In our latest roundup, we present eight rising professionals from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
At the very least, we’re told copies of our mag make for semi-decent fans, which could come in handy during the sweltering heat.
Andrea Gavrilovic Senior Editor, Global Music Curation & Discovery, Spotify
From discovering―and becoming glued to―
MTV to producing a segment with
Big Boi of
Outkast (one of her favorite acts), Gavrilovic’s come a long way from her ’90s beginnings in Eastern Europe. She helped launch Spotify’s
Songs of Summer 2023 and the
Today’s Top Hits Instagram and worked on the
Pop Rising Live series, which saw the Spot on tour with
Lizzy McAlpine,
Sabrina Carpenter and
d4vd. Getting personal, Gavrilovic says, “I’m extremely good at fridge-challenge meals; I can make a meal out of anything.” Our own cooking is limited to microwave popcorn.
Randall Telfer
Director, Digital Marketing, Urban Music, Warner Records
Telfer was honored to lend
Freddie Gibbs his shades for a Miami show, after which the rapper joined him for shots. He helped
Teddy Swims’ June single, “Lose Control,” become the biggest such debut of his career via a marketing strategy and seed campaign that saw Swims gain 1m+ followers and hit #2 on
Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50. Telfer also managed the digital initiative for
NLE Choppa’s platinum “Slut Me Out” (1.1m+
TikTok creations), which rose to #6 on the Spot’s U.S. Top 50. Telfer played for the
Cleveland Browns for three seasons. Bet he’d like to tackle
us.
Liz Cohen
Senior Director, A&R, RCA Records
Having worked on the deal for two years, Cohen is understandably proud to have brought
Lizzy McAlpine (“ceilings”) to RCA. More recently, she got to visit and hear new music from celebrated producer
Jeff Bhasker at his studio in Big Sur. She’s got her hands full today with McAlpine’s next album, new music by up-and-comer
Jeffrey Eli and other projects.
Remi Wolf’s song “Liz” was inspired by Cohen (per
American Songwriter, “The… track [is] about how, in her loneliness, nobody appears to be there for her except for her friend Liz”).
We strictly inspire outrage.
James Ahearn
Artist Management, SALXCO
A 10-year
Coachella attendee, Ahearn was proud to see client
Two Friends play for 25,000 people at the
Sahara tent in April and premiere their dance #1 “If Only I” alongside featured artist
Bebe Rexha. Ahearn’s also supporting
RUVVANGA—who dropped his debut EP,
Moratuwa, on 8/4 and is now working on music for film, TV and commercials—and advancing the efforts of British DJ
TroyBoi, a new signing who’s touring this fall. In high school, Ahearn’s band played a concert in his backyard that got so big it was shut down by police. Many dream of shutting
us down.
Anna Pittman
VP, Artist Development, Warner Music Nashville
During her tenure as
Gillian Welch &
David Rawlings’ day-to-day manager, Pittman attended the 2019
Oscars—the pair was nominated for Best Original Song—and supported their
Grammy-winning 2020 album,
All the Good Times. She’s now working with Grammy-winning
Grand Ole Opry member and
CMA Fest fave
Ashley McBryde, whose
The Devil I Know is out on 9/8. Pittman’s also stoked about new music by
Madeline Edwards and
Randall King. A
Broadway super-fan, she keeps a spreadsheet of the 100+ shows she’s seen. We tried to read a spreadsheet once but got dizzy.
Harrison Golding
VP, Strategic Marketing, EMPIRE
After starting a meme-making company and working with some of his favorite artists, Golding got a co-sign from rapper
Trinidad James, which led to his dream job at EMPIRE. He’s particularly excited about the company’s Detroit roster, including artists like
Peezy,
Babytron and
Babyface Ray. He’s also busy with Peezy’s imprint,
#Boyz Entertainment, home to Flint, Michigan, rappers
Rio da Yung OG and
RMC Mike. Golding’s most-played artist on
Apple Music?
*NSYNC. Speaking of which, he enjoys saying “Bye Bye Bye” to us.
Mara Schwartz Kuge
President/Founder, Superior Music Publishing
When Kuge client
Kevin Barnes (
of Montreal) needed matching dogs to walk onstage at the
Hollywood Bowl with guest
Janelle Monae, the publisher procured the perfect pugs. She’s also placed the
High Strung’s “The Luck You Got” as the theme song to
Shameless (which ran for 11 seasons), landed seven tracks on
Freeform’s
Cruel Summer and got
THX’s Deep Note―“The audience is listening”―on promos for
The Masked Singer and in a
100 gecs song. Kuge spent years hosting and DJ’ing a downtown L.A. event called “Soft Rock Sunday.” But that was BYOP (bring your own pugs).
Alex Ziabko
A&R, ONErpm
Among other peak life moments, Ziabko, who began his career as a musician, once shared an elevator with
Beyoncé. Today he’s working on new music with artists like
Chance Peña,
Nightly,
FRENSHIP and
Taylor Acorn. A traveling man, this self-described “rad dad” has visited 48 of the 50 states and 31 cities around the world (including Beijing in July). Ziabko also considers himself a “decent” runner, with a mile personal record of 4:16. We recently got winded walking to the fridge—but we beat our personal-best time.
