Former president of Def Jam and CEO of Warner Music Group Lyor
Cohen is hoping to become the King Leonidas of the music industry as he and
fellow veteran music executives Kevin Liles and Todd Moscowitz introduce their
new label 300. The company’s title was borrowed from the epic 480 BC battle
between the Spartans and Persians depicted in the movie of the same name.
“It was a battle that changed the way wars are fought,”
Cohen told Billboard. “These guys found that if you were well synchronized,
strategic, loyal with great planning and preparedness you could do much more
with less and be highly effective.”
300 has received a reported $5 million funding from Google as
well as backing from Columbus Nova (stakeholder in Rhapsody), hedge fund billionaire
Noam Gottesman, Kemado Records co-founder Andres Santo Domingo, and former Warner
Music digital chief Alex Zubillaga. The “content company” will be
distributed by Atlantic Records.
Cohen, Liles, and Moscowitz all spent time at Def Jam and Warner
Music prior to uniting to launch 300.
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