Amid Warner Music Group’s stated efforts to cut annual costs by $300 million, several veteran promotion executives at Atlantic Records were laid off at the label last week after decades in the trenches, Billboard has confirmed.
They include Greg Dorfman, executive vp of promotion; John McMann, executive vp of pop and rhythmic promotion; Tim Dalbec, vp of promotion; and Mark Chotiner, regional director of West Coast promotion. All four executives spent decades with either Atlantic or the larger Warner Music Group (WMG). The layoffs were first reported by RAMP.
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Dorfman is a 30-year WMG veteran, having started in radio promotion at Warner before joining Elektra Records in 1994; he was named executive vp of promotion at Elektra Music Group in 2020. McMann, who worked at Atlantic Records for 25 years, joined the label as vp of rhythmic promotion in 2000; prior to that, he worked at Jive Records after beginning his career in radio. Dalbec was at Atlantic for 35 years after starting at the label in 1989 in Northwest promotions, while 35-year industry vet Chotiner had been with Atlantic for roughly 17 years.
Representatives at Atlantic were not reachable at press time.
In July, WMG CEO Robert Kyncl announced the $300 million in annual cost cuts in a staff memo, stating the savings would be achieved through a combination of layoffs and slashing administration and real estate expenses. Kyncl noted that the staff cuts would account for $170 million of the total amount. In the memo, he contextualized the cuts as “the remaining steps in our plan to help future-proof the company and unlock the next era of growth,” adding that the money would be reinvested in the company’s A&R and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) efforts.
Kyncl added that the current wave of layoffs would be the end of a series of staff reductions that began early in 2023, when he assumed the CEO role. A September 2024 round saw significant staff cuts at Atlantic Music Group, with sources estimating that a total of 150 to 175 employees would lose their jobs. The job cuts followed a substantial restructuring at Atlantic Music Group in August 2024, which saw 10K Projects founder Elliot Grainge taking over as CEO and longtime Atlantic leader Julie Greenwald exiting the company. Layoffs have also hit Warner Records and Warner Music Nashville, most recently via a realignment of the Warner Records marketing department.
