Who is the new head of Atlantic Records? Kanye takes to Instagram to highlight revenue threats against his 'Vultures' album

On August 8, Kanye West took to Instagram Story to share a screenshot of his DM with his manager John Monopoly (who goes by John MNP on the platform) and wrote, “This is what ‘they’ do to independent artists.” In the screenshot, Monopoly let Ye know that Julie Greenwald, the “co-head” of Atlantic Records called him and shared she “just got fired.”

"She said the new head is not going to give us a grace period to handle Atlantic's compensation,” the manager informed West.

He also warned Ye that they “don’t handle immediately” Atlantic Records would “take down” his two latest albums, Vultures 1 and Vultures 2, from streaming until they paid them “40 % of all revenue.” John Monopoly also asked Ye for his advice on whether he should let their distributors Too Lost and Create know about the same.

Notably, Ye’s collaborator on the Vultures project Ty Dolla Sign is currently signed to Atlantic Records, which may be the reason behind the recent conflict.

In the wake of this, Kanye West asked in his follow-up Story, “Who’s the new head of Atlantic?” As per reports, Elliot Grainge, the son of Universal Music chief Lucien Grainge has been appointed as the new head of Atlantic Records.

---

Exploring Atlantic Records’ leadership change in the wake of Kanye West’s claim

On Thursday, during a company meeting at its town hall, Julie Greenwald announced that she would step down as the CEO and chairman of Atlantic Records at the end of September. She added she was terminated from her role after serving for over two decades. Julie further mentioned that she would continue working as a consultant for the label until her retirement at the end of the year.

Robert Kyncl, the CEO of Warner Music Group, which is the parent company of Atlantic Records, announced that Elliot Grainge would replace Greenwald in the leadership role, effective from October 1. Besides, Kyncl also declared that Max Lousada would be stepping aside from the position of the Head of recorded music.

Elliot Grainge, the new CEO and chairman of Atlantic Records has been a music manager who has worked with the likes of Ice Spice and other hip-hop artists. The 30-year-old is married to Lionel Richie’s daughter, Sofia, and has served as the CEO of the label 10k Projects.

As for the outgoing head Julie Greenwald, she is 54 years old and has often been credited for discovering Cardi B for the label. She has also worked closely with Bruno Mars during her career.

---

All you need to know about Kanye West’s Vultures project

Rapper Kanye West and singer-songwriter Ty Dolla Sign formed the hip-hop supergroup ¥$ and independently released their debut studio album Vultures 1 in February 2024.

Six months later, on August 3, ¥$ released their sophomore album Vultures 2 as a sequel to the first one, after multiple delays and quality concerns. In the wake of this Kanye West made commitments to release updated versions of songs in real time as well as exclusive bonus tracks.

He delivered on his promise and dropped two deluxe editions of the album on August 7 and 8. The first lot comprised Take Off Your Dress while the next one had three previously unreleased songs including Gun to My Head (ft. Kid Cudi), Believer, and Drunk (ft. Peso Pluma). A cameo from Kodak Black was also included.

Yeezy label’s Chief of Staff Eric Cui even took to his Instagram Story to share, “All songs are getting live updates until finalized including deluxe tracks.” Sources cite that all of the tracks are available on Ye’s website as separate deluxe versions for $5 each.