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Lyor Cohen’s 300 co-founder announces a new joint venture with Universal

By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 11 November 2016

Universal Music has announced a new joint venture with music industry veteran Todd Moscowitz because, you know, he’s an entrepreneur, Universal Music loves the entrepreneurs, so let’s all have an entrepreneurial love-in. And why not, I say.

“At Universal Music, entrepreneurship is in our DNA”, says the mega-major’s top man and chief entrepreneur fan Lucian Grainge. “So we constantly seek to attract the brightest executives in the business embodying that spirit. With his impressive track record of identifying and breaking some of the most successful artists in hip hop, Todd is an excellent addition to our team of creative executives who are committed to bringing the best new talent to fans around the world”.

I’m all for excellent additions, me. One time artist management and former Warner Music exec Moscowitz was most recently being entrepreneurial at 300, the music business he co-founded with his former Warner boss Lyor Cohen. His decision to now park his entrepreneurial skills within the Universal Music empire follows the big news in September that Cohen was taking over as top music guy at YouTube, and the new joint venture will therefore add to existing speculation about the future of 300.

Let’s not dwell on all that though, let’s instead talk about this bloody new venture, which is to be known as Cold Heat Records and will be run out of New York. Moscowitz reckons that his new major label business partner has “created an environment that encourages risk-taking and pushing creative boundaries, while giving entrepreneurs the resources and freedom to grow” which means he is, unsurprisingly I guess, “THRILLED to be a part of the most forward-thinking team in the industry, and I’m looking forward to building Cold Heat Records into a preeminent destination for artists of all genres”.