Music and culture agency Premier Music Group has acquired the music supervision firm Wool & Tusk, the company announced Monday (July 29). Wool & Tusk heads Robert Kaplan and Aaron Mercer will go in-house at Premier to lead the company’s music supervision and licensing business.
“Wool & Tusk brings award-winning music supervision to Premier’s expert strategy, design and account teams,” Josh Deutsch, Premier’s co-founder and CEO, tells Billboard. “When I connected with Rob and Aaron about this opportunity, it was immediately clear how strategic the acquisition of Wool & Tusk would be for Premier. By substantially increasing our buy-side music supervision expertise and client base, we will immediately grow the agency’s business and add value to all our brand and agency clients. It will be exciting to collaborate with Rob and Aaron, who will thrive in the creative and entrepreneurial culture we’re building.”
The acquisition comes several weeks after it was announced that Primary Wave Music Publishing had taken a minority equity stake in Premier, whose artist and brand clients include Apple, AT&T, Anderson.Paak, Cuco, Coca Cola, Netflix, Nike, Starbucks and Ty Dolla $ign.
Founded in 2012, Wool & Tusk is a full-service music supervision and licensing company that has managed projects for hundreds of clients including national and global brands, agencies and cultural institutions. Kaplan and Mercer met while working at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, where they led the company’s global marketing and sync licensing teams.
“Josh, Terence, Stanley and the whole Premier team have an amazing vision of how music usage in the brand space can evolve and grow,” said Kaplan. Added Mercer: “Rob and I are excited to be part of this innovative group and to serve in these roles with creativity, integrity and excellence.”
“By bringing the expertise and experience of Wool & Tusk in house, Premier’s clients will have access to a team of people with a unique suite of skills and services — unlike any other I have known,” Stanley Lumax, Premier’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “By bringing together two companies that are highly aligned culturally in our approach to high standards of transparency and respect for the client and consumer, we can go to market together as a trusted, high-value partner that will deliver on the promise of leveraging the strategy in music to drive culture and measurable business outcomes.”
Added Deutsch: “With this transaction, we will add a foundational, world-class music supervision team to our capabilities. This is a transformational step for Premier which will benefit our clients and significantly drive expansion. We have been inspired by the incredible work Rob and Aaron have done at Wool & Tusk, and I am delighted to welcome them to the Premier leadership team.”