Lawrence Mestel brings 18 years of entertainment industry experience to Primary Wave Music Publishing. Before forming Primary Wave Music, Mr. Mestel was Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Virgin Records, where he was responsible for all marketing, sales and business-related aspects of the company. During his tenure, Mr. Mestel worked with iconic artists including The Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri and Lenny Kravitz. Prior to that, Mr. Mestel was Executive Vice President and general manager at Arista, managing sales, international and strategic marketing, A&R and marketing administration, finance and business affairs. While at Arista, he developed such artists as Avril Lavigne, Outkast, Usher, Pink, Carlos Santana, Dido among many others. In 1997, Mr. Mestel co-founded Palm Entertainment with Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records. Mr. Mestel was responsible for Palm’s day-to-day operations, which included the Palm Pictures label, Rykodisc and Ryko Distribution and Ryko Music Publishing. Before that, Mr. Mestel was Chief Operating Officer for Island Entertainment Group, which included Island Records, Island Music Publishing and Island Pictures.
Justin Shukat is a founding partner and General Manager at Primary Wave Music Publishing. Focusing on new marketing initiatives, Justin is currently developing a series of entertainment properties that leverage Primary Waves copyrights. His music career began at The Montreux Jazz Festival and was followed by various positions at Walter Yetnikoff’s Velvel Records. Justin then moved on to senior marketing positions at both Arista and Epic Records. During that time Mr. Shukat worked with top-selling artists including Avril Lavigne, Carlos Santana, Toni Braxton, Run D.M.C, Judas Priest, Tori Amos and Outkast.
Devin Lasker oversees all creative initiatives for Primary Wave. He has held senior marketing and sales positions at Arista Records and Virgin Records over the course of his 15+ years in the music business. While at Arista, Devin struck the deal that put the cast of MTV’s “The Real World” to work at the label, garnering massive world-wide exposure for their artists. With a reputation for always thinking of the next “big idea”, Devin has helped develop the careers of many popular acts, including TLC, Sarah McLachlan, The Notorious B.I.G., Pink, Usher and Outkast.
Adam brings 17 years of music industry experience to Primary Wave. He is responsible for all marketing related activities within the organization. Most recently, Mr. Lowenberg was Sr. VP of Marketing for Island Def Jam. He also served as Sr. VP of Marketing at Virgin Records and VP of Marketing at Arista Records. Adam's career has been punctuated by the multi-platinum success of such global superstars as Avril Lavigne, Dido, Sarah McLachlan, Pink, Rihanna and Bon Jovi.
Rob brings more than 17 years of Wall Street experience to Primary Wave. He will oversee the firm's business development and strategic acquisitions as well as expand the company's banking relationships. Before joining Primary Wave, Rob was a Director at Credit Suisse, where he was the architect of Primary Wave's capital structure. Mr. Horowitz is a recognized leader in the financing of intellectual property, being responsible for a number of landmark transactions including the first and largest-ever securitization of an international catalog of music copyrights, a $100 million transaction for the Chrysalis Group, Plc, and a series of financings raising more than $1 billion for pharmaceuticl royalty aggregator Royalty Pharma. Additionally, while at Credit Suiss, Mr. Horowitz arranged acquisition financing for clients in M&A situations in the Media, Telecom and Retail sectors and worked closely with the Bank's proprietary investing arm to deply capital and various start-up and emerging business. Prior to Credit Suisse, Rob held senior positions with the Royal Bank of Scotland, Greenwhich Capital Markets and Oppenheimer & Co. where he pioneered the securitization of such "esoteric" assets as margin loans, residential ground leases and equipment lease residuals.
Ramon Villa manages the financial and operational functions for Primary Wave. His 14 years of experience within the entertainment field has immersed him across many platforms including music, publishing, video, film and distribution. Most recently he worked closely with Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, as CFO and acting COO of Palm Entertainment Properties where he managed daily operations and financing activities. He was part of a team that built the catalog and brand value of Manga Entertainment, an anime content and copyright holder, from its U.S. inception through 2004 when he marketed and negotiated the sale of the company. Mr. Villa also gained extensive knowledge of sales and distribution as the CFO for Ryko Distribution, a leading independent music/video distributor.
Ms. Belcher heads the Film & TV department for the company and facilitates new business development and marketing strategies as GM for the companies west coast operations. She has over 15 years experience having started in the world of soundtrack production with Morgan Creek, Columbia Records and Arista Records where she worked on successful albums; The Last Of The Mohicans, Bad Boys, and The Preachers Wife. She then moved on to BMG Music Publishing where she pitched, placed and closed deals for the likes of Coldplay, The Who and Christina Aguilera, among many others. She is a member of NARAS, the AIMP and the CCC and routinely speaks on industry panels and guest speaks at UCLA Music Extension classes. She is also currently music supervising her first film District 9 (Produced by Peter Jackson).
Gregg Hamerschlag is a branding and licensing entrepreneur who launched Primary Wave Media, an intellectual property licensing and branding company, with Mr.Mestel. Primary Wave Media has signed long-term IP agreements with Time Warner, Cingular Wireless, Comcast, MediaCom and VoIP, Inc. while also introducing the concept of a daytime television audience for “The Rolling Stones” through a branded entertainment agreement with NBC Universal.
Randy Miller, one of the most respected marketing executives in the music industry, has held senior positions at Jive, Sire, MCA and RCA. Most recently, Mr. Miller was head of marketing for Virgin Records. Over his 25-year career, Mr. Miller has worked with many top-selling artists, including Britney Spears, R. Kelly, N’ Sync, The Backstreet Boys, The Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson and Lenny Kravitz.
