Jem Aswad launched Variety’s music section in 2017 with former executive music editor Shirley Halperin. He oversees all aspects of Variety‘s music-related editorial operations and staff, and has written cover stories on Charli xcx, Bruce Springsteen, SZA, the Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion and Spotify, among others, while reporting extensively on the music industry. Previously, he held senior editorial posts at Billboard, MTV News, Spin, Time Out New York and CMJ, and also worked at three record labels (Atlantic, Warner and Caroline), two record stores, one performing-rights organization (ASCAP).

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 two consecutive years. He 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, as well as New York Music Month and other conferences. He is based in Variety’s New York office.