Arjun Pulijal
Capitol Records executive Arjun Pulijal has been promoted to President of Capitol Music Group (CMG), it was announced today by Capitol Music Group Chair & CEO Michelle Jubelirer, to whom Pulijal reports. In his elevated role, Pulijal will work closely with Jubelirer in leading the company and planning its direction and future growth through innovative and strategic initiatives. He will directly oversee all areas of Artist Development, including Creative, Marketing and Operations. Pulijal is based in Hollywood within the company’s iconic Capitol Tower.
According to Jubelirer, “Arjun is renowned throughout our company, the industry and the creative community for prioritizing artistry in all aspects of presenting music to the world. He is more than artist friendly; he is artist-first, and his approach has resulted in some of our company’s most acclaimed and commercially successful releases during Pulijal’s nine-years here. He is a proven leader, and will be integral to working with me and our senior management team as we achieve our goals and plan our company’s future. I know everyone at CMG joins me in congratulating Arjun on his well-deserved promotion“
Pulijal said, “I want to thank Michelle and Sir Lucian Grainge for their incredible support throughout my years at CMG, and for their belief in me to help lead this iconic company into a new era. I would also like to thank the amazing and diverse team of people within CMG. Their passion for music, expertise, and ingenuity will be crucial to our success in the years ahead. Most importantly, I want to thank the artists that I have the honor of working with. Their talent and creativity consistently inspire me and serve as the life force for everything we do. The Capitol Tower has always stood as a musical beacon and a haven for artistry. I share Michelle’s desire to uphold that tradition and her commitment to support new and developing artists as they aspire to become the superstars of tomorrow.”
Prior to his promotion, the nine-year CMG veteran was Senior Vice President of Marketing for the company’s flagship label, Capitol Records. In that position, Pulijal lead the label’s marketing department and oversaw the design and execution of marketing campaigns for the full roster of superstar, established and developing artists. A diverse range of high-profile releases benefitted from Pulijal’s direct involvement and departmental leadership, including Paul McCartney’s #1 Top Album debut, McCartney III, which has garnered two Grammy nominations: Best Rock Album and Best Rock Song, for the single “Find My Way. Additional campaigns from Pulijal’s team included Halsey’s #1 Top Album debut and Grammy-nominated If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power; ABBA’s first album in nearly 40-years, the #1 Top Album debut and Grammy-nominated, Voyage; Masego’s Grammy-nominated EP, Studying Abroad; Norah Jones’s Grammy-nominated live album, ‘Til We Meet Again; Queen Naija’s #1 R&B album, Misunderstood; Duncan Laurence’s platinum single, “Arcade.”
Pulijal’s contributions extend to A&R as well, including a credit for McCartney III-Imagined, the first-ever official remix album from Paul McCartney, featuring Beck, Phoebe Bridgers, Blood Orange, Ed O’Brien from Radiohead, Dominik Fike, St. Vincent, Khraungbin and others as well as concepting the creative for the UKMVA-nominated groundbreaking music video for the McCartney and Beck collaboration, “Find My Way.”
The highly-regarded executive is renowned for his passionate advocacy for artists and their music, having conceived and executed innovative large-scale campaigns for some of the music’s most important and culturally-significant artists. Among his many successes is the campaign for Paul McCartney’s 2018 Egypt Station—the artist’s first #1 album debut of his illustrious career, which was propelled by the Emmy Award-winning Carpool Karaoke TV special and surprise livestream concert event at Grand Central Station in partnership with YouTube. Pulijal has led marketing efforts for Beck since he first came to Capitol six years ago, with the artist’s Morning Phase album winning five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 2015. That was followed by 2017’s Grammy-winning Colors, which benefited from Pulijal’s work in creating the Webby Award-nominated #BECKWOW Instagram campaign.
Other artists who have benefitted from groundbreaking campaigns overseen by Pulijal include Halsey (her top-selling 2020 #1 album Manic); Arcade Fire (the U.S. #1 Reflektor, which was propelled by a universally-acclaimed marketing campaign and a launch event atop the Capitol Tower that was viewed by millions, globally), Maggie Rogers (her debut album Heard In A Past Life was a #1 Billboard Top Album debut and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist); Troye Sivan (both of the artist’s previous albums, which have garnered more than 8 billion streams, and his forthcoming In A Dream); as well as Norah Jones (the #1 and top-selling Daybreaks), Elton John (the critically acclaimed Diving Board), Nine Inch Nails (the 2020 Emmy Award-nominated Watchmen soundtrack) and Lewis Capaldi (the U.S. #1 “Someone You Loved”), Vince Staples (The Vince Staples Show).
Pulijal was named one of the music industry’s Top Young Power Players on Billboard Magazine’s 40 Under 40 in 2017. He graduated Cum Laude from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education with a Bachelor of Music degree and a minor in Computer Science.
Arjun Pulijal joined Capitol in 2013 as a Director of Marketing, rising to Vice President in 2017. Prior to joining Capitol, Pulijal spent seven years at Epic Records in New York, first in A&R and then throughout various departments, including Publicity and Digital, before becoming a Marketing Director in 2009. During his time at Epic, Pulijal worked on projects for Modest Mouse, Fiona Apple, Shakira, Death Grips and Incubus, to name several.
