Harry Styles was obviously a big one and a big leap of faith. I signed Harry based on meeting Harry. Jeffrey [Azoff] was very smart about it. We were at the Adele show and he said, “Come up and meet Harry.” And I went back to my seat and told Lucian, “It’s hard to be objective.” How often do you meet a star like that? Everyone felt that way about Justin Bieber, too. There’s a thing some people have that other people don’t, and he had that thing. So Harry was really exciting and I think that when Harry worked with Jeff Bhasker, that was really exciting. It came together the way that you used to put together a band.
Interviewer: Is Harry’s album 100% your writers? No, but it’s a good 75%.
Interviewer: Well, you can make a lot of money from two good syncs. Gerson: I agree and that’s the route they’re looking at. Where my job before was always to sign things you think are going to have radio success, now you’re thinking, “What’s going to have streaming success?” I look at a Quavo or Yachty and know that even if their albums don’t sell, which they do, look at all the other features they’re on. It’s a huge business now. But in terms of rock stuff, it’s really important that we have everything. I think we get a lot of that from the U.K. And our company was really built on U.K. records, our big ones like Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Adele and now Harry.
Jody Gerson, UMPC Chairman
