Rick Haayen founded Music at Work in May 2014, he grew up on both sides of the Atlantic, becoming equally fluent and at home as an American in Holland or a Dutchman in the US. Combining both cultures and experiences has given him a unique international perspective, Rick has worked over 30 years in the international entertainment industry both in Europe and the United States.
Having worked at major labels (Universal Music Group in USA + Europe) as well as independent labels (CNR + V2 Benelux in Europe) and management firms (The Entertainment Group & Montana ECI), Haayen decided to set up his own firm, Music at Work – a management & consultancy firm that represents successful Artists & Producers in the global pop and dance music scene, singer/songwriters from all genres, and also provides label services, legal services & publishing options for the entertainment industry at large.
Music at Work operates both in Amsterdam & Los Angeles, creating an international music hub for her clients. The core business will always be entertainment with Music at Work – creating a flexible and comfortable home for the creative community as a whole no matter where the talent calls home.
In the diverse world of music, there are singers, songwriters, producers and the rare multi-talents who combine all three roles into one, like Cimo Fränkel. He has many big hits on his name such as the smash single ‘Sex‘ by Cheat Codes & Kris Kross Amsterdam, which has over 640 million streams on Spotify alone and has gone platinum in multiple countries. Cimo also worked with many established names such as Armin van Buuren, Conor Maynard, Hardwell, Snoop Dogg, Lucas & Steve, R3HAB, Skrillex and Yellow Claw. He has had many asian cuts too with hits like ‘Rainbow‘ (NCT Dream) and ‘I Don’t Wanna Stop‘ (T.U.B.S). In 2020, Cimo focused on his own artist career with his self eponymous album ‘Cimo Fränkel‘ and released music under his EDM alter ego Mikel Franco. More recently he released the tracks ‘Dancing On My Own‘, ‘Any Longer‘, ‘Go Your Own Way‘ and his “Cimo Fränkel (Deluxe)” album.
Websites: www.cimofrankel.com – www.mikelfranco.com
Songwriter page: Spotify
Jonasu boasts an innate ability to make people move. It’s something he learned early on when he first started making music, “The reason I loved playing drums was that people started dancing”, an undeniable and true musician whose training and influence were born during his decade long stay in Amsterdam. He now resides in Berlin, but spends his time recording in studios out of London, Stockholm & L.A, creating his next anthem. His single ‘Black Magic‘ is an official UK Top 5 single and has over 350 million streams worldwide. In addition to making his own music, Jonasu has written with and produced for other artists including Sam Feldt (multi-platinum selling single “Post Malone”) and Alok & Dynoro (smash single “On & On”). He also remixed music from Tate McRae, Dillon Francis, Clean Bandit, 220 Kid, James Arthur and Alex Hosking to name a few. More recently, he contributed to the banger ‘Don’t Be Shy‘ by Tiësto & Karol G and released the singles ‘On My Mind‘ with JC Stewart, ‘All Night & Every Day‘ with Rêve, the smash ‘Trouble‘ with Georgia Ku and ‘True‘ with Karen Harding.
Website: www.jonasu.com
Songwriter page: Spotify
Karma Nine is an acronym for singer-songwriter Rik Annema, former front man of the Dutch indie-pop band, A Silent Express. He has over 2 billion streams all combined and has co-written and co-produced for an array of national and international artists such as Armin van Buuren, Conor Maynard, Damon Sharpe, Hardwell, Gatüsso, Brennan Heart, HRVY and James Arthur. He notably co-wrote and co-produced the massive hit ‘Sex‘ by Cheat Codes & Kris Kross Amsterdam, which has over 635 million streams on Spotify and has gone platinum in multiple countries. Rik has also co-written the tracks ‘As Long As I’m With You‘ by the Jamaican artist OMI, ”Where Have You Gone (Anywhere)’ by Lucas & Steve and ‘All Around The World (La La La)‘ by R3HAB & A Touch of Class. Equally, he has some remarkable cuts in the asian market with the hits ‘Made to Love‘ by Xiao Zhan (#7 in the Global Digital Single Awards of 2020), ‘Rainbow‘ by NCT DREAM and ‘The Beauty of Following Our Hearts‘ by T.U.B.S.
