NOISEMAKERS: THEY'RE THANKFUL
In our latest roundup, we present eight rising professionals from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
This week's entrants will also find their faces in our latest mag. Thankfully, they can lament this mortifying experience with their faces full of stuffing.
Dina Sahim
Artist Manager, SALXCO
Sahim was understandably stoked to be part of Swedish House Mafia’s reunion, which has seen new music and announcements of a world tour as well as a performance at Coachella next year. Sahim has also been busy with new albums by French Montana—who’s landed a partnership with the fragrance KILIAN Paris—and British singer-songwriter Hope Tala, as well as Bebe Rexha’s feature acting debut in the upcoming film Queenpins. We hear Sahim is an ace tennis player, though we fear that after her appearance here, she’ll have no love for us.
John Stein
Head of Editorial, U.S. & Canada, Spotify
Stein is particularly proud of having transformed Spotify’s Fresh Finds emerging-artist platform from a motley crew of editors and data curators into a global initiative that employs 40+ people working on 20+ playlists and boasts an artist-development team and a full-scale marketing campaign. He’s now tapping into audience-focused editorial, which he considers a game-changer, explaining, “We need to think more about audience than genre.” Stein once spent thousands of hours a year playing Sudoku but in quarantine opted instead for online chess. We’re pretty good at online checkers.
Cyndi Lynott
SVP, Marketing, BMG Records
In 2015 Lynott beheld her management client A Great Big World win a Grammy for their song with Christina Aguilera, the sextuple-platinum “Say Something.” She’s lately been setting up 2022 albums by 5 Seconds of Summer and Slash and the second English-language long-player from Monsta X, out next month. In her “spare time,” this University of Michigan School of Music grad and former high school drum major practices the French horn (on which she was once ranked #1 in the state of Arizona). Our musical skills extend to the triangle.
Jacqueline Rossi
Senior Director, Global Commercial Partnerships, AWAL
Having joined AWAL in 2019, Rossi leads DSP initiatives for a roster that includes girl in red, Little Simz, Lauv, Jungle, Dayglow, Daya, Deadmau5, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Gerry Cinnamon and Alaina Castillo. Recently, she secured Spotify RADAR partnerships for Castillo and girl in red. The most rewarding part of her career? “Helping artists achieve major milestones,” says Rossi. She tested her mettle last month in her first half marathon. Alas, she couldn’t outrun us.
Tay James
A&R/DJ, Justin Bieber
James has worked on Bieber’s #1 album Justice and EP Freedom and was instrumental in bringing him onto WizKid’s Top 10 “Essence” remix. He’s lately been knee-deep in rehearsals for the superstar’s upcoming world tour. Among other pursuits, James leads brand management and events for men’s line Purple Brand and recently partnered with fashion label Polite Worldwide. He’d like to register a special shout-out to his French bulldog, Frank White, named for the titular character of the 1990 neo-noir “King of New York.” We’re just surprised James didn’t shout at us.
Kathryn Sullivan
Director, Marketing, Arista
Sullivan is witnessing the return of rock first-hand with Arista/Sony Latin’s Måneskin. She got to watch the Italian rock marauders play their first stadium show opening for The Rolling Stones in Vegas and close out their first U.S. promo tour. As she helps build Måneskin from the ground up, Sullivan’s also pumped about developing artists like carolesdaughter, spill tab and Weston Estate. Luckily, she can go deep-sea diving to avoid us in the future, as this scuba diver has her advanced-open-water certification.
Danny Bell
VP, Talent Buyer, Goldenvoice
Bell booked Kendrick Lamar to headline Day N Vegas this year. The artist’s set, which spanned his four albums, marked Lamar’s first show in two years and the only one of 2021. Bell’s now preparing for the 2022 iteration of Day N Vegas, the Second Sky festival and a new property or two. The veteran talent exec, who has a B.S. in the Music Industry from USC, also happens to be an accomplished chef. For one thing, he makes a mean steak. Us? We’re a bit dry and tough.
Kylie Everitt
Artist & Label Strategy Manager, Stem
Everitt was thrilled to work on the Brent Faiyaz x Drake collaboration “Wasting Time,” which she recalls as “super-surreal” and a big moment for the independent-artist community. Lately, her efforts have been focused on Dua Saleh, who plays Sex Education’s first nonbinary character and just dropped their new EP, Crossover. In addition to rollouts, Everitt’s actively developing Stem’s network of strategic partners, giving artists access to label services, resources to grow teams and more. Everitt’s a big Formula 1 fan, making this blurb the equivalent of a yellow flag.
