Ryan Barkan and Mike Ladman have joined Droga5 New York as music supervisors, two new roles at the agency. Barkan and Ladman will further develop Droga5’s music and audio capabilities while seeking new opportunities for the agency and clients within traditional and nontraditional spaces. Barkan and Ladman will report to Droga5’s chief creation officer, Sally-Ann Dale.
Barkan joins Droga5 with 11 years of music industry experience as a sync-licensing and brand-partnerships specialist. He started his career at EMI Music Publishing, followed by a seven-year run at independent music publisher/management firm Primary Wave. As partner/executive creative director of licensing at Primary Wave, Barkan brokered creative partnerships between Wieden+Kennedy and Daniel Johnston and The Martin Agency and Def Leppard, respectively. His next venture took him to Warner Bros. Records as VP, creative licensing for ads, where he worked on releases from the Black Keys, Damon Albarn, Tom Petty and Royal Blood, to name a few. Barkan has licensed music for numerous brands over his career, such as Activision, Apple, Buick, Burger King, GMC, Google, Nike, Nissan, Sony and Southern Comfort.
Ladman comes from McCann Erickson, where he held the role of music producer for the past seven years. During that time, he provided music for clients across the agency’s roster, including Microsoft, the U.S. Army, Verizon, MasterCard, Weight Watchers, Nikon, Jose Cuervo, Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Postal Service, General Mills and L’Oréal. Most recently, he managed the music supervision for an indie film, Tracktown, which recently premiered at the LA Film Festival.
“After working on the label and publisher sides of the music business for over a decade, it is exciting to help shape Droga5’s musical point of view, as well be a part of the creative process at the agency,” said Barkan. “While Mike and I have diverse professional skills and experience, we share the same creative and forward-thinking vision for strategic music integration, and look forward to creating a dynamic, well-rounded music team together.”
Ladman added, “The opportunity to join the Droga5 team to develop the music department with someone as talented and experienced in music branding partnerships as Ryan is humbling. I’m thrilled about this new venture at Droga5 and can’t wait to push the boundaries of advertising, innovative content and engagement through the power of music.”
Droga5’s chief creation officer Dale noted, “For a long time we have succeeded quite well in positioning music for our brands. With the growth of the agency and the increased diversity of our work, this is the perfect time to add this greater expertise into our offering to better serve our clients. We’re looking forward to creating innovative and strategic partnerships to enhance the way in which Droga5 clients interact with music.”
