A CHAT WITH AWAL'S LASER-FOCUSED LONNY OLINICK

Heading into its second full year in the Sony Music system, AWAL hasn’t missed a beat during the transition. The company, which operates primarily out of hubs in London, New York and Los Angeles, is continuing to sign, develop and break new talent on both sides of the pond.

JVKE and Lizzy McAlpine are the latest AWAL sensations climbing charts in the U.S. and U.K., with hit singles “golden hour” and “ceilings,” respectively. Both tracks have soared into the upper reaches of Spotify’s global chart while making runs at Pop radio. “ceilings” and JVKE’s follow-up single, “this is what heartbreak feels like,” were among the most-added tracks at Top 40 in March, while alternative breakout LOVEJOY appears to be one of the U.K.’s hottest new exports.

We recently caught up with AWAL CEO Lonny Olinick and pestered him with questions about the above and other subjects.

Over the last few years, AWAL has not only broken acts but discovered breakthroughs (Rex Orange County, girl in red, Little Simz) that have grown into career artists.

That’s definitely what we try to do. People always ask me to compare us [to other companies], and the truth is, there’s not really anything similar—we’re different. Music is the most important thing to us. We care about the product and whether the artist can have a long career, and when you do that, especially for things that are left of center but have pop sensibilities, amazing things can happen.

It’s certainly happening at the moment with JVKE, Lizzy and Lovejoy.

I think we have three in the Top 40 in the U.K. and two songs in the Top 20 on "Today’s Top Hits." There’s not a company our size that has anything close to that right now.

Lizzie's an incredible lyricist and writer and she understands her audience better than anyone else does. She understands what she's trying to achieve. That’s another commonality across our artists.

In today's world authenticity matters. Connection with the audience matters. We have artists who know what they want to do and how they want to do it, and our job is to support them—that is the most important thing

The same with Lovejoy. They’ve figured out how to connect to an audience very deeply. They’re selling out shows in the U.S. literally in seconds now.

How do you stay consistent?

If you draw a line back to Rex Orange County, Omar Apollo, Tom Misch, Steve Lacy—we've been involved with lots of really meaningful artists, and I think there's no consistent process. You can't do the same thing every year and expect it to be successful.

There were periods where it was, like, "Let's use data when no one else is using data." Then, "Let's try to forget the data. Do we have an understanding of the music? Do we think it can move people meaningfully? Do we think the artist can write more songs and go deeper than where they are right now?"

It always comes down to “the information is telling us this,” but do we believe in this artist? The story of JVKE is interesting because he had a viral moment with “Upside Down” that ended abruptly. We had a conversation a week later where we said, "Let’s hear more music—send us as many records as you can." They sent us, like, six songs and we said, "Wow, forget the viral moment—this kid is the real deal." He and his brother are incredible writers and producers, so we understood that this isn’t about the viral moment; we have someone here who can have sustained success.

We’re always looking from the artist-development lens of “how do we tell a story about this artist over a long period of time?” If the first song doesn't work or the second song doesn't work, are we going to lose enthusiasm or are we going to be more resolute? We strive to focus on the music and artistry so we feel proud being associated with the product. We’re going to keep going for it even if the first or second song doesn’t connect in the way you want it to.

It’s been a year since the Sony acquisition cleared. What’s new? What’s different?

We looked at the Sony deal as a very natural progression for AWAL. It’s been great. The Sony team is super music-oriented, super-focused on taking care of artists. And all we’ve found is more support and resources coming our way to enhance everything we do. Whether it’s international resources, better technology or financial support—everything allows our business to grow.

You never know how these things will go until you’re really in it. The support we get from Rob [Stringer]—he’s just an incredible music executive. I have so much respect for him and believe in what he’s doing at Sony. Everything comes from the truest place. Artists are at the center of what they do and that's how we’ve always run our business. It’s been an incredibly positive experience.

In the growing distribution game, you're one of the more experienced companies. How have you adapted? Are you still servicing as many artists?

We actually relaunched the platform with The Orchard’s technology. With our platform business, we don't accept most of the things that come through because part of what matters to us more than anything is that when we put music into the world, it means something and there's purpose behind it. So, as opposed to some of the other distribution companies, where the model is you pay $30 and we service it, we allow anyone to apply but again, we accept a very small percentage of those into AWAL. There's a pretty robust screening process to decide which artists we can best present to the market.

And your team?

Our core leadership is based in the U.S. and U.K. Our President, U.K.-based Paul Hitchman, who’s been at AWAL since before I was there, runs the rest of the world and is just an incredibly experienced and capable exec. Under Paul are Matt Riley, Sam Potts and Victoria Needs—I’d put them against any team in the world.

For the U.S., Pete Giberga is president and deeply experienced in A&R. Plus, we have Bianca Bhagat, who oversees marketing and creative. We’ve put A&R, marketing and creative—visual content, brand partnerships—at the center, so the people who run our business are all creative executives.

And then we have Dale Connone, who competes at the highest level at U.S. radio. His execution, particularly at Top 40, is something that most independent companies can’t say they’re capable of. We bought his company, In2une, four years ago and it’s been one of the most important things we’ve done. Having Dale and team lean into a record and take it to wherever it’s capable of going is an incredible value proposition.

Pictured top to bottom: Olinick, McAlpine (video), JVKE, Lovejoy (video)