Lawrence Mestel (born April 2, 1962) is an American

music executive A music executive or record executive is a person within a record label who works in senior management and makes executive decisions over the label's artists. Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can oversee one, or many, aspects of a re ...

and businessman. He is the founder and CEO of Primary Wave.

Early life and education

Mestel was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to Zelig and Rita (née Miller) Mestel. Mestel grew up in

Marlboro, New Jersey Marlboro Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is located within the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a ...

and graduated from

Marlboro High School Marlboro High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school located in Marlboro Township, New Jersey, Marlboro Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, ...

in 1980, where he played basketball and tennis. He studied business at

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, graduating

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

in 1984 on the

Dean's List A dean's list is an academic award, or distinction, used to recognize the highest level scholarship demonstrated by students in a college or university. This system is most often used in North America, though institutions in Europe, Asia, and Aust ...

. He was accepted into the

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

program at

NYU Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...

, but declined after receiving a job offer from

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...

to join

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

Career

Early career

Mestel was appointed

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

for Island Entertainment Group in 2000, which included Island Records, Island Music Publishing and Island Pictures. From 2000 – 2004, Mestel was Executive Vice President and General Manager at

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

. Mestel was responsible for the label's sales, marketing, A&R administration, finance and business affairs. Mestel was Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

from 2004 – 2005, where he oversaw marketing, sales and business development.

Primary Wave

In January 2006, Mestel started a private, independent music publishing company, Primary Wave, after raising $50 million and acquiring 25% of

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...

’s portion of the

Nirvana (band) Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, the band went through a succession of drummers, most notably Chad Channing, before rec ...

song catalog from

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as t ...

. As music IP owners, in its early years Primary Wave used lyrics and artists name and likeness to form brand deals with companies like

Converse Converse may refer to: Mathematics and logic * Converse (logic), the result of reversing the two parts of a definite or implicational statement ** Converse implication, the converse of a material implication ** Converse nonimplication, a logical c ...

, the

Massachusetts Lottery The Massachusetts Lottery was established on September 27, 1971, following the legalization of gambling by the Massachusetts General Court, the legislature of the Commonwealth. The Lottery is administered by a commission of 5 members, who includ ...

, and

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

. As of 2020, the company controls and manages approximately $1.5 billion of cash and assets.Can Music Publishing Save Bands In the Pandemic?
at Entrepreneur; by Kenny Herzog; published December 7, 2020; retrieved January 22, 2021

Credits

References

External links

* *
Lawrence Mestel
on

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mestel, Lawrence 1962 births Living people Isenberg School of Management alumni American chief executives Marlboro High School alumni People from Marlboro Township, New Jersey American chief operating officers