Scott Cutler and Josh Abraham, co-CEOs of PULSE Music Group, today announced the promotion of Ashley Calhoun to President/Head of Creative, PULSE Music Group. In her new role, Calhoun will be responsible for leading PULSE’s world-class A&R team, signing and developing writers/producers, and overseeing the company’s creative strategy for new and established hitmakers spanning one of the hottest music publishing rosters in the industry. Based at the company’s Los Angeles headquarters, Calhoun reports jointly to Cutler and Abraham. Calhoun was previously Senior Vice President/Head of Creative, PULSE Music Group.

Under the helm of Cutler, Abraham and Calhoun, PULSE Music Group currently has a chart trifecta with the #1, #2 and #3 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with Harry Styles – “As It Was” (via Tyler Johnson), Jack Harlow – “First Class” (via Angel Lopez) and Future “Wait For U Ft. Drake & Tems” (via FNZ and SPRINGBRK), respectively. The company has also celebrated 18 #1 singles across the charts over the past twelve months and currently has three songs in the Top 5 at Top 40 radio; 2 Songs in the Top 10 at Hot AC radio; 3 songs in the Top 10 at Urban radio; the #1 Hot 100 Producer; and 16 combined cuts on the top four ranking albums on the Billboard 200. Harry Styles’ “As It Was” also broke several records including the most single day streams for any song in Spotify history (with over 1 billion combined streams in its debut release week), the biggest first week sales for any album released in 2022, the fastest song released in 2022 to sell 1 million units; and #1 on Billboard 200, #1 on UK official albums charts, #1 Top 40 radio, #1 Hot AC radio, and #1 Spotify Global 200 in addition to reigning at the top of Billboard’s “Songs of the Summer” chart.

Ashley Calhoun is an A&R powerhouse who oversees a publishing roster of some of the biggest names in music. During her first week at PULSE Music Group, Calhoun made quick impact by signing “Savage Remix” GRAMMY winning hitmaker, Starrah (2018 ASCAP Pop Songwriter of the Year). In March of this year, PULSE also announced a joint publishing venture with Starrah dubbed 3:02 Music Group (named after the area code in Delaware where Starrah was born). Starrah’s massive catalog of hits includes the #1 charting songs Camila Cabello’s “Havana” (featuring Young Thug); Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” featuring Cardi B (RIAA certified 10X Platinum); and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage Remix” featuring Beyoncé which won Starrah the GRAMMY for Best Rap Song in 2021. Starrah most recently co- produced the #1 Billboard Rap Album Kodak Black Back for Everything (co-produced with June Nawakii) which spawned the single “Usain Boo” and also wrote/produced the #1 Urban radio hit Normani’s “Wild Side” featuring Cardi B alongside fellow 3:02 collaborators.

PULSE Music Group also has creative joint ventures with American Songs, the publishing entity founded by legendary music producer Rick Rubin; Creative Nation, the multiple award-winning and country chart dominating music publishing and management company created by Luke and Beth Laird; and Wide Eyed Entertainment, the management and publishing company founded by Beka Tischker. Recent signings for PULSE include extensions with OG Parker (Megan Thee Stallion & Dua Lipa “Sweetest Pie” #6 on Mediabase Top 40 with 96 million Spotify stream); Tyler Johnson (Harry Styles “As It Was”); G Koop (Drake featuring 21 Savage “Knife Talk”); EL-P, and Andrew Jackson as well as new signings with FNZ (The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber “Stay” – named Variety’s “2021 Song of the Summer” with over 1.83 billion Spotify streams); Liana Banks (named to Variety 2022 “Hitmakers” – “Best Friend” by Saweetie feat. Doja Cat); Flo Milli, 4REST, and Finesse. They join PULSE’s roster which also includes James Blake (“Coming Back” featuring SZA nominated for a 2022 Ivor Novello and “Before” nominated for a GRAMMY); Ty Dolla $ign (BLXST feat Ty Dolla $ign & TYGA “Chosen”; “Hot Girl Summer” with Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj; Travis Scott “Highest In the Room” and “WusYaName” with Tyler the Creator and Youngboy Never Broke Again), Cordae, OZ (Drake “Girls Want Girls ft. Lil Baby”); Kehlani, Chad Hugo, Kevin Abstract, Yebba, ALDAE, and Brent Faiyaz to name a few. 

