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Dan Pelson
American media and experiential-entertainment executive From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dan Pelson (born 1966) is an American media and experiential-entertainment executive best known for co-founding a string of early internet ventures, including Word Magazine, Concrete Media, Bolt.com and the social-music network uPlayMe, and for later leading the immersive-retail complex AREA15 in Las Vegas as its chief operating officer.[1][2][3]
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Early life and education
Pelson was born in 1966 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[4] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics from Colgate University and a Master of Business Administration in international marketing from New York University Stern School of Business.[5]
Career
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Pelson began his career in 1988 at Sun Microsystems, holding marketing, sales and product-development roles focused on media-industry clients.[5][6] In June 1995, Pelson joined writer Carey Earle and designer Tom Livaccari to launch Word Magazine, one of the web's first ad-supported multimedia webzines.[1][7] Seeing commercial potential in the nascent Internet, he and partners spun the editorial startup into Concrete Media in 1996.[1]
Under Concrete's umbrella, Pelson and illustrator Jane Mount launched Bolt.com in September 1996, an early social-network community for teens that by 1999 hosted three million registered users and 50,000 user-run clubs.[8][9] Pelson served as chairman and chief executive of both Concrete Media and Bolt during the first dot-com boom.[10]
In 2006, Pelson re-entered the music sector, co-founding uPlayMe, a desktop application that matched listeners in real time; Wired dubbed it an effort to make "music social again" without costly label licences.[11] In the same year, Warner Music Group appointed him senior vice-president for global consumer marketing, where he built direct-to-fan businesses across the label group; he left in mid-2008 to return as uPlayMe's chief executive.[12] He is also a co-founder of SunPress Vinyl, a record pressing plant.[13]
From 2009 to 2016, Pelson worked for Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Corporation of America. At Sony Music, he oversaw the Direct to Consumer global operations[14] and was the CEO of MyPlay, Sony's music video platform from 2008 to 2013.[15] He also served as an executive producer of The X Factor Digital Experience.[16]
In March 2019, Pelson became chief operating officer of AREA15, a 200,000 sq ft immersive retail and entertainment district west of the Las Vegas Strip.[2][17] Pelson oversaw operations, leasing and events as AREA15 welcomed nearly four million visitors in its first three years.[2] He resigned in November 2024 amid a restructuring that sought a Las Vegas-based COO; the company cited Pelson's preference to remain in New York with his family.[18][19]
Since 2020, Pelson has been a director and, from 2023, nominating-committee chair, of Urban Art (formerly Urban Arts Partnership), a New York nonprofit delivering technology-and-arts programmes in under-resourced public schools.[20][21] He has also served on the board of Teach For America.[5]
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Personal life
Pelson is based in New York City. He is married to Jenny Kwong and has three children.[22]
References
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