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Cohen, former CEO of Warner Music Group ‘s Recorded Music division has been spreading his wings of late in the world of video blogging, becoming a partner in JRSportBrief, one of the fastest growing sports sites.
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Lyor Cohen, one of the internet’s leading pioneers of on marketing through YouTube has increased his presence in that arena through taking a reportedly considerable investment, in JRSportBrief which will see him become a fully fledged partner in the company, along with co-founders Julian Roberts and Charlie Stettler who set up the sports vlog ( video log) during the late Noughties.
Since then JRSportBrief has grown to become among the most visited in its category, not only on YouTube, where it has registered in excess of 70 million page views to date, but also on additional the other major social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Roberts and Stettler may well be looking to take advantage of Lyor Cohen’s many years of experience in marketing through the video log media, as well as his especially close relationship with Robert Kyncl, Google’s Vice President and Global Head of Business on YouTube to help them with the forthcoming launch of their SportBrief Network.
Planned dedicated coverage on the channel is slated to include coverage of the top professional leagues both in the US and across Europe, college basketball and football, as well as an entire program schedule taking in a wide variety of niche sports and lifestyle features.
Commenting on his new partnership, Lyor Cohen enthused that JR have succeeded in building an impressive, wide reaching base of fans and consumers, through creating a powerful platform that will make for an ideal mix between sports and music.
It is a natural fit as I continue to look for creative distribution channels for up and coming artists and we look forward to working together.” Lyor summed up his new partnership.
Hastening to agree with Lyor, JRSportBrief co-founder Julian Roberts stated that their vlog has always been about providing what the sports fan has been looking for, meaning that we have always been on a constant look out for ways to expand our content as well as our reach.
“By partnering with Lyor, JRSportBrief can add another layer into the great material that we’re already producing and provide even more value to my fans and viewers.” agreed Roberts.
Lyor Cohen graduated with a degree in global marketing and finance from the University of Miami.
After graduation Lyor Cohen spent a brief time working for the Israeli bank, Bank Leumi, in their Beverly Hills offices, before setting out on his career in the music industry.
Cohen started small as the road manager for a local hip-hop group known as Run-DMC. However it didn’t take too long for Cohen’s entrepreneurial skills and financial knowledge to capture the attention of some of the up-and-coming acts who were pioneering the latest trend in rap music. Soon Lyor Cohen was working as an advisor and agent for some of the rising stars in hip-hop or rap music, with one of the first acts that he signed being Rush Jeff & the Fresh Prince, with the Fresh Prince being none other than Will Smith, who went on to become a Hollywood superstar.
Since then Cohen has been involved in hip-hop at various top levels and for more than three decades, being one of its key architects as the music sector developed from being the bad boy of pop culture to among its mainstream.
While Lyor began his career managing some of the most highly successful rappers for his agency firm Rush Productions, it was not too long before he co-founded Def Jam Recordings, which rapidly grew to become top record label of the late eighties and early nineties, even handed the accolade from Newsweek as being”the most important black music company since Motown”.
After leaving Def Jam, Cohen managed of two of the music industry’s major labels – the Island Def Jam Music Group, later joining the Warner Music Group and going on to represent popular music artists not only from rap but from all sectors of the music industry including rock music and even country and western.
It was during his time at the Warner Music Group (WMG) that Cohen began to investigate the financial possibilities of brokering lucrative endorsement deals for his artists, linking up some of the artists in their stable with such brand icons as Adidas, Le Coq Sportif, Troop sportswear, and Coca-Cola.
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