(l to r) Pulse Music co-CEO Scott Cutler, president and head of creative Ashley Calhoun, and co-CEO Josh Abraham, who will lead Pulse Records. Photo Credit: Hunter Simpson
Concord and Pulse Music Group have officially launched Pulse Records, with TikTok, Atlantic Records, and Alamo Records vets signing on in executive roles.
Nashville-headquartered Concord (which has since early 2020 held a substantial interest in Pulse Music) emailed DMN about its newly minted joint venture this morning, having previously disclosed plans to scoop up additional catalogs and develop in-house labels.
With Pulse Music itself responsible for the debuting label’s “A&R, creative, and marketing services,” the ICE Core member Concord “will provide a global footprint, financial resources, administration, and label services,” the involved companies said. Meanwhile, owing to Concord’s “longtime relationship” with Universal Music Group (UMG), the major label is set to handle Pulse Records’ distribution.
Shifting to the personnel side, 15-year-old Pulse Music’s co-founders, Scott Cutler and Josh Abraham, are poised to lead Pulse Records alongside roughly eight-year executive (and former Rondor Music/UMG higher-up) Ashley Calhoun.
Additionally, former TikTok music marketing manager and mtheory exec Lauryn Caldwell has joined the just-revealed label as SVP and head of marketing, whereas former Atlantic Records marketing professional Sara Ahmed is now Pulse Records’ VP of marketing.
Finally, Artist Publishing Group vet Tizita Makuria (who’s been with Pulse Music since November) has been tapped to serve as VP of creative across Pulse’s publishing unit and namesake label, with former Alamo Records A&R higher-up Bel Mesbahi officially named creative director, A&R for Pulse’s label as well as the company’s publishing division.
In an approximately 230-word joint statement, Pulse Music Group’s aforementioned co-founders and co-CEOs, Scott Cutler and Josh Abraham, emphasized plans to break new talent while simultaneously signing commercially prominent acts to their company’s label. (At present, Pulse Music is said to boast “more than 250 active clients.”)
“In addition to launching emerging talent,” the two communicated in part, “we have plans to work with artists that helped to redefine genres with whom we have created very strong relationships over the years that will soon be coming out of their existing deals. There is a lot of goodwill in the community for PULSE.”
And in remarks of his own, nearly 20-year Concord exec Bob Valentine (who will begin as CEO on July 1st) said: “Scott, Josh, Ashley, and the team at PULSE have been a great collaborator with Concord in publishing some of the highest charting songs in the world.
“Globally recognized as one of the leading frontline creative teams and first-class incubators for culturally relevant music, PULSE Music Group is a company that Concord continues to greatly admire, and we couldn’t ask for more exceptional business partners as we work to launch PULSE Records,” he concluded.
