Drew Thurlow is the founder of Opening Ceremony Media, where he currently provides consultation for music companies. 

Previously, Drew was Senior Vice President, A&R at Sony Music, where he led a global team of creative professionals overseeing the Masterworks Division. 

Drew also spent six years as Director of Artist Partnerships & Industry Relations at Pandora, where he helped oversee Pandora’s growing role in the music business. This included building, booking, and executing music marketing programs, helping drive the artist and brand partnership strategy across the Pandora platform, and evangelizing Pandora’s value to the music and political communities at large. 

Prior to joining Pandora, Drew spent six years at Warner Bros/ Nonesuch Records in a marketing and A&R role working with an eclectic mix of musicians, from rock bands to classical composers. 

A professional musician and session player himself during that time, Drew began his career in entertainment spending three dramatic seasons working in the front office of the Boston Red Sox from 2002 – 2005. 

Drew is a member of ASCAP, the RIAA, a board member of both the Americana Music Association and TJ Martell Foundation, and has guest lectured at NYU, The New School and Rutgers University. He holds a degree in psychology from Connecticut College. To date, he is the only person to both appear as the musical guest on Late Show with David Letterman and earn an ESPN “Web Gem”. He is based in New York.