10 Questions with ... Jon Cohen

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Started at SBK Reocrds as a college rep 1989 and worked there until 1995 as the head of Alternative Promotion. Then I was at Columbia Records 1995-1997 as VP/Alternative. 

1.  Congrats on the 25 Year Anniversary of Cornerstone! I can remember when you were working Jesus Jones and Blur at SBK Records. Thanks for making me feel old. Let’s flashback to 1997, what stands out the most from when you co-founded Cornerstone with Rob Stone?

Thank you and sorry to make you feel old. We are really proud of what we have built. Rob and I grew up together with a huge love of music. We discovered everything from U2 to Run DMC to the Beastie Boys together. After college we both started in the music business together and were on a great path within the business, myself at Columbia and Rob at Arista. Rob was the first to step out and left Arista to start Cornerstone. I joined him the following year. What stands out the most is it was built around that early love we both had for music and our willingness to both walk away from really successful careers at the two best labels in the height of the music industry. We each took a big risk with no idea it would last 2-5 years let alone 25. 

2.  Give us the 411 on Cornerstone, your advertising partnerships, and what you’re most proud of from the past 25 years.

There is so much we are proud of. It’s the relationships we have built and impact we have had in helping develop so many great artists that stands out to me. We have been fortunate to be part of so many careers, whether it's been helping artists in their early days from a development/marketing perspective or working with artists in partnership with the most iconic brands in the world. I am very proud of the impact we have had with so many career artists from Kanye, The Strokes, Gorillaz, Pharrell, LCD Soundsystem, Diplo, Frank Ocean, Drake and so many incredible careers. When you combine that impact and trust from the artist community with the ability to help Apple, Nike, Xbox, Converse, Coca Cola, Budweiser and others to create some of their biggest platforms and most impactful campaigns, we have really been able to create something truly unique and special with Cornerstone. We are a company that knows how to harness the power and reach of iconic brands to partner and develop some of the biggest careers in music and truly impact culture. But none of that success would be possible without the incredible staff we have had as part of the company over our 25 years. I am most proud of the amazing people who are part of an incredible extended family we have built around Cornerstone and the FADER. Our people are why we have done such amazing things. So many have used their time at the company to learn and launch incredible careers of their own. 

3.  You also launched a record label almost 20 years ago called FADER Label. Tell us about that. 

FADER Label was born out of our love for the music business and our love of artists. Through all of our work via FADER and Cornerstone, we have constantly come across great young talent. We have also built an amazing network of relationships within the industry through all we do: agents, managers, publicists, media, festivals, radio, etc. They have all been great partners and friends across all we do. We created the label as a vehicle to leverage our relationships and years of knowledge on how to break artists and go deeper with some of the talent we were coming across. 

The label started with the iconic Saul Williams, who’s early albums were produced by Rick Rubin and then Trent Reznor. A few years later we met the incredible Matt And Kim. Both were looking for ways to put their music out without having to go the major label route.  We created a really unique deal structure that we have stuck with to this day, a 50/50 partnership where our artists become our true partners. A structure which most of the industry seems to have adopted. 

As streaming continued to evolve and economics improved, we were able to up our commitment to growing FADER LABEL. We have great partners in Virgin, our distributor. Jacqueline Saturn and her team are amazing and have really helped us get FADER LABEL to the next level. Today, under the leadership of our GM Carson Oberg, the label has a catalog of 25 artists with a current roster of 12 acts. Clairo, Binki, Slayyyter, Ella Jane, Lewis Del Mar, Charlie Burg, Zachary Knowles, Kristiane, Chloe George, Matt And Kim, James Ivy, Super Duper, our artists are truly our partners. We think and act like an extension of them, almost an extended management team. Starting with A&R, the imaging, the marketing and promotion, the touring, licensing. We get very involved with every aspect of our artists’ career from the very beginning. 

4.  Give us a rundown of your current priorities at Alternative Radio.

Currently we are launching the new Clairo in partnership with Republic. She made one of the albums of the year, produced by Jack Antonoff. We are so proud of what we have accomplished with Claire and her management team these last 4 years. Claire is one of the greatest talents I have had the pleasure of working with in many years I have spent in this business. Matt And Kim are about to drop an incredibly radio friendly single in August. Another priority for us this year is Binki. He’s an amazing Brooklyn based artist that is starting to see strong radio support and support across the industry. He was recently featured in the Apple iPad campaign and continues to get big licensing. Lewis Del Mar is about to start a big fall tour and will be visiting alternative radio throughout. I am really excited about all of our new signings. Ella Jane, Kristiane and Chloe George are 3 new artists that will see a lot of love from radio in the near future. And I have no doubt we are going to crossover Slayyyter in the coming year and help her to become one of the biggest pop artists in the world. 

