Michael Pukownik

The Pod of DC

Michael Pukownik is the Head of Genre Marketing at Amazon Music. Michael and I met as classmates and fraternity brothers in college and we connected on our shared love for all things music, but he was the one who dove head first into the music business in New York after a short stint in DC upon graduation. Soon after his move to NYC, Michael's brother gifted him a CD of original music that Michael leveraged to start a small record label and began researching the music business and making contacts at live shows. Fast forward twenty years and Michael is now based in LA and embracing music distribution's next frontier. In this episode of the pod, Michael shares his inspiration to pursue a career in marketing and advertising, the inner workings of the music business from artist discovery to music distribution, licensing, and publishing, and the rush of breaking and representing some of the world's biggest artists.