by Dan Emmons
If your hustle ever needs to be humbled, have a chat with Rob Schwartz. The owner of the WHO?MAG Multimedia LLC, consisting of WHO?MAG TV, WhoMag.net, iFame TV, Chetown Films, and WHO?MAG Distribution, has built his media empire with blood, sweat, and tears. Schwartz has put the footwork in and made a name for himself by a combination of strategic moves and good timing. Whether he is promoting an artist, boosting his catalog of TV and film, or distributing a product, Rob Schwartz is hustling harder than anyone.
Rob Schwartz (credit Who?Mag)
Schwartz first fell in love with music, specifically hip-hop, in his youth while living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He first heard Afrika Bambaataa and started researching this “new music”. Back then, Cherry Hill was not exactly a thriving community for hip-hop. In fact, Schwartz admits he was the only hip-hop head he knew growing up. “Most of the kids in Cherry Hill listened to WCAU Hot Hits 98.1 that played top 40 including Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, but I turned the dial (to 98.9 “Power 99”) and still heard Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, but there was a different format, R&B. Power 99 used to brag, ‘The No Rap Work Days’, and the only way to hear hip-hop was to listen to Lady B Sunday nights really late. I would use my Realistic Radio Shack tape deck with the big buttons to record her shows on from my little radio/alarm clock and I used to rock those tapes at 9-10 years old. In fact, I didn’t meet anyone who liked hip-hop for at least four more years. People thought I was a weirdo.”
It wasn’t until one of Schwartz’s classmates brought LL Cool J’s Bigger & Deffer to school that he found someone else that listened to this music. That would all change when Schwartz met a guy named Mike Elliott, host of Krush Rap, Philly’s answer to Yo! MTV Raps. “I used to watch that show religiously. Finally, I met him through my friend in high school, and next thing you know I’m hanging out with him. I think after that, I became the ‘go-to’ guy for hip-hop.”
As a student at Rider University, Schwartz had a brief stint in radio, but wanted to get into the business of music after graduation. Recognizing Schwartz’s drive, a former professor, Dr. Stahle, called some favors and got him into PolyGram Records as the assistant to the assistant A&R of Island Records, although that may not have been the best fit for him at the time. “The job really sucked. It was terrible. I sat in a tiny room all day and listened to rock. I didn’t like rock. I went to the HR and said thank you for the opportunity, but I don’t think this is for me. She told me there was an opportunity at ILS Distribution, so I went there instead. Under Mitch-ski, I helped with distribution for Jay Z’s first single “In My Lifetime”, Jeru the Damaga, Blahzey Blahzey, Dougie Fresh, Jayo Felony, and others. From there I started my own label with some friends, DangerZone Records, and put out a few records while being the media manager at Best Buy at the Deptford Mall.”
Schwartz, always being a songwriter, started working with a friend and gifted singer Mike Clark to come up with tracks for other artists. They had their music heard by some of Babyface’s artists and flew out to Los Angeles for a week to meet with them. Schwartz did not stay home long after he returned, “We got home, packed up, and drove back across the country to live out our dream.”
Unfortunately, the opportunity was limited and he returned home after a year to take the “real job” he had been avoiding and jumped into the world of Wall Street. Quickly taking a job at National Discount Brokers (NDB) working in risk management in finances, he found himself missing the music industry. After almost two years with the company, located near the World Trade Center, he left with aspirations of starting a magazine. Schwartz left NYC to go to JPMorgan in Delaware, where he remembers seeing some of his former offices go down with the terrorist attacks of September 11th on TV. “I was in the WTC everyday taking the PATH from Hoboken.” The sobering sight gave him a new perspective on life and by 2002 he had started WHOMAG Multimedia, LLC.
