NEW SIGNINGS INCLUDE MIAMI RAPPER BALL GREEZY AND
TORONTO-BASED HIP-HOP/R&B ARTIST 12AM
New York, NY (July 15, 2019) – Primary Wave Music Publishing announces today publishing executive Juan Madrid has joined the firm via a joint venture deal with his company Cruz Control Music. Madrid will bring his 18 years of music publishing experience and vast overall knowledge of the music industry to help widen PWMP’s already impressive roster of artists. He has already hit the ground running, closing two new deals in just a few short weeks. “I am very excited to partner with Primary Wave in this next phase of my career. After several meetings with Larry and the creative team at Primary Wave, I quickly realized that our visions aligned and that they would support Cruz Control in the publishing space,” says Madrid. He continues, “Larry, Justin, and their team have built a great company and I am looking forward to working together to sign and empower young talented musicians.”
The first signing to this joint venture is Miami rapper, Ball Greezy. Greezy has been a force in the Miami music scene for years and he continues to push the limits as both an artist and an accomplished songwriter with multiple hit records under his belt, including Drake’s global smash record ‘In My Feelings’ and as a featured artist on Lil Duval’s hit single ‘Smile Bitch’. We’ve also signed the wildly talented Canadian artist named 12AM. 12’s been releasing music independently and making a lot of noise. His single ‘Couple Pills’ has recently hit over 1 million streams.
“Throughout his nearly two decades in the music industry working at major music publishing companies, Juan has proven himself to be an incredibly accomplished publishing executive,” says Lawrence Mestel, CEO & Founder, Primary Wave Music Publishing. He continues, “We are looking forward to Juan helping Primary Wave become a bigger force in pop and urban culture music. With his vast industry knowledge and artist relationships, we know he will be an enormous asset to Primary Wave.”
Justin Shukat, President of Primary Wave Music Publishing adds, “I’m excited to partner with Juan Madrid. Simply put, he is the man, he makes thing happen, he is well respected and is a closer!”
Juan Madrid, who got his start as a music publisher’s assistant at Sony BMG back in 2001, has evolved into an accomplished entrepreneur, with ties in both music and TV. After a long and storied career as an executive at some of the biggest music companies in the world, he now creates opportunities for himself and others, utilizing his vast knowledge of the industry. After fifteen years holding high level positions as a music publisher, Juan has had many notable signings to his credit. These include some of the brightest stars in the urban music world including, but not limited to, notable producers Lex Luger, T-Minus and Chief Keef collaborator Young Chop as well as artists The Game, Rick Ross, Flo-Rida, Waka Flocka, Meek Mill, Wiz Khalifa and more. Wanting to do more than signing artists to deals, he saw an opportunity to create his own lane, and not be confined to only music publishing. After leaving his Senior VP of Urban A&R role at Warner Chappell in 2016, he created Cruz Control Music, LLC, which operates fluidly and allows him to not only sign artists to his own publishing company, but also manage, consult and more. He has signed AYO, who produced Kyle’s chart-topping record “ISpy”. He has also signed songwriter Raquelle Dolore who has recent success include co-writing 2Chainz & Arianna Grande’s “Rule The World,” just to name a few. In 2018, he also managed hip hop superstar Rick Ross. While Madrid started out in music, he recently entered the TV industry as a Consulting Producer for MGM and Viacom for the show “Signed,” which aired on VH1 in 2017. The show is currently in pre-production for Season 2, and Madrid will again contribute to the series as a producer.