
Mondo.NYC Speaker


Jem Aswad
Deputy Music Editor, Variety
Jem Aswad, who launched Variety’s music section with executive music editor Shirley Halperin in 2017, has held senior editorial posts at Billboard, MTV News, Spin, Time Out New York and CMJ. He also has worked at three record labels (Atlantic, Warner and Caroline), two record stores, one performing-rights organization (ASCAP), moonlighted as an unpaid hand model for the cover photograph of a Hole single and even helped out at CBGB for a few weeks while one of said labels was filming a documentary there.
A lifelong music obsessive, he started out writing concert reviews for his high school newspaper and over the years has been published in Rolling Stone, New York magazine, the Village Voice, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, the Trouser Press Record Guide and other publications. He has won several Los Angeles Press Club and Southern California Press Club awards — including the LAPC’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalist of the Year/ Online for 2022 — appears regularly on television and at conferences speaking about music, and sporadically guest-lectures at Syracuse University's Bandier (music business) Program and New York University. He is based in Variety’s New York office.
NIVA Saved the Industry. Now What?
October 14, 2022 at 6:00:00 PM
When the live music and comedy venue industry was at risk of mass collapse with COVID shutdowns, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) formed and created a movement across the country to Save Our Stages. NIVA did the unimaginable -- it secured $16 billion in federal emergency relief. Get insights from NIVA co-founders and board members about what the association’s focus is for the future now that venues, promoters and festivals are back and navigating today’s challenges.
The State of the Music Business: Live Music’s Long Road Back to Normal
October 11, 2022 at 2:00:00 PM
After a harrowing couple of years for the live-entertainment industry, the coronavirus has diminished and artists and festivals are back at nearly full strength. But with a glut of tours and festivals competing for limited fan budgets amid record-high ticket prices and an uncertain economy, how is it all going? We kick off Mondo 2022 with live music leaders and what promises to be a lively -- and important -- discussion.