Dan Pelson

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]

Dan Pelson
Born	1966 (age 58–59) Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Colgate University (B.A.) NYU Stern School of Business (M.B.A.)
Occupation(s)	Media and entertainment executive
Known for	Co-founding Word Magazine, Concrete Media, Bolt.com, uPlayMe; COO of AREA15

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

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]

Personal life

Pelson is based in New York City. He is married to Jenny Kwong and has three children.^[22]