Paul Stewart (UK. Bali) - Dj Set at Pisco Bar

After a quarter century in the industry as a producer, brand marketer and lauded music supervisor, Next Thing CEO Paul Stewart personifies the qualities of a tech-savvy industry player relevant in the 21st century. “It goes back to me growing up in Los Angeles at time when surf/skate culture and hip-hop were just starting out with their shared genuine street-level drive for expression,” Stewart explains.


Paul originally tasted success in the late 1980s with the record label Delicious Vinyl, promoting hits like Tone-Loc’s “Wild Thing” and Young MC’s “Bust A Move”, the very first platinum hip-hop records ever from the West Coast. In 1990, the hit TV show The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air flooded into living rooms across America. Filmed before a studio audience at fabled Sunset & Gower Studios, the studio audience was treated to a warm-up set of hip-hop hits played by a young DJ working the turntables…Paul Stewart.

In the 1990s, the L.A. native founded the street promotions company PMP, promoting acts like Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes, and Cypress Hill, and building a client list including Sony, Warner Bros. and Universal. After Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons tapped Stewart to open Def Jam’s West Coast office, Stewart transformed PMP into a powerful urban music management company, and then an Island/Def Jam-affiliated record label.