Billboard's Fourth Annual '30 Under 30' List
August 18, 2008
By Billboard Staff
Billboard's Power Players series highlights the achievements of individuals who drive the fields of music and entertainment forward with their artistic and business vision. As our writers and editors surveyed sources across numerous business sectors to identify rising young executives for this fourth annual 30 Under 30 report, a trend emerged. Increasingly, this list is shaped by execs making their mark in the realm of digital and mobile music that's transforming the business. And once again, the most promising aspect of this alphabetical list is this: These young men and women are but a sample of a talented generation taking the business forward.
BRIAN AHERN
Booking agent, William Morris Agency
Under the guidance of William Morris Agency VP Marc Geiger, 29-year-old Brian Ahern moved up quickly from the mailroom to booking agent in 2005. A graduate of the University of Virginia, where he helped organize the college's first stadium concert with the Dave Matthews Band, Ahern has built a diverse roster at WMA that includes the Hives, Spoon, Colbie Caillat, Rev Theory, Warrant, Cinderella and Night Ranger. Ahern also learned about the nontraditional live business by managing MTV's videogame tour, Game Riot. "I try to be a little more strategic with my job so that I'm able to do things that are both music-based and nonmusic-based," Ahern says, "because touring doesn't necessarily have to be music."
ELLIOT ARONOW
Creative director/A&R, RCRD LBL
Elliot Aronow, 27, leveraged work with the Fader, Spin, Nylon and Gnarls Barkley to achieve his current role. Through his consulting work with Gnarls, he met Downtown Records head Josh Deutsch. So when he and partner Peter Rojas decided to start RCRD LBL, a network of online record labels and music blogs, they did it as a joint venture with Downtown. Today, Aronow has signed four bands to RCRD LBL, hosts a popular podcast that showcases the best of the blogs and oversees the site's editorial content.
PETER ASBILL
Chief content officer, Amie Street
Along with two fellow Brown University graduates, Peter Asbill started up Amie Street, an online platform for buying and selling music, where song prices, ranging from free to 98 cents, are determined by the volume of downloads. Asbill, 24, is Amie Street's chief content officer and says he wants the Amazon-supported service to benefit consumers and content providers alike. "We're in the peer-to-peer generation and the way a lot of kids look at it, they can get a [music] file anywhere," Asbill says. "We add more value to the experience. We make it more fun; we make it more interesting; we make it more personal."
Click here for the full list, including executives from major labels, publishers, digital firms, booking agencies, distribution branches, touring companies and more.
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