Website: www.karmanine.com
Songwriter page: Spotify
Yoshi Breen is an award winning Dutch songwriter. He has a rich history playing in indie-bands and is now entirely focused on his songwriting career. He started writing songs at the age of 9 and has been around the globe to collaborate with and work for internationally recognised artists. Being an all rounder and multi-instrumentalist, he has co-written and co-produced songs for Armin van Buuren, Lost Frequencies, Hardwell, Snoop Dogg, Sam Feldt and Alex Hosking to name a few. Also Martin Garrix’s hit ’Burn Out’ and the smash single ‘On & On‘ by Alok & Dynoro which both have over 100 million streams on Spotify alone. Additionally, his music has been used for syncs by brands such as AXE, Samsung and San Miguel Beer. More recently, he contributed to the banger ‘Don’t Be Shy‘ by Tiësto & Karol G which has over 400 million streams on Spotify. He also co-wrote & co-produced the #1 airplay smash in the Netherlands and platinum selling single, ‘Hard To Say Goodbye‘ by RONDÉ, as well as their latest hit single ‘Love Myself‘.
Website: www.dearmusic.nl
Songwriter page: Spotify, Apple Music
Catalina aka CATALI, is a 26 year old Amsterdam based artist and platinum rewarded topliner. Pop, dance and house music are Catalina’s main genres with lyrics being one of her main strengths. Her mixed background (American, Dutch, Swiss and Italian) gives her the ability to write in multiple languages fluently. She had a number 1 hit with ‘Ze Huilt Maar Ze Lacht‘ by Maan, which is on n°293 in the Top 2000 best songs of the Netherlands. She worked with artists such as David Puentez, Emma Heesters, Kes, YUQI, wrote songs for the The Voice candidates in various countries and worked with artists such as Ava Max and the Eurovision Song contest contesters. She also wrote music for the Netflix movie ‘Just Say Yes‘ and for the Dutch musical ‘Diana & Zonen‘ (production by Medialane). She equally releases music with her own artist project, CATALI, with the songs ‘Fire‘, ‘Therapy‘ (ft. Sagan) and ‘Talk To Me‘ (ft. Gromee). More recently, she contributed to the hit ‘Athletic Girl‘ by K-pop girlband H1-KEY and the single ‘Ring Ma Bell‘ by Billlie.
HEATT is a trio made up of dutch artists Cimo Fränkel, Fabian Lenssen and Rik Annema. Collaborators for over a decade, they’ve been co-writing & co-producing an array of international Dance & Pop hits. They collaborated with artists such as Armin van Buuren, Conor Maynard, CMC$, OMI, Cheat Codes, Kris Kross Amsterdam, Dante Klein, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Lucas & Steve, R3HAB, Jonasu, Nicky Minaj, Diplo, HRVY and many more. They have now combined forces to merge the best elements of their work into an atmospheric, deep and melodic style of dance music. Their first releases are the tracks ‘XTC‘, ‘Wild‘, ‘Desire‘ and ‘Escape‘.
Website: www.heattmusic.com
Spotify: Top 20 songs.
Yael Nahar better known under his stage name CMC$, is a Dutch multiplatinum awarded DJ, producer and songwriter. He notably co-wrote and co-produced Martin Garrix & Bebe Rexha’s smash hit “In The Name Of Love” which has over 1 billion streams on Spotify alone. CMC$ released music on renowned labels such as Spinnin’, STMPD, Universal Music and Ultra. His top 10 tracks on Spotify altogether amass over the insane amount of 240 million streams including the singles “Understand Me” with Conor Maynard, “As Long As I’m With You” with OMI and “X’s” with GRX and Icona Pop. He is equally great at creating power-charged remixes such as Martin Garrix & David Guetta’s “So Far Away” remix, showcasing his diverse pallet of production techniques as an artist. He also performed at Tomorrowland (BEL), New Horizons (GER), Looptopia Festival (TWN) and did a debut for STMPD at Balaton Sound (HUN).
