Pure Tone Music is a full-service music company founded by 2X Grammy award winning A&R executive and record producer Pete Ganbarg. Encompassing a record company, a music publishing division, an A&R consulting wing as well as housing its own original podcast, writing lab and developing original works for musical theater, Pure Tone strives for originality and creativity, with projects that have the ability to move audiences all over the world.
Pete Ganbarg has been doing major label A&R for over 35 years. He's a 2X Grammy award winning record producer as well a member of the board of directors of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Pete has held senior A&R positions at Atlantic, Arista, Epic and SBK/EMI and is currently the president of Pure Tone Music, based in New York City.
As a music publisher, Pete operates Songs With A Pure Tone and Margetts Road Music, joint ventures currently in partnership with Warner Chappell Music. Some of the songs published by Pete’s companies include Miley Cyrus’ Grammy award winning Record of the Year, “Flowers,” and Alex Warren’s global #1 hit “Ordinary,” as well as hits by Benson Boone, Charli XCX, Beyoncé, Lizzo, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, Lewis. Capaldi, Ed Sheeran, and more.
Pete 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. Some of the artists that Pete has worked with in his career include Santana (the 9X Grammy winning album Supernatural), Lin-Manuel Miranda (the Diamond certified cast album for Hamilton), as well as contemporary stars (Twenty One Pilots, Christina Perri, Melanie Martinez), all time classic artists (Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, America) and hit Broadway cast recordings and film soundtracks (Dear Evan Hansen, Mean Girls, The Greatest Showman).
Pete also teaches semester-long college courses on the history of A&R and the contemporary recording business at schools around the country including Berklee College of Music (Boston), NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts/Clive Davis Institute, Wesleyan University and University of New Haven (Connecticut).
Pete also produces and hosts Rock & Roll High School, an original podcast, now in its 5th season, featuring over 70+ interviews with legends of contemporary music.
Additionally, Pete was named International Music Person of The Year in 2023 by the music industry organization MUSEXPO.
His substack, Confessions of A Pop A&R Guy, features stories about how some pop music got made over the course of his 30+ year career.