PULSE Records was only announced last June, a new venture for the successful indie publishing player led by founders
Scott Cutler and
Josh Abraham along with President
Ashley Calhoun. But the new entity has a smash right out of the box.
Tommy Richman’s “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” is surpassing even its spendy title, having hit #1 at
Spotify global and U.S. and #2 overall at
Apple Music, not to mention #1
Shazam and some significant radio action (it was #2 Most Added at Rhythm). “Baby” has clocked north of 200m global streams already. This thing isn’t just a rocket—it looks like it’s going to be in orbit for quite some time.
The Virginia-bred Richman, who blends R&B chops with a punk aesthetic, broke bigtime on
TikTok; a craftily packaged “VHS” version with some vibey distortion helped energize activity on the platform.
The PULSE team inked Richman last summer in tandem with
Brent Faiyaz and
Darren Xu’s multimedia agency
ISO Supremacy, with whom they have a JV, after discovering Faiyaz (whom Calhoun had inked for publishing in 2016) had a connection with Richman, who is repped for legal by
Adam Zia at
The Zia Firm.
Not bad for a fledgling label’s “BABY.” Wait until this kid grows up.
Seen (l-r) are PULSE's Bel Mesbahi, ISO Supremacy's Darren Xu, Faiyaz, ISO's Ashani Allick, Richman and PULSE's Josh Abraham, Tizita Makuria,Ashley Calhoun and Sara Ahmed. Shortly after this photo was snapped, Abraham and fellow co-founder Scott Cutler whipped up a batch of their famous avocado toast.
