September 16, 2025
ALEX CHANDLER
SENIOR DIRECTOR, MARKETING, WARNER RECORDS
Chandler will never forget her first international promo trip—going from Linkin Park fan to traveling with Mike Shinoda’s team across Canada and Europe, watching Shinoda’s work ethic up close and setting the bar for every trip after. Presently, she’s fresh off shepherding sombr’s breakout debut, I Barely Know Her, which dropped alongside a Lower East Side pop-up that shut down Canal and Orchard Streets. Off the clock, she’s a devoted golfer with a hidden past as a violinist. We’re often serenaded with the world’s smallest violin.
HUGO MÁRQUEZ
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, COMMERCIAL LABEL PARTNERSHIPS, SPOTIFY
For Márquez, few moments compare to helping launch Kelly Clarkson’s Meaning of Life era while at WMG—including rolling out the video countdown before watching her perform at the Rainbow Room. Now at Spot, he oversees the WMG partnership and spearheads tools like music video and pre-save countdown pages, while also leading the commercial promotion partnerships team to help labels supercharge marquee releases. Outside the office, he splits his time between poker nights and the kitchen, where he’s known for his salsa recipes. We’re still in line at the taco truck.
MICHELLE CRAIG
TOUR MARKETING EXECUTIVE, CAA
Craig once flew across the Atlantic in Rammstein’s branded blimp and has spent the last 12 years steering Twenty One Pilots’ rise from clubs to Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros in front of 65,000 fans. Currently, she’s rolling out Doja Cat’s Tour Ma Vie, leading marketing for Twenty One Pilots’ stadium/amphitheater tour, packing Disney’s 43-show Descendants/Zombies arena run and driving sellouts for acts ranging from BABYMETAL to Bonnie Raitt. Offstage, she’s been riding and showing horses since age 11. We’ve been getting trampled by reality for longer than that.
PHIL SCHWARZ
SENIOR MANAGER, COMMERCIAL MARKETING, VIRGIN MUSIC GROUP
Schwarz has stacked pinch-me moments, including booking Mt. Joy’s first Vevo Live Session (followed by an underplay at Silverlake Lounge) and landing a Times Square billboard for Kevin Abstract, while playing key roles in TWICE’s record-breaking Amazon Music Live set and Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist’s Indie Albums chart-topper, Alfredo 2. He’s now rolling out The Paradox’s debut EP, NSFW (9/19); All Time Low’s 10th LP, Everyone’s Talking! (10/17); and Soulwax’s first album in seven years. Schwarz played King Triton in a stage production of The Little Mermaid. They didn’t even look at our audition tape.
LAUREN MUNROE
SR. MANAGER OF CREATIVE A&R, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING
Munroe fondly recalls her first Grammys experience as she toasted big wins with her team. Right now, she’s steering projects for Leon Thomas and Latto while championing breakout voices Jai’len Josey and Josh Levi, both teeing up major fall releases. Her roster also includes heavy hitters Sounwave and Ink, plus freshly signed Kendrick Lamar collaborators MTech and Noah Elher. She even scored placements on Lizzo’s latest mixtape with “CRASHOUT” and “Ditto.” Munroe’s hooked on Love Island and the WNBA. We’ve been kicked off every island, as we have no game.
JARED KANER
FOUNDER, THE ARENA MUSIC
For Kaner, nothing tops the payoff of a two-year hustle when “Lighter” by Galantis, David Guetta & 5 Seconds of Summer dropped and he saw its release-day billboard on Sunset with the songwriters. Now, the Arena Music founder is channeling that momentum into a JV to launch his own label, with a publishing partnership also in the works. In addition to placing more big-name records (some even his parents might recognize), Kaner is quietly a die-hard ASMR fan—swearing it’s the ultimate sleep hack. Reading our print edition also works like a charm.
MARISSA LOIL
MUSIC AGENT, UTA
NYC-based agent Loil reps a diverse roster of electronic acts, including Sammy Virji, Tripolism, Notion, Oppidan, ATRIP, Angrybaby and Swimming Paul. A champion of boundary-pushing artists, she’s helped Virji grow from a breakout act to selling 10,000+ tickets in major markets, and organized the viral, fan-dubbed “UKG Avengers’ b2b2b2b2b” set on the DoLaB Stage at Coachella. Loil is a huge Jurassic Park fan, which may explain her willingness to associate with this dinosaur of a publication.
NICHOLAS PARASRAM
CO-FOUNDER, THIN ICE ENTERTAINMENT; MANAGER OF STRYV
After nearly quitting music in 2022, Parasram helped producer/DJ Stryv, alongside Adam Port (Keinemusik), break through with “Move.” The billion-stream, multi-platinum smash culminated a 10-year journey that’s taken the two longtime friends from Spotify DMs to Circoloco at the Pyramids of Giza. A tech entrepreneur at heart, Parasram is developing tools to help indie musicians monetize more efficiently; he also recently signed rising artist Govi. We’ve never been to Giza, but we have fallen for a pyramid scheme.