VP Upgrade For Black River’s Grace Watson
• Black River Entertainment has elevated Grace Watson to Vice President, Commercial Partnerships & Digital. The news was announced by EVP Rick Froio, who said, “We hired Grace three years ago and she has been a fantastic addition to BRE. She is a great leader who has the best relationships with our revenue partners, artist managers and The Orchard. Grace has earned this promotion!”
Born and raised in Kansas City, Watson moved to Nashville to finish her music business and audio engineering degree at Belmont University. She began her career at UMG / Capitol CMG and joined Black River Entertainment in 2023, where she has lead the commercial partnerships and digital strategy for the artist roster as Sr. Director of Streaming & Revenue.
During her time with Black River, Watson has honed the label’s commercial release strategies and market positioning. Her substantial contributions to the success of recent Kelsea Ballerini releases Mount Pleasant and PATTERNS, along with Chris Young‘s debut Black River Entertainment album, I Didn’t Come Here To Leave made this move undeniable.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity from Gordon and Rick to step into this role and continue building impactful relationships and sales initiatives for our artists and label across the commercial and digital space.” says Watson, who was recently named an “Executive On The Rise” in Billboard‘s 2026 Country Power Players List.
Watson can be reached at gwatson@blackriverent.com. [Photo Courtesy of Black River Entertainment]
