Adam Mersel Brings Immersive Records Label to Interscope Geffen A&M; TikTok Star LILHUDDY Is First Signing (EXCLUSIVE)

Music manager Adam Mersel has brought his Immersive Records label to Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA). First to join the Immersive/Geffen roster is TikTok star LILHUDDY (aka Chase Hudson). The Los Angeles-based Mersel will continue to manage actor and singer Ben Platt.

“Adam is a rising executive star with great taste and a remarkably intuitive business acumen,” said IGA Chairman John Janick in announcing the joint venture. “His entrepreneurial spirit and his commitment to artist development make him and his Immersive Records label a perfect fit with us at Interscope Geffen A&M.”

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Mersel began his career at Career Artist Management, founded by the late Jordan Feldstein, where he worked with Bebe Rexha, Sara Bareilles and Robin Thicke, among other artists. He brought Rexha with him to First Access Entertainment and shepherded the singer and songwriter to multi-platinum success (“Meant to Be,” her 2017 single with Florida Georgia Line, was certified diamond last year, marking sales of more than 10 million units).

Named one of Variety’s New Leaders in 2018, Mersel said of his relationship with Rexha: “We both had something to prove. Failure was not an option for either of us.”

For the Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning Platt, Mersel served as executive producer on the Netflix special “Ben Platt: Live From Radio City Music Hall.”

Steve Berman, vice chairman of IGA, said of Mersel: “Adam has proven himself to be a master at working with artists who break boundaries and chart new territory in a quickly changing landscape. We are so happy to have Adam and Immersive as an important new member of the IGA family.”

“Some of my earliest experiences working in the music industry were with Interscope and so, in a sense, John, Steve other Interscope executives raised me in this business,” said Mersel. “They have shown time and time again that they are successful in establishing career artists and so this is the perfect home for Immersive Records. I am incredibly humbled and thankful to the entire team for their support and belief.”

LILHUDDY, coming off a starring role in Machine Gun Kelly’s “Downfalls High,” just released the song “21st Century Vampire.” Its message is that, “It’s okay to be different,” said the pop-punk and alternative-leaning artist, whose influences include Blink-182, My Chemical Romance, Bruno Mars, One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer. “In a lot of ways, I’m a very misunderstood kid too. People don’t know the whole story or who I really am. I’ve always wanted to be my full self. Music is my way to finally show them.”

The “21st Century Vampire” music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and features the artist frozen in youth as a vampire in a modern punk world (watch it below).

On TikTok, LILHUDDY boasts nearly 30 million followers and his 4,000-plus videos have generated over 1.5 billion likes.

Pictured from left: John Janick, Adam Mersel and Steve Berman

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