“Ashley has a consistent history of being at the forefront of signing talent early and then creating career-defining moments for them,” said Scott Cutler and Josh Abraham. “She’s a one-of-a- kind A&R executive—she’s got such authentic connections to our writers, amazing taste, a razor-sharp focus, and our writers and team love her. Her creative vision is perfectly aligned with our company’s ethos of being a world class incubator for culturally relevant songs and a creative sanctuary for our roster. PULSE Music Group is uniquely positioned as an indie to help great talent reach the next level in their careers and Ashley has been invaluable in taking that creative strategy in exciting directions. We are beyond happy to congratulate Ashley on this richly deserved new post and look forward to many more wins together.”

“PULSE is synonymous with creative culture. When a writer walks on to our campus, they get right away that PULSE Music Group has built this creative sanctuary for our roster and a real community of great songwriters/producers to surround themselves with. Our company was founded by songwriters/producers so, from the top down, there’s a lot of relatability. We know exactly how to support our writers and how to help them to build their business. PULSE has a diverse, empowered A&R team that signs people who are a ‘one of one’ and stand out for doing something different and then we just go really hard for them—that’s why we have a lot of clients that stay with PULSE. We’ve been really successful at landing big opportunities for our clients. We have the best A&R team I think of any indie out there. I want to thank Scott and Josh for giving me the opportunity to lead the PULSE A&R team in the years ahead. It’s an incredible honor to work with the best of the best,” said Ashley Calhoun.

Calhoun’s signing, OZ, recently reigned at the top of six different Top Songwriter and Producer charts simultaneously, including Hot 100 Songwriters, Hot 100 Producers. Calhoun’s roster of songwriters have contributed to the biggest charting songs, including 18 #1 singles over the past twelve months with Drake “Girls Want Girls ft. Lil Baby” via OZ (#1 Top 40); The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber “Stay” via FNZ (#1 Rhythmic); BLXST feat Ty Dolla $ign & TYGA “Chosen”(#1 Urban radio); Megan Thee Stallion “Thot Shit” (via OG Parker); Chris Brown “Iffy” (#1 Rhythmic via OZ); and more. Two of the Top 5 ranking Rap songs for 2021 are by PULSE writers – Pop Smoke’s “What You Know Bout Love” (#2), and Saweetie’s “Best Friend ft. Doja Cat” (#4). Three of the Top 5 ranking Latin songs for 2021 are by PULSE writers – Kali Uchis’ “Telepatîa” (#2), Bad Bunny’s “Yonaguni” (#3), and Rauw Alejandro’s “Todo De Ti” (#5).

Calhoun’s signing Kehlani recently scored her biggest Billboard chart debut entering at #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart with It Was Good Until It Wasn’t and has the current Top 20 single “Up At Night Ft. Justin Bieber”. Calhoun has earned tremendous respect with the broader creative community and has been featured in Billboard’s “A&R Power Players”, RollingStone’s “Future 25” Billboard’s “Under 30 Rising Stars”, Variety’s “Music’s Next Leaders”, and Billboard’s “PRIDE” list, to name a few. Prior to joining PULSE, Calhoun served as Creative Director at Rondor Music Publishing (a division of Universal Music Publishing Group). Calhoun has also served as a consultant on projects for RCA Records. Calhoun joined PULSE in 2015 as A&R Director (and signed Starrah during her first week with the company). She advanced to Vice President in 2017 and Senior Vice President/Head of Creative in 2020.