Forge Music Group Launches with Southside, Bad Bunny Writers

Forge Music Group is open for business. The new multi-sector entertainment company, co-founded by Matt Geffen, Ben Schecter, Charlie Perl, and Tim Jordan, officially launched this week with three divisions running simultaneously: Forge Management, Forge Records, and Forge Publishing. The team comes out of The Revels Group and its publishing arm Coup D'Etat Music, where they helped build careers connected to Drake, Kanye West, and Kendrick Lamar.

This is not a soft launch. Forge is coming in with a full roster, active signings, and a film project already in development.

Who Is Already Signed to Forge Music Group?

The management roster alone signals what kind of company Forge intends to be. Clients include Japanese rapper Yuki Chiba, singer-songwriter duo Nat and Alex Wolff, and CARLA, who co-wrote "Dracula" with Tame Impala and JENNIE. On the production side, Forge represents Southside and Wheezy, producers behind Drake's "Ran to Atlanta," and songwriter JULiA LEWiS, who has a writing credit on Bad Bunny's "DTMF."

Songwriter Joe Reeves rounds out the management client list with credits on Morgan Wallen's "What I Want" and "I Got Better," as well as Stella Lefty's "Boston." That range, from Japanese hip-hop to K-pop adjacent writing rooms to country radio, is the point. Forge president Ben Schecter put it plainly: "Our roster spans six continents, and it's incredibly rewarding to help our artists and creatives build careers that transcend borders while pushing forward both commerce and creativity."

Forge Publishing has signed Ebubechi, Avery Lynch, and Grammy-winning producer Peter Lee Johnson. The label arm, Forge Records, is releasing music from singer-songwriter Carol Ades, artist bixby, and DJs Lucas Dekker and Jhay Rivas. Label GM Charlie Perl describes Forge Records as one of the few boutique, owner-operated labels in the current landscape, with a focus on what he calls "timeless artist careers" rather than quick cycles.

What Forge Music Group Means for the Music Industry Right Now

The company is also moving into film. Forge is doing music supervision work for Fleur, an upcoming feature directed by Ellie Foumbi through Plot Twist Productions, Killer Films, and AGC Studios. The film stars Halle Berry and Matthias Schoenaerts. Getting into sync and film scoring while simultaneously running a label, a publishing operation, and a management company is an aggressive play, but it also reflects where the real money is moving in music right now.

CEO Matt Geffen described the company's philosophy simply: "It's a big sandbox, and our job is to bring extraordinary people together and let them create." That is the pitch to every creative considering who to work with. Not a rigid structure with one lane. A company that operates across genres, formats, and continents at the same time.

For independent artists and producers, the launch of Forge matters because it adds a genuinely new option to the market. The founding team has real credits at the highest levels of commercial music, but they are building something boutique and owner-operated on purpose. That combination, major-label-level connections with independent-label-level attention, is exactly what gets lost when artists sign to divisions of massive conglomerates.

If you are a producer or songwriter looking for a home that has actual infrastructure but is not going to lose your project in a queue of 300 other releases, Forge is worth watching. Their publishing and management divisions in particular seem built to serve the kinds of behind-the-scenes creatives who rarely get that level of dedicated support.

Keep tabs on who they release and sign over the next six months. The roster they launch with is strong. The real story will be who they develop from the ground up. If you are an independent artist or creative looking for visibility and representation, check out [how to submit your work](/submit) and stay connected to what is moving in the industry.