PROMO GENEALOGY:
RICK SACKHEIM

An excerpt from Lenny Beer's overview of the Promotion Family Tree, highlighting the Epic promo head...

Rick’s roots in the business are deep. Rick was long considered the best Rhythm-format promoter in the game, but he actually started in rock promo at Restless Records before blossoming into a major all-format exec. He served his first major-label tour of duty under Steve Bartels at Arista, then under Joe Riccitelli at Jive, then returned to working with Bartels at Def Jam. I can’t think of anyone else who commuted from Malibu to New York every week, but a surfer is the chairman of his own board. Now, in the #1 position at Epic, he has leavened his flinty street tenacity with Bartels’ panache, transforming difficult, anti-format records from the likes of Future and Travis Scott into Pop smashes and stardom. I still owe Rick a sushi dinner for besting me in a bet; current social-distancing protocols have spared me an enormous bill.

Back in the day with Warren G.