New York Supreme Court Justice Andrew Borrok.^[44]

References

1. "Charlie Walk, Republic 'Agree to Part Ways' After Misconduct Investigation". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
2. Aswad, Jem (2018-01-31). "Charlie Walk Placed on Leave by Republic Records After Sexual Misconduct Allegations". Variety. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
3. "Charlie Walk to Be Fired From 'The Four,' Placed on Leave at Republic". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
4. "Republic Records Places Charlie Walk on Leave Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
5. Shirley Halperin and Gary Trust (January 12, 2015). "Roundtable: Five Execs Examine Radio's Uncertain Future in the Streaming Age". Billboard. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
6. "Charlie Walk Named EVP of Republic Records". The Hollywood Reporter. January 28, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
7. "Profile Charlie Walk". Bloomberg News. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
8. "New!! Our Summer 2012 Photo Diary: Lauran & Charlie Walk". 3 September 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
9. "Walk sows harmony among Columbia artists, marketers". adage.com. July 12, 2004.
10. Monique P. Yazigi (August 16, 1998). "A Night Out With: The Young Guns; Working The Martini Shift". The New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
11. Roger Friedman (October 12, 2004). "Jacko Abandons Ailing 'Surrogate' Father". FoxNews.com. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
12. Billy Gray (September 12, 2012). "What's On My Desk: Jwalks's Charlie Walk". Haute Living. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
13. Phil Gallo (June 14, 2004). "Col takes Walk to exec VP". Variety. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
14. "Angry Young Men". Esquire. September 13, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
15. "Jessica Simpson Shifts To Epic". Billboard. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
16. Stephen M. Silverman (March 27, 2006). "Jessica Switches Homes – for Her Music". People. Archived from the original on March 3, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
17. Aida Alami (September 30, 2011). "Hollyworld: Meet Morocco's starmaker". Global Post. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
18. "Charlie Walk's in Endemol pact". Variety. February 3, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
19. Callie Cunningham (December 11, 2008). "Charlie Walk's Time Runs Out at Epic Records". American Songwriter(subscription required). Retrieved July 26, 2013.
20. "Charlie Walk: Top Music Executive Allegedly Preyed on Women for Decades". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
21. "Charlie Walk". Gawker. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
22. Noreen O'Leary (March 6, 2014). "This Agency Develops New Brand Categories JWalk also helps bolster the profiles of brands like DeLeon Tequila". Adweek. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
23. "Charlie Walk to Start Work as EVP of Republic Records as Soon as Monday: Sources". Billboard. January 23, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
24. Andrew Adam Newman (August 23, 2011). "Lacoste Recasts Itself in Its Own Prestige". The New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
25. Andy Greene (May 22, 2014). "How Ariana Grande and Max Martin Made 'Problem' the Song of the Summer". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 7, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
    - Andrew Hampp (December 19, 2013). "Austin Mahone Named Digital & Brand Strategist For Aquafina's FlavorSplash: Inside the 17-Year-Old's First Strategy Meeting". Billboard. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
26. "Triple-Platform Push for Ariana Grande's Album - WSJ". online.wsj.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
27. Emily Blake (June 25, 2014). "Get Ready: Ariana Grande Is Bringing 'TRL' Back". MTV. Archived from the original on June 27, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
28. Kory Grow (February 18, 2014). "Style Guru John Varvatos Launches Music Label to 'Nurture' New Artists". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
29. "Ask Billboard: How Has Enrique Iglesias' 'Bailando' Become Such A Big Hit?". Billboard. July 27, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
    - "Enrique Iglesias breaks Spanish barriers, making 'Bailando' a #1 hit". voxxi.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-24. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
30. "HITS Daily Double: News". hitsdailydouble.com. Archived from the original on September 11, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
31. "New Zealand Pop Singer Lorde Makes Waves - WSJ". online.wsj.com. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
32. Spanos, Brittany (November 12, 2015). "Hailee Steinfeld on Max Martin, Big Single 'Love Myself'". Rolling Stone.
33. "charlie walk president republic group". Billboard. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
34. "guess republic records guess music". Billboard. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
35. "DNCA". hitsdailydouble.com. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
36. "Aspen Artists Launches; Charlie Walk Is Co-Founder & CEO". All Access. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
37. "Suspended record exec Charlie Walk won't be in 'Four' finale". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
38. Kiefer, Halle. "The Four Judge Charlie Walk Accused of Sexual Harassment in Open Letter". Vulture. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
39. Halperin, Jem Aswad, Shirley (2018-03-28). "Charlie Walk Out at Republic Records (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
40. "Charlie Walk, Republic 'Agree to Part Ways' After Misconduct Investigation". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
41. "Suspended record exec Charlie Walk won't be in 'Four' finale". USA Today. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
42. "Charlie Walk: Top Music Executive Accused of Sexual Misconduct Over Decades". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
43. Thomas, David (2021-03-25). "Ousted UMG exec Charlie Walk sues Kasowitz, seeking $60M for alleged malpractice". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
44. Cho, Winston (2022-01-19). "Judge Dismisses Ousted UMG Exec Charlie Walk's Lawsuit Against Former Attorney". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-11-30.

Preceded by Polly Anthony

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Epic Records 2005–2008

Succeeded by Amanda Ghost