RESERVOIR PROMOTES RELL LAFARGUE TO PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
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Reservoir announces the promotion of Rell Lafargue to President and Chief Operating Officer. Since 2008, Lafargue has served as the company’s COO, overseeing all aspects of the company’s day-to-day operations, while spearheading international and domestic expansion efforts, which he will continue to do in his new appointment.
When Lafargue joined Reservoir at its inception, the company represented four songwriters and 2,000 songs. Lafargue established Reservoir’s infrastructure, implemented its administration systems, and built the international network that oversees the company’s copyrights to this day. Under his leadership, Reservoir has grown to represent over 1000 songwriters and over 110,000 compositions.
Lafargue has overseen every deal the company has done in the last decade, including the acquisition of TVT Music Publishing in April 2010, the catalog he spent eight years building as their Vice President prior to joining Reservoir, where he worked with artists including Nine Inch Nails, Lil Jon, Snoop Dogg, Scott Storch, and Pitbull. He was instrumental in signing Nate “Danja” Hills, one of Reservoir’s first high-profile writer-producers, to the roster, and in the last year alone oversaw the signings of writers including Ali Tamposi, Migos’ Takeoff and Offset, Dave Bassett, Just Blaze, Jim Beanz, and Jamie Hartman, plus acquisitions of catalogs including Leon Ware, Willie Mitchell, Commodores’ Walter Orange and Thomas McClary, and the publishing catalogs associated with rock label Century Media, in addition to joint ventures with Warren “Oak” Felder and Big Life Management.
“Rell’s commitment to the company as well as to our people is unparalleled. His drive to succeed while operating fairly and decisively are managed with an exacting balance which makes us all work better as part of the team,” said Reservoir Founder and CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi. “For me, he personifies the unwavering, consistent and reliable colleague with whom I share an interest in the pursuit of excellence in what we do, how we do it, and with whom.”
Adds Lafargue, “It has been a remarkable year that caps off a decade of steady growth, exciting deals, milestones, and achievements. Reservoir is already home to some of the best talent in the business, both songwriters and staff, and we’re only just getting started. Thank you, Golnar, for your support, and I’m looking forward to the next ten years at Reservoir.”
This news comes as Reservoir concluded its best year to date, winning Publisher of the Year at Music Business Worldwide’s The A&R Awards, while earning a Publisher of the Year nomination at the 2017 Music Week Awards. The company also enjoyed remarkable chart success, with 53 Billboard and Official Charts #1s in the US and UK, plus a Top 10 US Market Share for Q2 in Billboard’s Publisher’s Quarterly.