Website: www.cmcsmusic.com
Hailey is born in Nashville, started her music career in Los Angeles and currently resides in Berlin. She is a prolific songwriter and vocalist, and is especially great with melodies. She co-wrote many hits such as J Balvin’s single ‘Bola Rebola’, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs David Guetta’s single ‘Complicated’, Betty Who’s ‘I Remember’ song and Icona Pop & Hayden James single ‘Right Time’. Other artists she’s worked with include Stephanie Poetri, Jonasu, Dante Klein, Evan Klar, Girls Generation, Kumi Koda and more. Even though Hailey mostly writes music for others, she also releases her own music under the pseudonym your friend polly such as the track ‘Everything About You’ with Sam Feldt. She also has upcoming cuts with Loud Luxury, Bhaskar and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike to name a few.
Jason OK is a multi-chart topping songwriter and producer from Munich, Germany. He has co-written and co-produced for an array of international artists including Gamper & Dadoni, Blasterjaxx, Tove Styrke, Klaas, Brooks, Jay Mason, Kush Kush, Gestört aber GeiL, Glasperlenspiel, OH MY GIRL, Vluarr and many more. He equally gained remarkable recognition for composing and producing music for commercials and movies. His songs can be found in commercials for Nissan, Skoda, Lexus, Nescafé and movies like “Der Kleine Rabe Socke 3” and “Capt’n Sharky’’. Jason co-produced platinum selling hit ‘Hard To Say Goodbye’ by RONDÉ, which was n°1 airplay in the Netherlands and the 3rd single by a Dutch band in history to remain in the top 10 for more than 18 weeks. He equally co-wrote and co-produced RONDÉ’s single ‘Love Myself’ which is also a gold record. More recently he has collaborated with artists such as Zack Martino, Madism and Lucas Estrada.
Website: www.jason-ok.com
” Hi! I am Rudy. As a kid, I always wanted to become a model, but all agencies said, they aren’t looking for a non human model. So to comfort me, my mum bought me a guitar when I was 13. But when I saw Alicia Key’s Unplugged Concert on MTV, I knew I wanted to sing and write songs. I have a fragile heart, you see. So here I am, still in the same bedroom, making music. Stay tuned!” His recent releases include the tracks ‘Love Sex Magic‘, ‘Move Ya Body‘, ‘Honey – Jetta (RUDY & Jonasu)‘ and African Lady (Antenna) – RUDY x FUSE ODG‘.
Website: www.itsrudy.com
Two established artists form anonymous duo EJ3000. With a strict rule to never show face, they’re set to take over the biggest club stages on earth. Armed with a catalogue of tongue-in-cheek Rap meets Tech House, the duo shine light on famous wonders like David Guetta or Berlins nightclub Berghain to title their tracks. They’ll put a twisted smile on all those brave enough to get down n dirty to EJ3000. They deliver a first taste of their sweat dripping tech house with Aloha! a spin on the main title track from HBO TV series ‘The White Lotus’. Driven by the twisted vocal hook, EJ3000 draw you into a spell of dark groove. Like the underlying evil in the show, this face melter will leave you either wanting to escape or say screw it “Let’s go F****** hard”.
Website: ej3000
Nordic Music Partners is the first international publishing collective owned and run by successful writers and producers. Founded in Helsinki & Oslo by award winning songwriters Teemu Brunila, Andreas “Axident” Schuller and Jukka Immonen, they have recently expanded to Europe with offices in Amsterdam and Paris. Nordic Music Partners is a creator-driven publisher with pioneering founders who have collaborated with acts including Justin Bieber, Tiesto, FloRida, Jason Derulo, Dua Lipa and Doja Cat among others. They focus on creative development and ensure global success for their writers by building an extensive catalog of great music while creating a network linking up songwriters from the Nordic region to the rest of Europe and the United States. Read more on Music Week’s recent article.
Music at Work is providing legal services to MDLBEAST, an entertainment company anchored in the Middle East and rooted in music culture. From MDLBEAST Records and MDLBEAST Frequencies to MDLBEAST XP, the company has continuously expanded across different business lines. A couple years ago, they also launched MDLBEAST Soundstorm, the largest music festival in the region which will reunite in 2021 over 400K visitors and over 150 artists including David Guetta, Afrojack, Adam Beyer, Benny Benassi, Deadmau5, The Chainsmokers, Tiësto and many more.
