Executive Q&A: Pete Ganbarg, President of A&R, Atlantic Records and President, ATCO Records

Pete Ganbarg is president of A&R for Atlantic Records as well as president of ATCO Records, a division of Atlantic. He joined the Atlantic Records Group as executive vice president of A&R in late 2008. A 30+ year A&R veteran and member of the board of directors of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Ganbarg has also held senior A&R positions at Arista, Epic and SBK/EMI. As a publisher, Ganbarg operates Songs With A Pure Tone and Margetts Road Music, joint ventures currently in partnership with Warner Chappell Music. Songs published by Ganbarg include hits by Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran, Andy Grammer, Lizzo, Beyoncé and more. He also runs and hosts the  “Rock & Roll High School”  podcast, featuring interviews with iconic artsts and executives.

Ganbarg is the recipient of two Grammy Awards for his role as producer on the Original Broadway Cast Recording of “Dear Evan Hansen” and the Original Broadway Cast Recording of “Jagged Little Pill.” At Atlantic, among the artists and projects that Ganbarg has overseen are GAYLE, twenty one pilots, Halestorm, Jason Mraz, Christina Perri, Melanie Martinez, Skillet, Brett Eldredge, Matchbox Twenty and Rob Thomas, Theory Of A Deadman and Icona Pop; as well as the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of “Hamilton,” “Mean Girls,” “Jagged Little Pill,” “&Juliet,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and the multi-platinum Billboard No. 1 soundtrack album “The Greatest Showman,” the latter two of which he also co-produced. Ganbarg began his A&R career in 1989 at SBK Records. In 1997, he joined Clive Davis at Arista Records, where, as Senior Director of A&R, he conceived and A&R’d Santana’s 30x platinum worldwide, nine-time Grammy-winning album, “Supernatural.” Additionally, he was recently named International Music Person Of The Year for 2023 by the music industry organization MUSEXPO.