“Lady Gaga and I connected musically from the first time we met,” he says. Though his best known artist, Lady Gaga, is no longer on the label, together they released her multi-platinum efforts, The Fame and The Fame Monster, going on a wild ride together that took Lady Gaga from unknown to superstar in less than two years. “There is no fast track to engendering trust among artists, partners and consumers.” “It a long time and repeated successes to create the reputation and brand loyalty we aspired to,” he says.

Hardest lesson learned: “Just because you exhibit loyalty towards someone, doesn’t mean that it will necessarily be reciprocated,” Kierszenbaum says.Ībove all, Kierszenbaum has learned that you can’t rush success.

Cherrytree acts have taken five songs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and won seven Grammys.Īmong the great successes, there have been some misses and disappointments. The label’s artists have racked up sales of more than 33 million albums worldwide and 172 million singles. Among the acts who have come through Cherrytree’s doors are Lady Gaga, Ellie Goulding, Disclosure, Feist, LMFAO, Robyn, Far East Movement, Tokio Hotel, Die Antwoord, and Sting, with whom Kierszenbaum has worked with for more than 20 years (first in his capacity as senior executive of A&R and head of international operations for Interscope Geffen A&M).

Ten years later, he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams and, in doing so, changed the face of pop music. In 2005, when Martin Kierszenbaum launched Cherrytree Records, a boutique label housed within Interscope, he wanted to work with innovative artists with the potential to cross over into the mainstream.

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