Andy Cohn

Boasting an esteemed 20-year career, with extensive experience in both traditional and digital media, Andy Cohn has distinguished himself as a leader in the music media industry. Cohn joined The FADER staff in 2003 as Associate Publisher and soon after was promoted to publisher. In 2010, he was named President and Publisher of The FADER on the heels of the company’s successful expansion into the digital, experiential and mobile realm. Over the course of the past eight years, Cohn has built and led The FADER brand, skillfully developing and launching The FADER, Inc. as a hub of credible music and lifestyle-focused properties that speaks to a combined audience of nearly five million young adults monthly.

The New York Times called The FADER a “new music and fashion bible.” The widely renowned publication is the unofficial guide to “what’s next in music,” and is credited with giving early exposure to top artists, including Kanye West, Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj, Outkast, The Strokes, Drake and The White Stripes. As President and Publisher, Cohn now manages a robust staff that includes editorial, sales, marketing, and social media divisions, and has developed countless successful brand integrations and partnerships with companies including Apple Music,The North Face, Nike, Microsoft, vitaminwater, HTC, Budweiser, Toyota, Google, YouTube and Converse.

Cohn’s success comes from a deep and passionate understanding of The FADER and the music culture that surrounds it. “The FADER is a brilliant magazine, one I’ve admired since the beginning,” says Bob Guccione, Jr., Founder of SPIN magazine. “It’s beautiful, smart, cool but not gaggingly so. The rest of the music field is a bit blah, but The FADER has a life and a soul.” Cohn’s strength lies in his ability to translate that soul, from the pages of the magazine and pixels on a screen, into vivid, smart relationships with likeminded companies. Under his direction, The FADER’s traffic and revenue continue to increase, ably transforming a quarterly, niche publication into a global compendium of what’s next in music, style and culture. “The FADER’s independent and purist approach to music, style and global culture continues to blow me away,” says Bobby Shriver, Co-Founder of (Product)RED. “Their ability to uncover and highlight emerging artists from all genres, geographical locations and art forms gives FADER that authentic feeling of discovery that you rarely see these days. Under Andy’s leadership and innovation, The FADER is truly in a category of its own.”

With a commitment to expanding The FADER brand in innovative ways, Cohn forged a strategic partnership with iTunes to make The FADER the first magazine available for free download in the Summer of 2006. Cohn, along with The FADER and its various properties, have been the recipients of numerous awards and accolades through the years including FOLIO Awards for Best Editorial, Best Publication Design, and Best Overall Consumer Entertainment Issue for its ICON issue honoring the late Notorious B.I.G; a FOLIO Fame Award for Best Custom Advertiser Event; two OMMA Awards for best Integrated Online Campaigns; A Pearl Award for Best Digital Publication; an Utne Independent Press Award for Best Art Coverage, and more. The American Society of National Magazine Editors (ASME) also named The FADER as a finalist for its for General Excellence award in Editorial. In addition to his media work, Cohn serves on the board for MyMusicRx, the flagship music program of the Children’s Cancer Association that brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of children and teens facing serious illnesses in healthcare facilities. Cohn also created an integrated media partnership with Product(RED) before it launched that is still running today.

Additionally, in 2012, Cohn was named to the annual “FOLIO 40” as one of the top 10 most influential “C-Level” visionaries in the world of publishing. Billboard magazine also named Cohn as one of the 140 most influential people in the music industry to follow on Twitter, as well as one of the top marketing executives in the industry in Billboard’s “Branding Power Players” list in 2016 and 2017.

Prior to The FADER, Cohn was the National Accounts Director for The Source and at SPIN, where he started as an intern and climbed the ladder to become Music and Entertainment Sales Manager.

Cohn graduated from Indiana University’s Ernie Pyle School with a B.S. in Journalism.