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Jem Aswad

Jem Aswad

Executive Music Editor, Variety

Jem Aswad, who joined Variety in 2017, also 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.

RIAA Presents The End of Reality: AI and the Future of Music…

Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 4:00 PM

Variety Executive Music Editor Jem Aswad leads a discussion with USC Annenberg Innovation Lab Chairman Emeritus Jonathan Taplin, author of The End of Reality; Grammy-nominated songwriter and recording artist Jessy Wilson; and noted scientist, author and storyteller Dr. Moiya McTier for their expert perspectives on AI, innovation and the future of the music business.

A Conversation with Kobalt Chairman & Founder Willard Ahdritz

Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 12:00 PM

The State of the Music Business

Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 10:00 AM

In what has become a Mondo tradition, we're proud to kick off Mondo 2023 with Variety's Executive Music Editor Jem Aswad leading an important discussion with industry leaders addressing the state of our industry, its challenges and opportunities going forward. The impact of AI, the ever-volatile live entertainment sector, market conditions and much more will be discussed.

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