2 Minutes With ... Marty Silverstone, President of Global Sync at Primary Wave Music

Marty Silverstone heads up the synchronization division at independent music publisher, Primary Wave. He oversees a team of sync creatives in Los Angeles, New York and the U.K. who are responsible for licensing the company’s roster of artists across all visual media. Over the course of a long career working at the intersection of music, advertising and film/TV, he’s represented artists and songwriter catalogs including James Brown, Stevie Nicks, Prince, Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach and Bob Marley, and has driven song placements for legendary and up-and-coming artists in many high-profile and award-winning projects. Before getting into the music industry, he studied Psychology, watched a lot of hockey, and generally was a Canadian.

We spent two minutes with Marty to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations and recent work he’s admired.

Marty, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now. 

I grew up in the Montreal suburb, Côte St. Luc. After stops along the way in Kingston, Ontario, Toronto and Boston, I settled in Los Angeles, where I’ve lived for over 20 years. The winters are easier here.

Your earliest musical memory.

An early musical memory that stays with me is the electric organ that my dad had at the house. It was an old two-manual organ with bass pedals and voice stops that could change up the sound. Experimenting with the sonic textures was eye-opening, and playing bass on the pedals was pretty challenging but fun.

Your favorite bands/musicians today.

Jenny Lewis, The War on Drugs, and I’ve always been big on singer-songwriters. One of my favorites today is Alfonso Velez, who’s also a working composer. He writes about New York City in a poetic and refreshing way. 

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

I recently re-watched The Greatest Night in Pop—the “We Are the World” documentary. You’ve got to be inspired by what Quincy and that whole group were able to accomplish creatively—and the inner-workings of it all, managing the dynamics of the personalities. Creating something so high-quality, for such a good purpose.

A recent project you’re proud of. 

Our team recently landed an international ad sync with Unilever for one of its consumer brands—Persil. The commercial uses a song co-published by Primary Wave—the Cranberries’ “Dreams,” a cover version we produced at a Primary Wave cover recording workshop. The longform brand spot is a compelling short film that grabs at the heartstrings. We were honored to be part of this one. 

One thing about how the music world is evolving that you’re excited about.

The abundance of classic songs being sampled, interpolated, and covered in contemporary music today. Being a highly catalog-focused company, we’re in a good position with where mainstream music and pop culture are going, but I’m also excited about the opportunities there are for our team and our contemporary writers to be proactive with catalog. We want to be a driving force in where music is going.

Someone else’s work, in music or beyond, that you admired lately.

I admire the work being done by the creative community in support of fair compensation for songwriters and other creatives. The music business and other creative fields are obviously changing in a lot of ways, but there’s no substitute for memorable and emotive songwriting, and its value should reflect what it is—a keystone in the overall creative process.

An artist you admire outside the world of music. 

Quentin Tarantino. I celebrate his entire body of work, though Inglourious Basterds is probably my all-time favorite of his films. Lately, I’ve been going down the rabbit hole reading and listening to his commentary on the work of other filmmakers. Fascinating and educational!

Your favorite fictional character.

The fictional Larry David.

Your main strength as a marketer/creative. 

I would say it’s the ability to reimagine classic songs and to explore other meanings, tones or directions where copyrights can be taken and then used creatively—within ads or film and TV, for example. And it’s something the team and I love to do. Sometimes it’s being hands-on in the process of Sync-A&R and helping produce new versions of classics from our catalogs, and other times it’s more general brainstorming with our broader creative team to steer classics into new lanes. When you peel back the layers and check out the songwriting from a new perspective, sometimes you find something you didn’t expect.

Your biggest weakness.

Coffee.

Something people would find surprising about you.

I can speak four languages… and people can actually understand me in two of them.

One thing that always makes you happy.

Stevie Wonder’s cover of The Beatles’ “We Can Work it Out.”

One thing that always makes you sad.

That Oasis won’t reunite. And knowing that Succession is over. And even worse, knowing there won’t be an Oasis reunion on a future episode of Succession. 

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in the music business.

General Manager for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.