Rob Stone (entrepreneur)

Rob Stone
American entrepreneur Rob Stone
Born	(1968-07-12) July 12, 1968 (age 48)
Residence	New York City
Occupation	Founder and Co-CEO of Cornerstone &The FADER

Rob Stone (born July 12, 1968) is an American music, media and branding executive based in New York City. The New York native attended the University at Albany in 1986 where he studied marketing and finance. Stone is the founder of the full-service marketing agency Cornerstone, and co-founder of music and style publication The FADER

Upon graduation in 1990, Stone joined SBK Records and rose to director of promotion. He also served as vice president of promotion at EMI Records. In "The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop," author and hip hop journalist Dan Charnas notes Stone's rise through the ranks at EMI. When label heads Daniel Glass and Fred Davis initially discussed bringing Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and his label, Bad Boy, to EMI, they brought in Stone—who then was only a 25-year-old kid—due to his background and knowledge of hip hop. Like Combs, Stone made a name for himself at a young age, naming him "one of the first national radio promotions people for major labels who had grown up on hip hop." Stone rapidly became seen as the record business counterpart to innovative radio programmers such as Keith Naftaly and Hosh Gureli.

In May 1994, Stone joined music executive Clive Davis at Arista Records who said:

Upon joining Arista, Stone became friendly with Steve Smith, the then-Program Director for the top-rated hip-hop radio station in New York City, Hot 97, and is credited for introducing Smith to tracks from various up-and-coming artists that include Notorious B.I.G., Usher Raymond, and Craig Mack.

Stone worked closely with Notorious B.I.G., Usher Raymond, and other various artists, including Sean “Puffy” Combs, Outkast, and Faith Evans, during their rise to fame .

Stone became an authority on music promotion, often quoted and called on for opinion pieces. In 2010, Stone interviewed keynote speaker Pharrell Williams at music industry conference midem in France.

Stone is a member of the board of directors for Sweetgreen, a farm-to-table salad chain, playing an integral role in the creation of the brand's popular Sweetlife Festival, an annual concert boasting a musical lineup of today’s hottest artists.

He also sits on the board for the Children’s Cancer Association’s music medicine program, MyMusicRx, a digital playground that delivers music medicine to critically ill kids and teens in the United States and Canada.