Symphonic Distribution names Music Industry Veteran Brandon Hixon as Head of Newly Created Black Music Division

Hixon Joins Dynamic Symphonic Team Bringing Expertise As Artist Manager, Label Executive, And Entertainment and Fashion Entrepreneur

Symphonic Distribution, the global distribution and artist marketing company, today announces it has hired Brandon Hixon as head of its newly created Black Music Division. With more than 20 years of experience in Global hip-hop business and black music coming out of regions overseas, Hixon’s new role will be based in Symphonic’s Brooklyn office, reporting to Chief Client Officer and GM, Nick Gordon. 

Before joining Symphonic Distribution, the former Columbia Records executive created We Make Music management company (also lead by his wife, Tirinda Hixon) after his tenure at the label, and managed critical brand campaigns within the careers of a rich cross-section of artists including legendary Multi-Grammy Award nominated Hip Hop trio De La Soul, Queens NY rapper and actor Awkwafina, and African standout artist Sho Madjozi. Hixon also founded the Code & Beats Hackathon, an experiential created to spawn technology ideation relating to Hip-Hop. Recently, We Make Music’s client Awkwafina won a “Libera Award” for Best Hip-Hop Album, and Sho Madjozi won a “BET Award” for Best New International Act.  

“I’m proud to join a 100% independent, company with a rich history in developing artists, founded by a Latin American,” says Brandon Hixon, referring to Symphonic founder Jorge Brea. “Symphonic’s roots are in reggaeton and electronic music, and its experience building budding artists into stars is a perfect ecosystem to work on the next evolution of Hip-Hop business. And with that, we’re dropping the long-standing cultural euphemism “urban,” and properly referring to genres emerging from the black experience as what they are, Black Music.” 

“Brandon’s entrepreneurial DNA, exceptional taste, and 360-degree vision of the artist experience make him the ideal person to lead Symphonic’s new black music division,” explains Symphonic CEO Jorge Brea. “Our mission is to build our services around the needs of the modern artist, so hiring a manager provides us with a perspective much broader than a traditional label or distributor.”

As one of his first projects at Symphonic, Hixon curated a best-in-class roster of speakers for RapCon; an exclusive VIP think tank for Hip-Hop movers discussing the state of the industry at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY. The power panel featured representatives from Run The Jewels, Apple, SoundCloud, Genius, VICE, Audiomack, A3C Festival & Conference, Billboard, TIDAL and more. With over 800 applications, an exclusive group of 150 attendees were approved to have a front-row seat to unscripted fireside chats and engaging keynotes from fearless marketers and influencers who are pushing boundaries and setting new standards. 

Recent signings in Symphonic’s Black Music division include Afro-beats artist Sons of Sonix, Estelle, Kari Faux, Jawnza, LOVETURL, and Yung Joc – with a track featuring superstar Gunna.