JSM Music-World's Largest Commercial Music Production Company

JSM Music


In the world of commercial advertising music, there’s JSM Music—and then there’s everyone else. With a client roster that reads like a Who’s Who of household brands—Hershey’s, American Express, Dove, Chevrolet, Bacardi, Dodge, Lincoln—this young, wildly successful company creates compositions so memorable that it literally blurs the lines between commercial and popular music. Headed up by President/CEO, Joel Simon, JSM employs a stable of writers, producers, composers, arrangers and performers. With the largest recording facility in Manhattan, this industry giant has also accumulated over 1,000 gold and platinum records, GRAMMYs, EMMYs and every advertising award imaginable.

Unlike any other commercial music production company, JSM has the facilities, resources and in-house talent to write, compose, arrange, produce, record, A&R, master and distribute music products—all under one roof. With the closing of NYC’s legendary Hit Factory, JSM is also the largest and most comprehensive recording facility in Manhattan—20,000 square feet of studio space, encompassing 15 state-of-the-art studios.

From his early teens, Simon has had a single-minded love of music. Studying privately, and later performing at club gigs, Simon was rewarded early on when he and his group, Starion, won the 1984 New York State Battle of the Bands.

Although Simon was set on pursuing a full-time career in music, he was eventually convinced to enroll in college, which he did, later graduating magna cum laude with a business management and marketing degree from Cornell University.

Earning admission to a number of law schools, Simon’s future took a sudden about-face after a fateful conversation with a friend named Edward Sussman. Says Simon, “He was an attorney who represented several studios in New York, who heard a demo tape of some songs I had written throughout college. So he said to me, ‘Before you do what I did and end up hating it, why don’t you try doing commercial music?’ I figured, what the hell, I’ll try it. If it doesn’t work, I can always go back to law.”

Sussman set Simon up with some free hours in a client’s studio. With new demos in hand, Simon began lining up commercial session work; his first was for Clorox.

Working solo at first, Simon quickly made his mark. In 1994, JSM Music hired Simon, giving him a rush of assignments, for clients such as Proctor & Gamble and Nike. Simon became so successful that within three years, 1997, he was able to buy JSM outright.
“Once I took ownership of the company, I began re-staffing and redesigning JSM, bringing in specialized talent that I knew could handle anything I threw at them. I also personally got more involved with spots. I started really enjoying the 30- and 60-second formats, mainly because of the amazing things you can do in a much shorter format,” says Simon.

Simon continues to write, compose, play and sing, putting his considerable performing talents to good use on JSM commercials. “I love the creative side of my business, and I’ve always loved performing. It’s the thing that gets my creative juices going. It inspires me. I’m a little like Hitchcock that way. I make a cameo on every piece of JSM music.”


www.jsmmusic.com