Believe announces new leadership team members in Southeast Asia to further power the Group’s reach and impact across the region

Believe announces new leadership team members in Southeast Asia to further power the Group’s reach and impact across the region

Paris, September 22, 2022 – Believe, one of the world’s leading digital music companies, announces today several new appointments in its Southeast Asia (SEA) leadership team to accelerate its growth and reinforce its leading positions locally, promoting Antoine El Iman (Managing Director of Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand), Dahlia Wijaya (Country Director, Indonesia), Georgette Tengco (Country Director, Philippines), and Somwalee Limrachtamorn (Country Director, Thailand).

Believe’s new leadership team members will be key in driving the growth of local acts, rising alongside the boom in the Southeast Asian music market, where the Group is present with leading positions in the largest countries notably Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, as well as in the up-and-coming Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. Underlining Believe’s long-term vision and commitment in SEA, these new highly experienced executive appointments are central to capitalize on the growth trajectory across the region. Believe makes it a priority to build capacity and provide its local teams with best-in-class business and digital educational toolkits – developed by the Group’s central platform teams and leveraged across all local entities – to always ensure the best service to artists and labels.

Sylvain Delange, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Believe, says, “Asia will become the largest music market in the world in the next 10 years, with Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand among the top 20 countries globally. Our objective is thus to actively contribute to the growth of each local market, which are all in the early stages of their digital growth cycles, by increasing the value we bring back to our partners in terms of digital expertise, monetization, and marketing innovation, together with our values of respect, fairness, and transparency. We have been investing heavily over the past decade in the region and humbly did our part to grow the market faster. With the appointment of outstanding executives as Dahlia, Georgette and Somwalee, and under the leadership of Antoine we are setting the foundation for the next 10 years for local partners, artists and labels to reach new heights.”

Believe’s deep strategy of investing in and developing local artists in all markets is fully deployed in SEA, as the Group rolls out its three-part blueprint build-up strategy: Label & Artist Solutions focused on servicing labels and mid-level artists; Artist Services providing advanced solutions to top independent artists; and TuneCore allowing music creators to monetize their music in digital music stores and socials. Believe has notably helped boost the careers of Pamungkas (#1 in Indonesia) and Tulus (94M streams on Spotify and 122M views on YouTube for the viral hit "Hati – Hati di Jalan") in Indonesia, as well as of Saran (#3 YouTube track chart) and Zentyarb & Punyarb (#2 Spotify Weekly Top) in Thailand, and Al James (35M views of “PSG” on YouTube) and Shanti Dope (Universal Records, 1.3M monthly listeners on Spotify) in the Philippines.

Antoine El Iman, Managing Director, SEA and AU/NZ, Believe, says, “Believe is firm in its belief that local artists will, over the next decades, incrementally grow their domestic market share while extending their international footprints. Southeast Asian markets are on the cusp of the next great leap forward for the digital music business globally, as users start to migrate from ad-supported to subscription-based offerings. As such, Believe is supporting and empowering them from the ground up and we could not be more excited for this next phase of our development in the region.”

Antoine El Iman – Managing Director, Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand. Antoine joined Believe in 2019 as Head of Labels and Artists Solutions for Southeast Asia, helping to establish the Group as the leading player in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. With prior experience in management as well as having worked in the music and technology industries in both Europe and Asia, he will lead the next phase of Believe’s growth in Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

Dahlia Wijaya – Country Director, Indonesia. Dahlia joined Believe in 2019, coming with over 10 years of experience in the music industry, having worked in music publishing as well as at Nagaswara and GP Records, two of the biggest local labels in the country. Believe has built its leadership position in Indonesia by serving local labels and artists at every stage of their career, in Jakarta and all over the country and its islands (Sumatra, Java, Bali...). Believe’s team audience development and monetization expertise have been instrumental in a market that is largely dominated by video content consumption.

Somwalee (Tune) Limrachtamorn – Country Director, Thailand. Somwalee joined Believe in February 2022 and previously held the role of Managing Director for Thailand at data analytics company Nielsen, with 18 years of experience in FMCG retail, automotive, finance/banking, telecoms, and media. Since 10 years Believe has contributed to the development and the success of some of the most forward thinking local labels (What The Duck, Highcloud, Yupp...) and artists (Phum Viphurit, Hybs, Yougohm) in Thailand. In September 2022, the company launched bYond, an imprint dedicated to developing the forefront of Thai hip-hop.

Georgette Tengco – Country Director, Philippines. Georgette has held leadership positions at a range of local and international entertainment brands in the Philippines – notably GMA, TV5, MTV, Channel V, The CW, Sony/AXN, and Iflix Philippines. She joined Believe as Country Director for the Philippines in August 2022. Believe is known to be the key partner of the Filipino music industry and its digital development, serving the top local labels (Universal Records, PolyEast, Viva Records...). Believe’s advanced marketing tools are particularly effective in a country where the platform has a large subscribers base and that massively exports its music.

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About Believe 

Believe is one of the world’s leading digital music companies. Believe’s mission is to develop artists and labels in the digital world by providing them the solutions they need to grow their audience at each stage of their career and development. Believe’s passionate team of digital music experts around the world leverages the Group’s global technology platform to advise artists and labels, distribute and promote their music. Its 1,565 employees in more than 50 countries aim to support independent artists and labels with a unique digital expertise, respect, fairness and transparency. Believe offers its various solutions through a portfolio of brands including TuneCore, Nuclear Blast, Naïve. Groove Attack and AllPoints. Believe is listed on compartment A of the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Ticker: BLV. ISIN: FR0014003FE9).www.believe.com

Press contacts:
Manon JESSUA – manon.jessua@believe.com

Elodie ROUBAUD – elodie.roubaud@agenceproches.com | Cell: +33 7 60 43 65 08

Contact Investors Relations:
Emilie Megel – emilie.megel@believe.com | +33 6 07 09 98 60

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