Wednesday, April 12, 2023
NOISEMAKERS:
DESERT BLOOM
In our latest roundup, we present eight more stars of tomorrow from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
That said, a shout-out from this rag and 20 bucks will still only get them a CBD-infused popsicle at Coachella.
Bella Jackson
Artist & Label Partnerships Manager, Spotify Jackson hosted Spotify’s “Harry’s House Party” in New York last year and launched the platform’s “Billions Club” playlist after Drake ate spaghetti from his 1b-streams plaque. She was particularly proud to see Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” break a Spotify record for 100m streams in a single week. Jackson’s been focused lately on the arrival of Spotify’s next RADAR Artist, Q. Her 2010 YouTube channel amassed 150k+ views thanks to music videos she directed, edited and starred in when she was 14. We’ve accumulated nine views of our “How to Make Toast” tutorial.
John Mayer
Senior Director Promotion, Streaming & Playlisting, Virgin Music Mayer feels fortunate to have been the first to play Hozier on the radio and to help turn artists like NF into arena headliners. He’s also excited about working on projects that defy industry norms—he took Rema & Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” up the charts at three formats and is collaborating behind the scenes with David Morris and RVSHVD as they push the boundaries of country music. Not to be confused with the “Gravity” singer, Mayer started his career as a DJ. He also claims to be double-jointed. We’ve been known to smoke two joints before we smoke two joints.
Blair O’Brien
Senior Director, Commerce, Republic Among other professional highlights, O’Brien has mounted an Apple Radio Holiday Show takeover with the Jonas Brothers, worked with Swedish House Mafia on Paradise Again and the trio’s Coachella 2022 Spotify activation and been stuck in an elevator with Shania Twain. She’s got her hands full today with the Jonas’ The Album, due 5/12, Joy Oladokun’s Proof of Life, out 4/28, and Noah Kahan’s forthcoming Stick Season Deluxe. O’Brien is a dual citizen (American and Irish). We merely aspire to someday becoming a solid citizen.
Nate Sokolski
Agent, Wasserman Music Sokolski once had to convince security at Stanford’s Frost Amphitheater that a Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator was part of Joji’s show and absolutely needed to be let backstage. He’s presently working on Joji’s sold-out upcoming Forum and MSG shows, sold-out Caroline Polachek, Suki Waterhouse and ROLE MODEL tours, Cannons’ Coachella debut and Shaquille O’Neal’s DIESEL DJ project, among other endeavors. When the Mexican Pizza was taken off the Taco Bell menu, Sokolski distributed petitions to bring it back. Alas, no one would go to such lengths for us.
Diana Chung
Label Manager, Encore Recordings
Having enjoyed a six-year tenure at Interscope, Chung started in radio promotion before transitioning into A&R and then to label management at Joie Manda’s Encore. Her extensive industry knowledge and relationships have enabled her to work with artists the world over, including Nigerian Victony, Swazi Uncle Waffles and Puerto Rican YOVNGCHIMI. She’s also an ardent advocate for diversity and representation in the industry. Chung’s love of music was supercharged years ago when she won tickets to Coachella off the radio. We exclusively sneak into festivals.
Alán Hensley
Marketing Director/A&R, EMPIRE Hensley fondly recalls, among other career highlights, playing Super Smash Bros. Melee with late rapper Sad Frosty and Twitch’s head of Artist Services, spinning records with Snoop Dogg at an EMPIRE/Everybody Knows event and having a drink with PJ Morton the night he won a Grammy in 2019. At the moment, Hensley’s working on a top-secret dance project with a top artist to be released in June. The self-proclaimed, undefeated champ of NHL Hitz 2002 has also appeared in a Baby Bash & Frankie J video. We’ve never been asked to do anything nearly as cool.
Emily Antonicci
Head of Social Media, Crush Music For Antonicci, few workplace experiences surpass watching Fall Out Boy play a hometown Chicago set at the Metro, cruising to the Dominican Republic with Train or catching the Hella Mega Tour acts (Fall Out Boy, Green Day and Weezer) at L.A.’s Whisky a Go Go. This year, she’s worked on Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation and Fall Out Boy’s So Much (for) Stardust and is gearing up for summer tours from Fall Out Boy, Train and Weezer. Antonicci hopes to one day own a grumble of pugs, starting with her lone pup, Bambina. We’ve been told we grumble in our sleep.
Bobby Davin
Director of Artist Relations, Stem From popping corks with Justine Skye to celebrate her Jimmy Kimmel debut and gold-certified “Collide,” to working on 50+ gold and platinum records with Big Loud, Davin has enjoyed an exhilarating career thus far. He’s presently geeked about longtime distribution clients Frank Ocean, FISHER and DRAMA hitting the Coachella stage later this month and busy building momentum for FIDLAR’s “Centipede,” off their debut EP, That’s Life. Outside work, you can catch Davin rollerblading around L.A.’s skateparks. You can catch us surfing the web on our couch.