L.A.'S CYCLE OF HITS

Epic’s L.A. Reid has succeeded over the last two years by breaking a handful of new acts—A Great Big World, KONGOS, Meghan Trainor, Fifth Harmony and, most recently, hip-hop chart-topper Future.

Reid arrived at the label with virtually no roster to work with and rebuilt it more or less from scratch, signing and developing the new crop largely after a detour on TV’s The X Factor, which he left in late 2012.

With a new smash from A Great Big World—whose monster “Say Something” emerged in the fall of 2013 and was the first breakout of Reid’s Epic tenure (the band is now at 609k TEA)—his string of recent hit acts now enters its second cycle.

His particular hallmark has been nurturing and breaking Pop and R&B divas; Trainor’s meteoric rise and subsequent ubiquity at retail and radio have added another siren to that list. With three massive singles and big album sales, she now stands at 1.8m TEA.

The distaff Pop ensemble Fifth Harmony, meanwhile, has moved nearly 1.3m singles with “Worth It” and is now at 400k TEA.

KONGOS saw their “Come With Me Now” move from Alternative champ (the first with accordions that anyone can remember) to mainstream smash and sync magnet, totting up 333k TEA.

Meanwhile, Reid’s successes with AGBW, KONGOS and Future show that he can break not only male acts, but records in wildly different formats. As with the Arista-era dominance of OutKast, Future’s rise demonstrates the exec’s patience and skill in bringing highly idiosyncratic hip-hop to the mainstream.

Reid’s successful Epic streak began after he completed his tenure on TV. Now, it seems, he’s truly ready for his close-up.