Jared Gutstadt, Founder and CEO of Audio Up Media, a new podcast production studio, platform and network, today announced the addition of music industry veteran executive John Ingrassia to oversee all of the company’s music endeavors as its President, Music.
To date, Ingrassia has led the charge in developing a number of significant deals with Primary Wave, Warner Records and Sony Music, with more in the works. With these newly-formed partnerships, Audio Up is working with a variety of A-list music talent that have already contributed to the company’s robust slate of original, scripted podcast properties. Among these recently announced music collaborators are multi-platinum and 7-time CMA Vocalist of the Year, country music superstar Miranda Lambert, who will contribute original music, executive produce, and voice a role in the upcoming scripted, country musical podcast Make It Up As We Go; multi-platinum recording artist, actor and pop culture icon, Machine Gun Kelly, (Colson Baker), who will executive produce, star in and contribute original music to the upcoming horror/musical podcast, HALLOWEEN IN HELL; and others including 24kGoldn, Lindsay Ell, iann dior, and JaVale McGee, with more names to be announced soon.
"After spending the first part of my music career working for one of the major record companies, and then the last decade supporting artists at one of the best management companies in the business, I am more than excited to join Jared in his latest venture and create new opportunities for music discovery through the exploding medium of podcasts,” said Ingrassia in a recent statement. “ Even as the popularity of podcasts has increased exponentially in recent years, music has been underserved, and Audio Up’s mission is to develop innovative programming that incorporates music that can stand on its own--the perfect compliment for telling stories in a pure audio medium.”
“John and I believe that podcasting is poised to become the next great discovery platform, not only for developing artists, but also for established artists looking to release new content in innovative ways, particularly in these uncertain times, as well energizing the vast catalog of music that is available thanks to streaming services,” added Audio Up Media Founder and CEO Jared Gutstadt.
“We are crafting best in class audio stories with supersized musical components,” Gutstadt continued. “If people go to platforms like Spotify, iHeart, Pandora, Apple, etc. and expect podcasts to engage them and keep them in the environment, the variety and quality of the content will have to improve dramatically to compete with the multiple forms of entertainment that grasp people’s attention like film, TV, gaming, etc. Podcasts can be just as rich and engaging as all other forms of media, and Audio Up is built on a foundation of podcasts, which will not only be springboards for albums of the future, but also spin off film, television and Broadway shows, and will be valued for a catalog of stories, songs and masters. We are excited to be offering an amazing slate of projects, both scripted and unscripted, that we have been able to quickly bring to market in the short time since the company was launched earlier this year. It’s been a perfect storm for us to create, while the pandemic surrounds the ever moving media landscape of 2020.”
Ingrassia brings a breadth of experience to Audio Up Media, having held a number of senior level positions in music beginning at Sony Music, serving as Executive Vice President overseeing day-to-day operations for the Columbia Records Group, and then President of the Commercial Music Group following the merger of Sony Music and BMG. Since 2009 he’s been General Manager at Vector Management, based in Nashville.