Website: www.mdlbeast.com
JOON is also enjoying Music at Work’s advisory & legal services as they are currently developing the first legal music streaming platform for the global Farsi-speaking market. Founded by Farshid Rafe Rafahi and Siavash Davarnia, the platform aims to give millions of music lovers a place where they can find a complete catalog of their favorite music to stream and/or download. But also, to solve the most crippling insufficiency of the Persian music industry: the lack of a royalty system that fairly compensates music creators, artists, and labels who’ve until now had very limited paths to reach mass audiences as a result.
Website: www.joon.fm
Music at Work is experienced in global rollouts of repertoire, while promoting and marketing successfully throughout. This service, called 100th Meridian Music including top-line global distribution, is available to labels and artists that want to release independently and are looking for a more boutique approach than being 1 of 100 acts on a label. Music at Work has been providing label services for years, most notably for R3HAB’s very successful CYB3RPVNK label, having helped him gain over 23 million monthly listeners and achieve over 1 billion streams on his independent label alone. Other clients include MACKS, Julian Cross, Dante Klein, Cimo Fränkel, Guusje and Ayko.
LAAMS Music Group is the trans-continental Publishing & A&R consultancy firm that is a collaboration between Prim8 Music in Los Angeles & Music at Work that operates both in Amsterdam and Los Angeles. Manager and lawyer Amit Krispin has been leading Prim8 Music for over 6 years while Rick Haayen has done the same with Music At Work. Developing songs for Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, while also signing LA rising star Hailey Collier and newcomer Michael Abundes, LAAMS Music Group and LAAMS Publishing are a great hotbed for new talent and a source of songs and repertoire for all genres.
Music at Work has a full-fledged legal department available for anybody in the entertainment business looking for expert consultation. The legal department is experienced in all fields of music, film, international trade law, rights and registrations.
Email tatiana@musicatwork.biz for more information and/or a free consultation.
Music at Work provides career management services for its artists, writers & producers. Full management clients include Jonasu, Cimo Fränkel, CMC$, Rik Annema, Yoshi Breen and Catalina Schweighauser. These clients also enjoy the benefits of the other departments, getting high end legal services, label services if required, and song pitching to a global database of A-level artists, managements & labels.
Music at Work’s Song Machine is a recurring list of the top songs & productions available across all clients, writers and artists we represent. This service includes pitching to a global database of A-level artists and is tailor-made to all people in the industry – A&R’s, Artists, Labels, Publishers etc. Subscribe to the newsletter by email: songmachine@musicatwork.biz.
Music at Work also has a home and studio in the legendary Laurel Canyon (Los Angeles), creating an additional music hub for its clients in addition to the Amsterdam home. The space is available to friends in the creative community looking for a serene environment to write and make music. Check out the entire place here!
Email laura@musicatwork.biz for more info and availabilities.
It’s been six years since he burst onto the scene with his club sensation ‘Ertesuppe‘, since then the rapid rise of Dante Klein has been awe-inspiring to say the least. Together with notorious LA collective Cheat Codes they scorched speakers with their global phenomenon ‘Let Me Hold You (Turn Me On)‘ which went multi-platinum and racked up over 600 million streams globally. He has performed at iconic festivals including Tomorrowland, ADE, Ushuaïa and Medusa Festival among others. All the while conquering hit lists as well as dance floors, skillfully riding the line between pop and club-oriented music. He now returns fully to the club scene under a brand new imprint: his own. His single ‘La Musica‘ marks the debut of his independent record label Garden Party Records and promises to be the first of many club favourites to follow in 2022 and beyond.
As a singer, songwriter and producer, Cimo Fränkel set up his label to release his music independently and show who he truly is as a solo pop artist. He has co-written and co-produced for an array of international artists including Armin van Buuren, Cheat Codes, Kris Kross Amsterdam, Hardwell and R3HAB to name a few. In 2020, he released his self-titled debut album called “Cimo Fränkel” which reached over 10 million streams and had media and tastemakers compare his artistry to the likes of The Weeknd with influences drawing from pop greats including Mickael Jackson & Huey Lewis. In 2021, he’s been releasing music that showcased his range from ear-candy pop to honest & raw tracks with ‘Dancing On My Own‘ and ‘Any Longer’. He started off 2022 with a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s classic ‘Go Your Own Way‘ and more recently the deluxe version of his debut album, “Cimo Fränkel (Deluxe)“.
