Craig Kallman is an American entrepreneur and former DJ. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records. His music career began in the 1980s as a DJ in Manhattan. He's the founder of the label Big Beat, which was established in 1986. Later, the label was purchased by Atlantic, where he worked since 1991. After the acquisition, Kallman subsequently become its CEO in 2005.
Kallman is considered one of the world's leading investors in rare records. He has a collection of more than 1.5 million records, 150,000 items of music memorabilia and 100,000 compact discs.
Early life and education
Kallman was born in Manhattan, New York City in 1965. His father had an eclectic record collection that exposed him to a wide variety of music. Kallman began collecting records at an early age, traveling from record store to record store in New York City; something that became a weekend job, even until today. He attended Trinity High School before moving on to Brown University. He pursued a liberal arts degree and graduated magna cum laude in 1987. Kallman had plans to enroll in Harvard Business School but decided to pursue a career in the music industry.
Career
1980s, DJ career and Big Beat
Kallman's music career began while he was still in high school. He worked in the dance department at Columbia Records, while DJing at nightclubs in New York City. He struck a deal with his father to DJ on weeknights as long as he maintained honors in school. From the early to mid-1980s, he held several DJ residencies including at Danceteria, Area, and The Palladium. During his time at Brown, he was a representative for CBS Records, and programmed urban and rock specialty shows for WBRU-FM. He began working for Factory Records after graduation. He also spent time at Billboard Magazine working in its charts department, while performing as a resident DJ at such clubs as The Tunnel and Mars spinning records from his extensive record collection.
In 1987, Kallman formed his own independent record label, Big Beat Records out of his bedroom with the label's first artist, Taravhonty. He distributed this first single, "Join Hands" out of a supermarket shopping cart personally selling over 5,000 copies to independent local record stores. For the second release, "The Party" by Kraze, Kallman sold the records out of the trunk of his father's car driving throughout the Northeast and distributed the single throughout the rest of the U.S. by shipping records to all the independent Mom and Pop record stores. Soon after Kallman was traveling throughout Europe licensing the single to independent companies in each country and “The Party” became an international hit, selling over 250,000 copies.
Big Beat Records was purchased by Atlantic Records in 1991, with artists being absorbed into the label in 1998. Big Beat's artists included Lil' Kim (under the Big Beat label with The Notorious B.I.G. called Undeas), Changing Faces, Robin S., Fat Joe, Junior Mafia, Artifacts, Jomanda, Double X Posse, Inner Circle, The Bucketheads, Jay Williams, and Quad City DJs.
1991-present (Atlantic) Kallman first began working at Atlantic in 1991, when the label acquired Big Beat as a dance and rap imprint. Upon joining Atlantic, Kallman established his A&R credentials by signing and developing a number of major artists, including P.O.D, Aaliyah, Brandy, and Timbaland.
Kallman became co-president of Atlantic in 2002. While holding this position, one of his accomplishments was establishing an alliance with VP, an independent dancehall and reggae record label. The first collaboration between labels was Sean Paul's album Dutty Rock, which sold six million copies and won a Grammy. He was also responsible for bringing Shinedown and T.I. onto Atlantic.
Kallman was named chairman and CEO of Atlantic in 2005. This was after the sale of Atlantic's parent company, Warner, to Time Warner. During his time as CEO, Kallman has been responsible for signing notable artists that have included Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Death Cab For Cutie, Trey Songz, Flo Rida, Zac Brown Band, Gnarls Barkley, B.o.B, Janelle Monáe, Wiz Khalifa, Gucci Mane, Cardi B, Nipsey Hussle, Lizzo Halestorm, Hunter Hayes, Fitz and the Tantrums, Charlie Puth, Sturgill Simpson, The War on Drugs, Melanie Martinez, A-Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Kodak Black, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Uzi Vert, Roddy Ricch, and Tiesto. Kallman produced Cardi B's "I Like It," which went to No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. He also revived Atlantic Nashville, the country imprint of the record group.