Schwartz left JP Morgan and went to Merrill Lynch. Working the 9 to 5 job at Merrill Lynch in corporate attire, then throwing on a WHO?MAG T-shirt and filming hip hop shows at night, he felt blessed to get two hours of sleep before work the next day. The grind had begun, but Schwartz needed something big to launch WHO?MAG. About this time, American Idol was in season two and at the height of popularity. He capitalized on a friend’s interview with Randy Jackson, for another media source, who sold the rights for print, but not internet. In 2002, no one was focused on internet rights and Schwartz quickly purchased the interview for a cool $100 and WHO?MAG was born.
Following up such a big launch was Schwartz’s next big goal. Of course the next thing in mind for an R&B/Hip Hop magazine would be to find someone of Middle Earth to interview. “I need to find a Hobbit! There we not a lot of hip-hop sites in 2002, so my goal was to think about what was driving traffic. Randy Jackson isn’t hip-hop, but his interview got so much traffic our site crashed. I wanted to repeat that, but in a good way. I was just online stalking Hobbits.”
So when Sean Astin came to Philly to do a speech at a college, he jumped at the chance, even though Astin’s publicist thought it would be impossible. Sitting through his thre hour speech, the night grew longer and longer, and with Astin’s two children with him, the Hobbit interview looked likely to slip through his grasp. However, Astin made true to his word, followed through and the next story on WHO?MAG was done. “It was funny because we put the Sean Astin interview up surrounded by upcoming hardcore rappers at that time- Necro, Jeru the Damaja, J-Zone, and Q-Unique as well as an unknown John Legend. We still kept to our hip-hop/R&B roots, but the Sean Astin interview had us on all of the LOTR’s website. Our site crashed again.”
with Astin (credit Who?Mag)
When discussing what it took in the early years of his career, Schwartz pointed out that the new generation of artists are missing something. “That is the drive that is missing today with some of the people I come across. To make it work, even if you have a full time job, THIS is still a full time job. I would go on two hours of sleep if I had to, going up to New York at Wyclef’s birthday party getting drunk, getting home at 6 o’clock in the morning, going to work and not being able to tell anyone what I did that night. We control our own destiny. If we get lazy, it only affects ourselves.”
In 2005, Schwartz’s agenda of creating a magazine has swayed when he developed a DVD with his friend Gabe Zapata to give to investors. “We made this DVD to bring a visual to our brand, but it ended up being better than I thought. We signed two distribution deals with it though Victory and MVD.” They got the WHO?MAG DVD Magazine into all of the Wal-Marts, Best Buys, Sam Goody’s, Towers and Targets. When Zapata got a job and had to move for Vegas, Schwartz’s reaction was, “Come over my house, install Final Cut and give me a crash course on how to use it!” From that point on, Rob Schwartz became a top of the line editor, set up a deal with nationwide deals with Colours TV and Punch TV as well as international deals with Cool TV, Going Global, Yamgo, and SPB and has his own channel called iFame (Indie Film and Music Entertainment) which airs on ROKU. “WHO?MAG TV” airs on a total of 15 channels to today.
Schwartz also owns the video production company “Chetown Films” and produced, directed, and edited many award winning music videos, TV shows, and films including being the Associate Producer, Music Supervisor, and Extras Casting for the last ever appearance of Ryan Dunn in a movie Living Will featuring Jackass’s Bam Margera. Dunn’s character dies in the film and Dunn’s actual passing happened not too long after. Schwartz also won at the Pocono Mt. Film Festival in 2010 for Best Documentary with his “Hip-Hop Document”, and won multiple awards including a BET.com award for Best Music Video, an Award of Excellence for Best TV Commercial as well as multiple others.
Schwartz also created a way so that other indie films can get their movies seen. “I could build TV shows all day, but nothing was in my control, as far as time slots and channels to be played on. I wanted to create my own network where I can display my vast library as well as other producers/directors libraries as well. This is where the idea for iFame TV was born. iFame stands for ‘Independent Film and Music Entertainment. The channel is there to give independent filmmakers an opportunity to get their projects seen through new technology and resources. We launched on ROKU and are expanding quickly. iFame TV is my version of the vibe of the ‘90’s MTV where there was great independent music, great programming, and great movies. It’s really opened the door for other people to get views in non-traditional ways.”
