Artist and Team Panel: Louis the Child

This event is open to the SU community (students, faculty and staff) with an @syr.edu email address. If you would like to join this lecture please email bwerde@syr.edu from your @syr.edu account.

With hundreds of millions of streams, sell-outs in iconic venues and name checks from top pop stars (including Taylor Swift), Louis the Child have established themselves among the top rising acts in the space between electronic and pop music. But how does the magic happen? This week in Rezak, we’ll go behind the scenes and discuss their creative process, and experiences with the music industry. We’ll also have several key members of their team—their manager, as well as their label publicist, marketer and A&R—as part of the discussion. We’ll talk the various roles and responsibilities of each of these executives, the strategies and tactics for continuing to drive Louis the Child forward, and emerging artists in general. Added bonus: each of the team members are Bandier Program graduates!

Stream: Louis the Child’s debut album, “Here For Now”

Louis the Child

Louis The Child float through electronic, pop and alternative with wide-eyed wonder, adventurous spirit and the elation of being present. Since 2013, the Chicago-bred duo—Freddy Kennett and Robby Hauldren—have popped off as a phenomenon streamed upwards of 600 million times and endorsed by pop royalty such as Taylor Swift and Lorde. “Go” notably soundtracked an Apple iPad commercial in 2017, while their breakthrough “Better Not” with WAFIA earned a gold certification from the RIAA and powered the 2018 Kids At Play EP. Along the way, the boys packed hallowed venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, and New York’s Terminal 5 where they sold out a three-night stand. In addition, Louis The Child made explosive appearances at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Electric Forest and beyond. Not to mention, they garnered acclaim from Billboard, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, Hypebeast, Dancing Astronaut, covered the summer 2020 issue of DJ Times and more. In 2020, they unveil their full-length debut, the aptly titled “Here For Now” [Interscope]. Over the course of the record, the group delivers 14 anthemic affirmations of a universal truth, including “Every Color” with Foster The People, “Little Things” with Quin XCII and Chelsea Cutler and the single “Big Love” with EarthGang.

Joey Papoutsis ’13 – Artist Manager and Co-Founder, Keel

Joey Papoutsis began managing Louis the Child (LTC) in 2013 while a student in Syracuse University’s Bandier Program. Having represented LTC since their inception, Papoutsis developed the group into the internationally recognized act they are today. While pursuing a law degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law, he signed several additional promising artists. After moving to Los Angeles, Papoutsis co-founded Keel, a management company that represents artists, producers and songwriters. Keel’s current roster includes LTC, Two Feet, Sebastian Paul and more.

Michelle Nemeroff ’13 – Senior Manager of Publicity, Interscope Records

Fairly new to Interscope Records, Nemeroff’s roster includes artists from a variety of genres such as pop, rock and dance. While she is the publicist for breakthrough artists like Zedd and X Ambassadors, her focus is in emerging talent, which includes artists such as Louis The Child, Role Model, RAYE, Dermot Kennedy, K-Pop star SOMI and more. She also handles PR for movie soundtracks, including the upcoming SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.

Prior to Interscope Records, Nemeroff worked at Rogers and Cowan/PMK where her priority was handling the PR for Celine Dion’s “Courage” World Tour. She also spent three years at RCA Records where she was responsible for artists including Khalid, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Christina Aguilera, Becky G, Kygo, MUNA, Foo Fighters, Buddy, Normani and many more.

Nemeroff is a 2013 graduate of the Bandier Program.

Max Weinberg ’11 – Marketing Executive, Interscope Records

Max Weinberg has spent his career at the intersection of music, media and technology, using bleeding edge tech tools to advance the careers of artists across different genres. He is now a marketing executive at Interscope Geffen A&M Records. Weinberg’s current repertoire includes artists such as Avicii, DJ Snake, Machine Gun Kelly, Yungblud, Louis the Child, Gryffin, Jacob Collier and Mura Masa, among others. In his role, he heads up all marketing and promotion across the roster’s releases.

Weinberg was previously VP of digital at Control Music Group, a collective of management and media companies. In his experience across disruptive marketing, Weinberg has broken two Guinness World Records, spearheaded the promotion strategy behind multiple Top 10 records, developed one of the largest user-bases of artist-branded mobile apps and worked on global online marketing campaigns for numerous artists and media entities.

Weinberg is a 2011 graduate of the Bandier Program and in the fall of 2016 he became an adjunct professor for Syracuse University’s Los Angeles semester teaching Bandier Program students in the course Music, Technology and Emerging Opportunities, focusing on breaking down and analyzing the cycle of disruptive technology that impacts the business of music.

Josh Deane ’14 – A&R, Interscope Records

After making the arctic trek from hometown Los Angeles to Syracuse, Deane graduated in 2014 from the Bandier Program and hopped on the first plane back to the golden state where he went to work at Atlantic Records as an A&R assistant and coordinator for the then head of A&R West Coast, Sam Riback. Under the Atlantic flag, Deane coordinated albums for the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Grouplove, Chromeo, Charli XCX, Young the Giant and played a key role in the signing of then unknown rapper/singer DRAM. After the success of “Broccoli” and DRAM’s debut album, Deane took his passion for artist development and the craft of songwriting and production across town to Interscope Records where he went on to sign and develop Louis the Child and ROLE MODEL, among others. Most comfortable in the studio setting, Deane has helped jump start the careers of many young producers and artists alike, and is always in pursuit of the next genre defying sound.