5. Tell us about your team and what it’s like working at Cornerstone/FADER. 

Rob and  have an amazing team across all the companies. We have had so many amazing people over the years start their careers at the company. Many still with us and many now at amazing places like Nike, Apple, Conde Nast, and Twitch. Our core team has been with us for a long time. Our COO Anthony Holland, who was also raised in the music industry, has done a great job navigating a very challenging environment both logistically and business wise. Our head of talent Robert English does incredible work against all we do, and curates and manages all the artists we work with. Most recently he’s worked hand and hand with Rob Stone to develop our Mark Ronson FADER UNCOVERED PODCAST, which has become a #1 Music Podcast in over 30 countries. Everyone should subscribe and listen to it. Carson Oberg and the entire FADER label team continue to show that they are the best in the business when it comes to A&R and Artist development. Our team works incredible hard and has had to endure a very tough couple of years as we have worked through the challenges of the pandemic. We look forward to all getting back to the office and being together. 

6.  What is a typical workday like for you? 

What I love about what I do is there are no typical days. We touch so many different things that every day is different and full of a lot of variety. I spend a lot of time with our creative and account teams on our brand projects. Cornerstone is the agency of record of Major League Soccer and it’s been really rewarding to be a part of their incredible growth the last 4 years. We are also working with Coca Cola on a variety of music and culture initiatives. I spend a lot of time talking to our FADER Label team, our artists and their managers working on developing their music, imaging and building the strategy for their projects. 

7.  What is your favorite part of the job?  

Working with artists. Whether it’s through FADER, the label or our Cornerstone projects, there is nothing I enjoy more than getting to work artists to help them execute their vision. I have been so lucky to be there early with so many incredible artists over the years when no one has even heard their music and to be able to play a small part of how that music is introduced to the world and then get to watch the evolution and success is the most rewarding part of what I get to do. I am humbled by the many incredible careers I have a had a chance to be a part of. 

8. You’re roots in the Alternative format go back before the format really expanded in the mid-90’s. What’s your take on the Alternative format today?  

I love radio. I listen to Sirius XMU, Zane Lowe and Matt Wilkinson on Apple Music, BBC Radio 6, The Current, KEXP, and have the radio on every day. I think alternative radio when done well is still such a great resource to discover new music and culture, but it needs a reinvention.  I think alternative radio and radio in general has to become braver and start taking much more chances. I am empathetic to the challenges radio faces in a business sense, but alternative radio has remained too focused on retaining its older listeners vs trying to cultivate a younger audience. Radio needs to become more localized not more national. It needs much deeper integration with streaming instead of looking at streaming and playlists as its killer. Radio has to be more creative in its integration with social media and live music. Radio should become the platform for curation in streaming.   

9.  Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?

Running. I need to run. It is my meditation. It gives me a chance to clear my head every day. It’s also where I am my most creative and thinking about all we need to do.  

10. What may surprise people most about you?

My patience. I am very lucky to have extreme patience. Those who know me, know I have a willingness to help anyone I can whenever they need me. 

What led to you being on the board of directors for Sweetgreen?

Rob and I met the founders in the early days of when they started the company. We loved them and instantly connected. They are brilliant and amazing people. They love music and embrace it in the way they built the company. We helped them find ways to work music into all of their marketing including developing and helping them launch the Sweetlife Festival. It became an amazing festival and a great marketing vehicle for them. Over the years we had Kendrick Lamar, The Strokes, Lana Del Rey, Phoenix and so many incredible artists play. We really are proud to be a part of Sweetgreen, Jonathan, Nate and Nic are one of the best management teams in business today. We have learned so much from them. Not only have they built an incredible company, but they continue to leverage their success to do so much good in the world.  

What are your favorite restaurants in New York City?  

Sushi Noz, Lil Frankies, Elios, Lucali’s

Rank your sports teams in order of passion. 

Syracuse Basketball, the NY Knicks, The NY Islanders, the NY Jets, the Mets- Mostly decades of torture. 

First record ever purchased?

The Police, Regatta De Blanc (on vinyl). 

First concert?

The Kinks at Nassau Coliseum 

Favorite band of all-time? 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 

Favorite new band over the past year that you’re not working? 

Claud. They are making incredible music. I also love Arlo Parks. 

Anything else you would like to add?

Thanks for including me and glad to see you are still going strong Shawn.