Next up, part of Schwartz’s team (Mr. Mig and Mike Rizzo) received a Grammy nomination for Best Remix. With some great EDM (dance music) interviews that Will Hernandez, who works for WHO?MAG, gave Schwartz, the idea for DMTV was born. Now the show can be seen daily on broadcast TV on Punch TV as well as iFame TV on ROKU and Yamgo TV (24/7 streaming app with DMTV as a channel).
(credit Who?Mag)
With his background in distribution from PolyGram, Schwartz decided to offer his knowledge and resources to the underground and mainstream artists while becoming a staple on the scene nationwide. Of course he never does anything small, so the WHO?MAG Umbrella grew with WHOMAG Distribution which goes through Sony Orchard. He currently has a sick roster of over 150 clients including KRS-One & Just-Ice, Kool Keith, Keith Murray, Young Jeezy’s first record, members of Wu-Tang, multiple dance/EDM compilations, 8ball & MJG, and many others including a lot of local Philadelphia singers and rappers including Nico the Beast, Dell-P, and Mark Gaines. His outlets include iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, iHeartradio, Xbox Live, and hundreds of others.
With all of the famous people Schwartz has interviewed, he is constantly asked which was his favorite one. “Someone asked me what was my biggest interview. I thought about it. Maybe for some people Shaun Alexander after he won the MVP, maybe even Pitbull, but honestly didn’t think I did my ‘favorite’ one yet. I went home and thought what would be my favorite interview. Growing up, since I was a little kid, my favorite group was Newcleus who became popular with the song ‘Jam On It’. It was the first record I ever bought with my own money.” Since all of the artwork was done by a DC comic animator, Schwartz had no idea what Newcleus even looked like. He tracked down Cozmo D online who lived in Brooklyn, New York and satisfied years of Hip Hop fandom with one of the greatest interviews he had ever done. A few months afterwards, member Chilly B passed away. Schwartz is now piecing together an hour long special from the interview as a tribute to the group.
Rob Schwartz’s history has developed a few opinions on the emerging artists of today. “The problem with music today is anyone can be an artist. If you have a laptop, you can do something. Back in the day, artists would get signed to a major label, they would put anywhere between $50,000 to $1000,000 or more behind you and that’s how you would break into things. Nowadays, people can make a good song, but without a budget, it’s really hard to break.”
He tells me that it seems like the strategy these days for a hip hop artist is to: 1.) make a mixtape 2.) upload it to free sites 3.) buy a bunch of fake views or downloads so people think you’re popular. Then what? The problem is, there is no value in that process and not to mention no real fans. He especially promotes guerilla marketing, flyers, and physical CDs. “The reason why you need physical CDs is because if you are doing shows, you need to give someone something in their hand. They are not going to go to iTunes and download it. If you give them a link and they are drunk, they will forget it.” Schwartz stresses that unless you have something physical in their hand, they will forget you. “Now, let’s say you’re at a show and there are 20 people shoving CDs down people’s throats, your CD needs to pop out visually. No Sharpie markers!”
“I’m easy to get in contact with. My office is in AudioMaxx Studios in Cherry Hill, NJ with the multi-platinum/Grammy Nominated Mr. Mig. We also have one of the biggest recording studios in New Jersey. We mix, master, record, remix, write, and produce.” Mig & Rizzo (aka Funk Generation/Global Groove) has remixed/produced everyone from Taylor Swift, Usher, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Snoop, Cher, Pitbull, and many others. “We have a great power team and help push each other daily to achieve our goals.”
Regardless if he is dealing out advice to up and coming artists, managers, media, film, or entrepreneurs, Rob Schwartz’s has been about building from day one. He has a history that trumps some of the biggest personalities, but he has it because of his own drive and work ethic. Being around the guy made me feel like I should have had this article out the day after the interview! There is nothing better than when hard work gets recognized, so cheers to Rob Schwartz and the whole WHO?MAG team!
For more info on Rob Schwartz, either contact david@whomag.net or visit