David Simoné has been President of Arista, Mercury and MCA Records in the UK before moving to the U.S. He was the President of UNI Records, President of Polygram Music Publishing and EVP of Geffen Records. Mr. Simoné then joined his current partner Winston Simone and formed Deston Songs, which became a very successful independent publishing company. Mr. Simoné has worked with the world's greatest artists and songwriters from Elton John to Jon Bon Jovi to Desmond Child to Bono.
Winston Simone has been in the music industry for over 30 years. As a manager, his clients have included Jan & Dean, Carly Simon, Joe Jackson, Curtis Stigers, Desmond Child, Michael Beinhorn, Michael Feinstein and Ricky Jay. Mr. Simone has put on shows with his clients at venues ranging from Broadway to the West End, from the Bottom Line to Wembley Stadium and from Brisbane to Paris. He has also produced television specials for his clients on the BBC, HBO, PBS and Cinemax. With his partner, David Simone, Winston founded Deston Songs which became a highly successful music publishing company.
Robin Joseph brings 10 years of Music Licensing, Clearance and Supervision experience in the Film & Television world to her position today, where she is responsible for pitching and placement. She has worked with New Line Cinema, Artisan Pictures and on numerous productions as an independent Music Supervisor. Robin's music clearance credits include The Notebook, A History of Violence, Friday After Next and the box-office smash, Wedding Crashers. She was also responsible for music clearances in the promotional campaigns of films including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Elf. As a Music Supervisor, her credits include Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and most recently, the hit NBC show, American Gladiators.
Ryan Barkan is responsible for creating innovative and integrated campaigns within the advertising and video game spaces. Most recently, Ryan worked with Pontiac on an integrated music campaign that featured the new artist Shwayze’s hit single “Buzzin’,” and starred the artist himself. He has also placed songs in games such as Guitar Hero, SingStar, Rock Band, American Idol: Karaoke Revolution, LIPS, and more. When not at work, Ryan spends his time checking out new bands and attending shows. He chronicles each show with his trusty camera and writes about them on his music blog,
http://freshbread.blogs.com. His photos have been picked up by publications such as Billboard, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice and blogs like Brooklyn Vegan. Lastly, Ryan does a mean back spin...but not on request.
Evan Duby is responsible for creating content that leverages Primary Wave’s copyrights. He is currently creating an animated series called J.Stache that stars John Oates of the rock n’ soul super duo Hall & Oates. As a songwriter, arranger and producer, Evan is also responsible for various recording projects and music initiatives at Primary Wave. Evan is a songwriter, has composed for independent films and has strategic relationships with several recording studios. Through his company Words With Management, Evan also represents recording artists and producers.
Diana is responsible for pitching and placing music into films, television programs, trailers, video games and advertising media in addition to seeking out lucrative marketing opportunities for the company. Diana's experience includes five years at Right Bank Music, where she rose through the ranks to pitch and place songs in all facets of film and television media.
Dan Lieberstein is Primary Wave Music Publishing’s in-house music supervisor. Mr. Lieberstein is an Emmy nominated music supervisor and a Golden Reel award winning music editor. He recently produced the re-recordings of our classic film music titles with the Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. Among his many credits, Mr. Lieberstein was the music supervisor for the entire 6 year run of the hit HBO show
Sex And the City and the recent feautre film
Hollywoodland. In addition, he has worked as a music editor/supervising music editor on many feature films including
Cinderella Man and
The Producers-The Musical.
Matt Jones is responsible for all accounting functions for Primary Wave. Most recently he worked at Palm Entertainment Properties as Royalties Manager, where he oversaw the implementation of rights management and royalty systems for both its music and film divisions. He has extensive knowledge in copyright matters and in mechanical and compilation licensing. Mr. Jones previously worked as Finance Director of Ultra Records, the country’s leading independent electronic music label.
Prior to joining Primary Wave, Seth was Manager of Artist Development at the Island Def Jam Music Group, where he oversaw the promotional and commercial touring activity for a roster of platinum and developing acts including Bon Jovi, Sum 41, The Rocket Summer, and Jon McLaughlin. Previously, Seth worked at the RCA Music Group, under the tutelage of current A&M / Octone Records CEO James Diener. In this role, Seth coordinated both A&R and Marketing initiatives for a number of successful artists including Maroon 5, Flyleaf, and Gavin DeGraw. Seth is a 2004 graduate of New York University, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in music, and served as student president of The Steinhardt School of Education’s Music Business.
Hadley is responsible for developing marketing plans for the Primary Wave artist roster. Most recently she was Manager of Creative Licensing for Film/TV and Advertising at the Orchard. Prior to that she was at Concrete Marketing/Warcon Records where she worked under Bob Chiappardi and Kevin Lyman, gaining experience in marketing, production and video promotion while spearheading their licensing division. Hadley is on the board of Women In Music, as well a co-chair of their events. Additionally, she is the founder of the The Sweet Spot which is a private social networking event for film producers, music supervisors, and ad agencies.
Shara assists in facilitating marketing objectives in addition to pitching for film and television. Shara comes from BMG/Universal Music Publishing, where she handled writer dispute resolutions and researched and processed new song information. Prior to that she worked at Gimbel Music Publishing.
Consultants
The Estabrook Group (EG) is a strategic communications and branding firm that provides Primary Wave Music Publishing with a wide range of services, including strategic marketing campaigns, brand imaging programs and media relations consulting. EG’s client roster includes MSN (a division of Microsoft), NBA All-Star and Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James and Reveille, a television and film production and distribution company run by Ben Silverman.
