Industry veteran Halvor Marstrander no longer works for the record company Warner. The reason is supposed to be an episode at a festival with one of the company’s artists.
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Halvor Marstrander (39) has a long career in the Norwegian music industry. In the spring of 2020, he left his job as manager of Astrid S, to go to the position of A&R director at Warner Music, the third largest record company in Norway.
The position is among the highest in the record industry, and entails the main responsibility for acquiring new talent and developing the company’s Norwegian artists and repertoire.
Both Marstrander and Warner now confirm to VG that the working relationship between them has ended.
– We have agreed to terminate the employment, says Leif Ribe, Warner’s general manager in Norway. He does not wish to comment on the matter beyond this.
– Uncomfortable
According to Marstrander, the root of the rift between the parties is an episode that involved himself and one of the company’s artists.
– I was at a festival in Oslo and was too drunk considering my role in Warner, Marstrander says to VG.
– I am very sorry that it was an unpleasant experience for the artist, and have taken responsibility for what happened.
Not sexually
Marstrander wants to be clear on a specific detail about what happened between him and the artist:
– In these times, it is important for me to emphasize that there is no question of anything of a sexual nature, and neither party claims it either.
VG has been in contact with a management that confirms that they represent the artist in this case.
A high-ranking leader in management says this about Marstrander’s descriptions of what happened:
– Yes, this is consistent with our perception of the case.
VG has not managed to get in direct contact with the artist.
– Enormous load
Marstrander says he is aware that the case has become a talking point in the industry, and that there have been many rumors.
– To get so many rumors and untrue speculations directed at me I just have to stand.
– How would you describe your situation now?
– The weeks in retrospect have been very tough and a huge strain for the whole family.
– No basis
Heidi Reisvang at Elden Advokatfirma is Marstrander’s lawyer. She believes that the conflict between Marstrander and the artist was not a reason for dismissal.
– Our assessment was that there was no actual basis for the employer to terminate the employment, Reisvang says.
She believes that Marstrander had a desire to focus on future projects instead of a possible conflict with the employer.
On this basis, it was agreed to end the employment relationship, including maintaining the good relationship Marstrander has had and still has with Warner.
Warner boss Ribe does not want to comment on the lawyer’s statement.
Long career
Halvor Marstrander worked in several Norwegian record companies around the turn of the millennium.
Then, in 2003, he started in Jan Fredrik Karlsen’s company Playroom, where for the following 12 years he became co-owner and a key figure in one of Norwegian pop history’s greatest success stories: Kurt Nilsen’s career.
In 2015, he started his own company Interstellar, where the focus was on one artist: Astrid Smeplass, who joined Marstrander from Playroom.
– He has done a unique job with her, said Jan Fredrik Karlsen Today’s business that time.
–In February 2018, Smeplass almost used the whole first minute of his NRK live broadcast, a little over three minutes long speech of thanks for praising Marstrander, after receiving the trophy for Spellemann of the Year.
I april 2020 told Smeplass about the breach with the manager, and highlighted how important he had been to her.
For the last two years before Marstrander joined Warner, he was also the manager of the football sisters Ada and Andrine Hegerberg. According to both them and him, the collaboration was terminated as a result of his then new job.
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