Max Krul aka MACKS is the former frontman of the DJ group Dante Klein and has now launched his independent label for upcoming artists and producers in the house scene, MONO Records. With soulful deep house type of records, featuring catchy vocals and dreamy loops, MACKS has released several records from which ‘Come On Home‘ reached over 4 million streams cross platform and over 4000 Shazam’s. Other releases include the tracks ‘All The Same‘, ‘Running‘ and ‘Losing It‘ featuring Felix Samuel & Able Faces.
Italian DJ & producer Francesco Dogliani gained an affinity for the digital movement and developed a passion for all things electronica early on. Under the musical alias Ayko, Francesco went from small gigs in his hometown of Turin, Italy, to playing in the mecca of underground music and clubs in London and Ibiza, along artists such as Mauro Picotto. His focus has now shifted to producing and in 2021 he launched his independent label Langhewood Records to release this own music. He’s been working together with artists such as UK singer Jodie Knight and Brazilian DJ Leandro Da Silva. He is equally supporting upcoming artists including Hoax (BE), Orca Sound and Jayli.
Julian Cross launched New Breed Records as a home for his own modern and infectious sounds while also providing a platform for up and coming artists and producers in the electronic music scene. Julian enters the fray in 2020 with a wonderful collection of emotions and astrology-themed songs on his album “Nebula”, including the hit ‘Step Into My Shoes‘, the singles ‘Inspired‘, ‘Asteroids‘, ‘Strangers‘ featuring Leona Griffin and the progressive house jam ‘Molecule‘, all of which are inspired by the outer space and science fiction. Taking in a number of genres – from house to electro to future bass – it’s the melodic nature that strings it all together.
Indieshake is the label founded by Håkan Persson and Louise Lindenger. Their first release ‘Blow The Speakers Up‘ featured as the soundtrack of the global Samsung Galaxy Note 20 phone commercial in 2020, gaining over 700.000 streams. I Don’t Speak French is a band that constantly reinvents itself, but the one thing that remains is the love for hooks, big choruses and memorable riffs. Stranded Mermaid is a Swedish act who created a unique soundscape mixing folk and western elements, epic indie textures and dreamy vocals. Swedish Red Elephant is a creative duo made up of Hakan & Louise, and the alias for their electronic/dance influenced music.
Vertigo is a rock band from The Hague founded by the singer & guitarist Denny Haayen and guitarist Joris Hogewind. Their American oriented guitar rock shows influences from groups such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and the Golden Earring. In February 2020, they released their ‘Moments of Clarity‘ album on their own label called Fully Completely.
All Around the World (La La La) by R3HAB & A Touch Of Class, co-produced by Cimo Fränkel & Rik Annema and featuring Cimo’s vocals, is officially a Gold Record in the US! The remix by Alan Walker is also out now – Check it here!
“Love Myself” is RONDÉ’s follow up to their #1 airplay hit “Hard To Say Goodbye”, the single has been co-written and co-produced by multi-platinum songwriter Yoshi Breen and talented German producer Jason OK. “Love Myself” has been in the NL top 40 for over 20 weeks and recently received a gold award. Listen […]
Music at Work celebrated it’s 8th Year Anniversary! Truly blessed to have such a great team of people supporting this crazy adventure. And of course we couldn’t shine without all the amazing talents and clients we represent. To many more exciting project in the future! @music.at.work
“Don’t Be Shy” by Karol G & Tiësto, co-written by our talented songwriters Jonas Kröper and Yoshi Breen has now over 400 million streams on Spotify alone! Listen here and check out the official video here!
Nordic Music Partners is a music publishing company founded by award winning songwriters Teemu Brunila, Andreas “Axident” Schuller and Jukka Immonen. They already operate in Helsinki & Oslo, and now launched Nordic Music Partners Amsterdam, run by Rick Haayen & Yoshi Breen as well as Nordic Music Partners Paris run by Pierre Melhki. […]
It’s official, “Hard To Say Goodbye” by RONDÉ is n°1 Airplay in the Netherlands! Co-written & co-produced by the talented Yoshi Breen & Jason Ok! Listen here!
