80. Mike Caren: A&R Legend on His Career, Artist Development, Songwriting, APG, Music, Publishing, AI

Episode 80: Mike Caren.

If you’re in the music industry, you hear the name Mike Caren all the time. He’s one of the most powerful people in music, with a career that’s led to billions of streams, multiple GRAMMY wins, and chart-topping, career-defining hits as both an A&R and executive.

He’s signed and/or helped break artists like Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, Ed Sheeran, Kehlani, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Wiz Khalifa, Flo Rida, T.I., Trey Songz, Ava Max, Kevin Gates, and Don Toliver.

He started his career at Atlantic Records at just 18 years old, eventually becoming President of Worldwide A&R at Warner Music Group. Today, he is the founder and CEO of APG, which includes Artist Partner Group (label) and Artist Publishing Group (publishing), one of the most successful independent music companies in the world.

This is Mike Caren’s first-ever long-form, on-camera interview. Mike usually keeps a low profile, so I was honored he agreed to do this. We dive into his full trajectory, how he got where he is today, lessons learned, and his advice for artists, songwriters, and A&Rs trying to build meaningful careers in today’s music landscape. We also talk artist development, the balance of creativity and business, AI and more. There’s so much to take away from this one.

Hope you enjoy my conversation with the great Mike Caren!

‘Go with Elmo Lovano’ is a weekly podcast where Elmo interviews creatives and entrepreneurs in music on HOW they push forward every day, got where they are in their careers, manage their personal lives, and share lessons learned and their most important insights.

(0:00:00) INTRO

(0:07:13) EARLY CAREER, GROWING UP

(0:08:22) RADIO SHOW WITH THE ALCHEMIST

(0:09:20) INTERSCOPE RECORDS INTERNSHIP 1993

(0:13:10) PROVIDE VALUE

(0:14:34) MARKETING ROLES

(0:17:14) CRAIG KALLMAN, BIG BEAT, ATLANTIC

(0:19:21) BLACK EYED PEAS, SIGNING TWISTA

(0:21:56) THE PHARCYDE REMIX, STARTING IN A&R

(0:24:23) BECOMING EVP OF A&R AT ATLANTIC RECORDS, SIGNING TRICK DADDY, TRINA, T.I., TREY SONGZ, NAPPY ROOTS

(0:28:10) STARTING APG

(0:31:37) ATLANTIC AND APG

(0:33:18) BEING AN EXEC WHILE RUNNING A PUBLISHING COMPANY, STARTING ELEKTRA RECORDS

(0:34:15) CEELO GREEN

(0:34:30) B.O.B, “NOTHING ON YOU” WITH BRUNO MARS

(0:35:13) SIGNING ED SHEERAN

(0:36:49) SIGNING BRUNO MARS, BRANDY, AARON BAY-SCHUCK

(0:41:09) BEING A CO-PRESIDENT WITH JOHN JANICK

(0:42:35) SIA & DAVID GUETTA “TITANIUM”

(0:48:23) PRESIDENT OF A&R WARNER MUSIC GROUP, SIGNING KEVIN GATES

(0:51:57) CHARLIE PUTH, WIZ KHALIFA, LIL WAYNE

(0:54:09) KEHLANI

(0:56:16) “SEE YOU AGAIN” CHARLIE PUTH

(0:57:43) CREDITING

(1:03:01) HOW TO PRIORITIZE

(1:10:10) CRAFTING HIT SONGS IN 2025

(1:17:24) A.I.

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