Weaving the Musical Story

Jeffrey Moskow ’85

Jeffrey Moskow ’85 is a passionate music executive with over 25 years of experience in the music industry. He is a marketing, sales and artist and repertoire (A&R) consultant. One of the clients he works with is Music Forecasting, where he conducts research on behalf of artists. Working in this industry has given Moskow the opportunity to be involved in exactly what he has always loved since he was very young—music.

It all began when Moskow was nine years old. “It has always been about music,” explained Moskow. He started making mixtapes with different types of music when he was a child, and has not stopped. Moskow said his career started when he was a party DJ at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing.

Upon graduation, Moskow was employed at Sound Odyssey, a record store, while also being a DJ at clubs in Philadelphia. After Sound Odyssey, he worked for different record distributors until he started working for a record company, and began doing A&R. A&R representatives are those who find new artists and sign them to the label. Moskow was also doing marketing for the record company.

At the same time, he began working with NOW Partnership, in California, on “NOW That’s What I Call Music!,” a series of music compilations, which is now a recognizable brand. “NOW” releases four albums a year. Moskow has worked on the series since “NOW” Vol. 4. He is presently working on “NOW” Vol. 46. The series have been very successful. In the United States, 90 million albums have been sold with 16 Billboard No. 1 album positions.

Throughout his record company career, he became the head of the marketing department for Universal Music Enterprises in California, which is the catalog (older albums) for various Universal Music Group artists. Moskow was simultaneously doing A&R work for “NOW” and marketing for Universal Music Enterprises. In 2010, he left Universal Music Enterprises to move back to Philadelphia, where Moskow and his wife are from. He wanted to raise his family in his hometown.

Moskow dedicates most of his time to working. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends, but does not have time to go on vacations. He said anyone in the music industry will tell you that their life is the music industry. “It becomes woven into your life,” noted Moskow.

A part of life Moskow is fond of is his time at the college. The people he met while he was a student are his friends for life. “I am very allegiant to the University for that reason,” said Moskow. “It will always have a strong place for me.”

While in college, the artist he and many students liked was Rick Springfield. Moskow has been very fortunate in having the opportunity to work with Springfield on a number of projects. That is not something he thought could happen. “When I was at Philadelphia Textiles, we were all listening to his music and watching ‘General Hospital,’” explained Moskow. “If you would have told me in 1981 that I was going to do A&R for three or four of Rick’s albums, I would have said you were crazy, but that’s the way it worked out. Just goes to show you, you never know what you can be involved with.”

In recent years, Moskow has returned to PhilaU to teach a few marketing classes. He guest lectured for a Principles of Marketing course using real-world examples from his experiences at Universal. The advice he has for recent graduates is, “Although it is still a tremendous challenge these days, I think if you’re willing to sacrifice, and if you’re willing to have a plan and stick with it, do whatever you need to do to break in, then I think you can have a career in generally whatever industry you want. It’s all about hard work, who you know and what you’re willing to do.”

As with every working professional, Moskow has come across a few challenges. The music industry is always evolving, especially today with the digital shift and social networking. “When it comes to marketing, you have to have your finger on the pulse of what exactly is going on in the marketplace and how to reach the consumer,” explained Moskow. The availability and demand for music is greater now than it has ever been before. He said the challenge now is getting the consumer excited so they want to buy music instead of wanting to steal it. Moskow feels fortunate to have a career which ties back to his love for music. “It’s always been about telling a story with music.”