Dave Shapiro
Booking agent, the Agency Group

Dave Shapiro, 26, booked Rob Halford of Judas Priest on Ozzfest this summer but also nurtures his younger acts. Chiodos sold out 2,000-capacity rooms, then supported Linkin Park, while its album, "Bone Palace Ballet," debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. Shapiro also reps A Day to Remember, the Devil Wears Prada and Attack Attack! He booked 10 clients on the Vans Warped tours this year and last, and also launched, with Outer Loop Management, Scream It Like You Mean It, a festival tour in 1,000- to 2,000-capacity rooms. "Working creatively with other agents and managers allows me to always be thinking about the next step for each artist," he says. "The Agency Group is a place that really embraces this mind-set."

Matthew Siegel
Co-CEO/co-founder, Indaba Music

Matthew Siegel, 27, and partner Dan Zaccagnino have built Indaba Music as an online music collaboration site that has drawn the likes of Mariah Carey, the Crystal Method, John Legend, Alkaline Trio and Har Mar Superstar. More than 500,000 artists belong to the Indaba community and, at any one time, there are 400,000 active projects taking place. In April, the company unveiled an application that made it easier for users to record, edit and mix audio for free. Siegel and his team want to add more tools to make Indaba a one-stop-shop for creating, promoting and distributing music. "Our focus is really singular on building the most valuable, usable collection of tools and services for musicians," he says.

Kelly Strickland
Marketing manager, Live Nation

Kelly Strickland, 28, develops and carries out North American tour marketing campaigns at Live Nation for global touring artists. She's worked with such acts as Fleetwood Mac, Mötley Crüe, the Fray, New Kids on the Block, Jay-Z, Maxwell, Rihanna and Jack Johnson, as well as such festivals as Lilith Fair and Crüe Fest 2. She oversees multimillion-dollar ad campaigns across media channels, executes promotions across multiple formats and markets tours with ticket sales and grosses that exceed 1.8 million and $132 million, respectively. "Every artist and tour is different," Strickland says. "I work closely with management and key stakeholders to [convey] the appropriate message for that artist. I focus on the fan and how I can make them aware their favorite band is touring."

Seb Webber
VP of A&R, XL Recordings

Seb Webber, 25, moved from London last year to head the West Coast office of XL Recordings, whose roster includes Vampire Weekend, Thom Yorke, M.I.A. and the White Stripes. "I help oversee everything that we do in New York and London and try to connect it on a West Coast level," he says, noting his work with artists in the studio. In recent years, Webber has helped A&R albums by M.I.A., Adele and the Cool Kids, among others. But his accomplishments haven't been limited to the recorded-music space. He also co-founded direct-to-consumer presale ticketing company CrowdSurge in 2007 and manages the careers of such DJ/producers as Rusko, N.A.S.A. and Sam Spiegel (aka Squeak E. Clean).

Daniel Weisman
Principal, Elitaste

For Daniel Weisman, 28, his love for music grew from his use of technology. "I went to a New England prep school with a T1 connection and I was discovering music in AOL chat rooms," Weisman says. "By becoming fans of so many other artists that way, it lead me to realize the single-driven formula has come and gone." By 2009, Weisman was a manager, signing Wale to a deal with Allido Records and Interscope, and licensing his music to TV shows and videogames. He signed Mike Posner to his management and marketing company Elitaste and led the artist to RCA Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and linked him with brands like Oakley, Red Bull and Nokia.

Alex White
CEO, Next Big Sound

Boulder, Colo., doesn't exactly top the list of music business hubs. But that's where former Universal Music Group intern Alex White, 24, is launching Next Big Sound. A product of the city's Techstars incubation program, Next Big Sound provides data and analytics to artists and labels to track the effectiveness of their social media campaigns. "Anyone I've talked to who has seen Next Big Sound's new Premier product has said they're the most exciting new music industry apps of the year," Topspin CEO Ian Rogers says. The idea came from White's experience handling tour management and social media for Epitaph recording act Sing It Loud; he couldn't tell where he was getting the most bang for his buck. "We provide data so decisions are made based on data and what works rather than what's been done before," he says.