SUNY Purchase Student Gets Jump Start on Career

HARRISON, N.Y. -- A SUNY Purchase College student isn't waiting until graduation to start his career in the music business.

Juan Catucci, 19, has begun his own record company, Catucci Records. Catucci considers himself a “froshmore” in the arts management program at Purchase.

“I took last semester off to pursue the record company; a lot of people thought I got kicked out,” he said. “I was just working on my dream.”

During his semester off, Catucci collaborated with a few close friends to start his company, a record label that also offers band management, marketing and press kits.

As the coordinator of social media, Juan oversees the company’s Facebook page, answers and sends emails and creates press kits.

This semester, Catucci is enrolled in a social media and the arts class that is teaching him “the nooks and crannies” of what he’s already been doing.

“I used to want to be a rock star,” Catucci said, “but I’m a better business man than a musician.”

That’s why he decided to start a record company.

“I want to make people’s dreams come true because that would satisfy my dream of being a rock star,” he said.

Catucci Records started in the recording studio in Andy Cosella’s basement. Cosella is a friend of Catucci’s from Mahopac.

Another close friend, Pamela Reyes, is one of the inspirations behind the record label.

“I heard Pamela sing, and I thought ‘I have to make something of her,’” Catucci said.  

The record company has signed Reyes and has signed and begun recording Roses and Kings and Hannah Rosenbaum.

To promote his company, Catucci plans several small tours with bands from his label.

Other events include a “follow us” tour, in which the bands from the label will play in the streets, subways and parks of New York City.

“I want to find a way to promote without being overbearing,” Catucci said. “If you play in the street or in the park, you get people to turn their heads and listen.”  

Catucci said the feedback from students on campus has been overwhelming.

“I've had a lot of support and a lot of people send me music to listen to,” Catucci said, “and I’m already working with a few students on campus to record their music.”

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