Justin Shukat ’96, president of publishing, Primary Wave Music

Please respect that the discussions in this lecture series are off-the-record, with a no social media policy.

In this week’s kick-off to the Rezak lecture series, we welcome longtime friend, supporter and Syracuse alumnus Justin Shukat, now president of publishing at Primary Wave, one of the true leaders in the music publishing space. Primary Wave has been in the news due to a busy slate of catalog acquisitions, ranging from Whitney Houston and Prince to Bob Marley and Bing Crosby. In this week’s lecture we will start with a discussion of the state of music publishing, focus in on what is driving the recent trend of big catalog sales and then dive into what a publishing company does with these assets once they are acquired. Special bonus: We will hear some recently-released and some unreleased tunes, connected to recent acquisitions.

Justin Shukat ’96, president of publishing, Primary Wave Music

Justin Shukat is a partner and president at Primary Wave Music Publishing. His music career began at the Montreux Jazz Festival and was followed by various positions at Walter Yetnikoff’s Velvel Records. Shukat then moved on to senior marketing positions at both Arista and Epic Records. He then re-connected with a Larry Mestel who had a vision and plan during a very turbulent time in the music business to launch a new company focused on acquiring and working legacy catalogs, together they started Primary Wave in 2005.

He is responsible for new writer signings, content acquisitions and works closely with the current writer roster to facilitate recordings within the industry. He oversees all areas of Primary Wave’s synch exploitation and works alongside all partner companies to ensure that all businesses are focused and delivering.