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MUSIC

ABOUT US

In June of 2009, Steve Karas & Keith Hagan announced the opening of their new company: SKH Music. Karas and Hagan have logged over 20 years each as respected PR executives in the recording industry. The mission statement of SKH is simple – super-serve a reasonable number of clients with a creative forward-thinking strategy. The principals will always be directly involved in designing, and implementing the strategic initiatives of each publicity/marketing campaign, conducting the outreach and delivering. Upon opening, a respected roster immediately took shape with a very diverse list of clients and over the past two years, a respected array of talent from the world of rock, metal, country, blues, and pop have enlisted the companies services.

For eight and a half years, Karas was the Senior Vice-President, Publicity of Wind-up Records. During his tenure, he was the responsible publicist for all of the acts on the label which include Evanescence, Creed, Seether, Finger Eleven, and dozens of others. Additionally, for a number of years, Karas acted as the video commissioner overseeing solicitation and execution of the visuals that introduced both Evanescence and Seether, and multiple projects for Finger Eleven and others. He also is credited as Executive Producer on the long-form releases ANYWHERE BUT HOME (Evanescence) and ONE COLD NIGHT (SEETHER). Both have sold hundreds of thousands of copies.



Prior to Wind-up, Karas was the Vice-President, Publicity of A&M Records based in New York. His key artists included Barry White, Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, Days of the New, Monster Magnet, Bryan Adams, and support on Sting, Sheryl Crow, Soundgarden and many more. He also oversaw the media campaigns for both Polydor and the Chronicles imprints. Some of these projects were retrospective box sets and reissues for the Velvet Underground, Abba, Connie Francis, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, and Cream. Karas survived the Universal takeover of Polygram, and spent close to two years at Interscope, prior to his departure from the company.



His first label gig was as the Head of Publicity at IRS Records, where he was the department head for close to a decade. The roster included the Buzzcocks, Concrete Blonde, Black Sabbath, dada, Rory Gallagher, Kirsty Maccoll, Spirit, and others. He also looked after the first releases from the Nettwerk label, and Grand Slam Records, who were distributed by IRS, in addition to the No Speak Series featuring albums from Robby Krieger, Leslie West, Stewart Copeland, and a dozen others. Additionally, Karas served as the Video Promotion rep for the label, working MTV, VH1 and all national and regional broadcasters for airplay. He began his career in 1987 at Susan Blond, Inc. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and The Gunnery.



Prior to co-founding SKH Music, Hagan serviced as the Vice President/General Manager at PFA Media, where he helped open the company when it first opened in 2002. At PFA, Hagan was responsible for all day-to-day operations involving client and staff management. His vast experience in the music industry offered the company a wealth of knowledge, credibility and management skills that enabled him to work with a wide range of artists including: Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Paul Weller, Shinedown, Stereophonics, Papa Roach, 3 Doors Down, and Joseph Arthur among numerous others.



Hagan’s experience in all aspects of the music business led to him launching The Austin City Limits Music Festival to the national media in 2002 and 2003 as well as bringing The CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival to new levels of success in 2008 & 2009.



In 2007 Hagan was responsible for bringing both Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan back to Sub Pop for the label’s 20th Anniversary with their brand new project The Gutter Twins. The band’s debut album Saturnalia was released to critical acclaim worldwide in 2008.



Prior to joining PFA, Hagan served for nearly eight years as the VP Publicity for Mammoth Records (A division of the Walt Disney Company). During his tenure at Mammoth, Hagan oversaw the publicity department and was responsible for creating and implementing the press campaigns for the entire roster including: Squirrel Nut Zippers, Seven Mary Three, Juliana Hatfield, Joe Henry, Victoria Williams, Jason & The Scorchers and many others.



Before his long tenure at Mammoth Records, Hagan served as the “alternative” publicist at Arista Records for two years. During that time he spearheaded the campaign for Sarah McLachlan’s break-through album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy as well as working with Spiritualized and The Church.



Hagan’s skills and background have enabled him to service music-oriented clientele no matter the genre as is apparent from his varied roster through out the years. A native of New York City, Hagan began his career by interning for the CBS Records College Department, followed by internships at I.R.S. Records, Chrysalis Records and EMI Records.  
 CONTACT
Steve Karas - skaras@skhmusic.com

Keith Hagan - khagan@skhmusic.com
skhmusic New York & Santa Monica


+@skhmusic New York & Santa Monica

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