Roadrunner Records has named veteran promotion man Mike Easterlin SVP of Promotion as it merges its promotion team with Lava Records under the Roadrunner banner. Easterlin will join the Roadrunner staff in its New York office on January 2. He replaces current SVP of Promotion Dave Loncao, who will leave the label at the end of the year in order to pursue other music industry endeavors and move to Florida with his family.
Roadrunner president Jonas Nachsin commented, “This is a natural in so many ways. We have had a long history working with Mike Easterlin at two different companies, and have always admired his talents and respected his abilities. Mike will lead us into the future of radio promotion with an expanded staff making Roadrunner a force to be reckoned with.” He added, “The impact that Dave Loncao has had on Roadrunner can never be underestimated. This new move gives us the power to spark the natural growth we have already shown during the last decade, and will benefit our great roster of artists. As proud members of the Atlantic/WMG family, we couldn’t be more excited about this new partnership.”
Atlantic Records Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman said, “We’ve forged a terrific partnership with Roadrunner since they joined the WMG family last year, and this marks another important building block in our relationship. Since coming on board at Atlantic two years ago, Mike has developed a fantastic promotion department that has seen great success with a diversity of artists across multiple formats. Along with our entire industry, the radio business is undergoing a dramatic evolution, and Mike has the both the experience and the vision to navigate the shifting airwaves. By bringing together the Roadrunner and Lava promo staffs under Mike’s expert direction, I am confident that he will create a model promotion team for a new era.”
Under the new arrangement, Easterlin will manage and oversee all radio promotion activities for Roadrunner’s artists as well as select Atlantic releases, including those from the Fueled By Ramen imprint. In addition, Easterlin will ensure a smooth integration of an expanded national and regional promotion staff.
“I’ve had an incredible two years here at Lava/Atlantic Records working with Craig Kallman and Julie Greenwald,” Easterlin said. “They have given me an amazing opportunity for growth, including partnering for the last year with Roadrunner on Nickelback and other projects. I am very excited to move into the Roadrunner family full-time and to work with Cees Wessels and Jonas Nachsin, with whom I have had a tremendous working relationship for the past six years, going back to my days at IDJ. For the last year, the Roadrunner and Lava staffs have worked incredibly well together, so as Jonas put it, ‘This is a natural.'”
