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Shawn Amos
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Shawn Amos has been a trusted tastemaker, content creator and custodian of pop culture for the past decade. He has been entrusted with the musical legacies of icons Quincy Jones, Herb Alpert, Solomon Burke and dozens of heritage artists. Shawn has also produced albums for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Phil Spector protégée, Darlene Love and Comedy Central broadcasts for the Upright Citizens Brigade. He's directed DVDs for comedians Pablo Francisco & Doug Stanhope and driven CD, DVD, web and broadcast projects for hundreds of artists and icons ranging from INXS to William Shatner. Shawn also released his own album “Thank You Shirl-ee May” on the Shout! Factory label.

Previously, as an A&R executive at Rhino Entertainment, Shawn steered editorial content for the reissue label’s deluxe anthologies and box sets, hiring award-winning entertainment critics, essayists and authors. He then went on to produce single and various artists collections from such heritage musical acts as INXS, The Sugarhill Gang and Quincy Jones (for whom Amos later ran the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation).

Shawn is the son of Wally Amos, founder of the Famous Amos brand, and the first African-American talent agent for the William Morris Agency. Growing up in the colorful Hollywood landscape inspired Shawn to pursue a career in film (he attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts) then music and digital media. He is currently writing his first book, a memoir titled “Cookies & Milk: Scenes From a ’70s Hollywood Childhood.” Shawn sits on the Board of Trustees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and serves as secretary on the Los Angeles Board of Governors of the Recording Academy.

Shawn's third album release, Harlem was released February 15, 2011.

Blog Entries by Shawn Amos

The Content Brief: TV Goes Multiplatform at the Upfronts [WATCH]

(0) Comments | Posted May 17, 2013 | 8:59 PM

Can broadcasters convince advertisers to keep paying to reach a smaller, fragmented audience?

At the television upfront presentations this week, networks tried to prove they can catch up to consumer habits and deliver viewers, who have more choices than ever for video...

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The Content Brief: Big Data, Big Strategy [WATCH]

(0) Comments | Posted May 10, 2013 | 6:19 PM

Between social networks, search, online shopping, mobile and other connected devices, the consumer portion of the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data generated each day is tantalizing to businesses looking for an edge on their competition.

It can also be intimidating, which is likely why only

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The Content Brief: Can Online Video Win TV Ad Dollars? [WATCH]

(0) Comments | Posted May 6, 2013 | 2:59 AM

We know online video viewership is on the rise, but is Madison Avenue convinced?

A host of media giants showed off their best original video content to buyers last week at the NewFronts in New York City, each hoping they'll be able to pry money away...

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The Content Brief: Are Brands Ready for 3D Printing? [WATCH]

(0) Comments | Posted April 26, 2013 | 8:38 PM

3D printing is just about ready for its close-up. But will brands see it as a marketing opportunity, or a copyright nightmare?

3D printing marketplace Shapeways got a nifty $30 million dollar boost this week, which it'll use to help drive mainstream adoption. Meanwhile, brands and businesses will...

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The Content Brief: Coachella Brings Out the Big Brands [WATCH]

(0) Comments | Posted April 21, 2013 | 11:28 PM

As Coachella wraps up tonight, thousands of kids will make their way back home after a weekend of soaking up the sun, the music and plenty of corporate branding.

From Red Bull's password-gated Speakeasy lounge to the Heineken Domes, we'll take a look at how big brands made...

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In Celebration Of Content That Lasts

(1) Comments | Posted April 16, 2013 | 4:05 PM

I just returned from a ten-day content creation retreat in Italy. It was old-school -- completely analog.

I fronted a blues band, re-creating songs from the dawn of American popular music in a land responsible for much of our popular art and culture. We turned a 14th-century villa into...

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The Content Brief: Banner Ads Will Evolve, Not Go Away (WATCH)

(6) Comments | Posted April 14, 2013 | 7:46 PM

Banner ads -- blech. That seemed to be the consensus from a round-up of early banner ad creators and adopters convened recently by Digiday, who lamented that banner ads today represent "nothing but eye candy on the page" and "a race to the bottom." And those were the...

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The Content Brief: HBO Can't Fight the Future

(6) Comments | Posted April 7, 2013 | 9:25 PM

When people are begging -- literally begging -- to buy your product, what's a company to do?

If you're HBO, you cross your fingers and hope for a time machine to take us all back to 1980 when its business model had a future.

...
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The Content Brief: The Content Reader Revolution

(0) Comments | Posted March 29, 2013 | 7:04 PM

Go ahead and laugh at Yahoo! for paying $30 million dollars for a 17-year-old's news aggregator app.

Just show us your content reader first.

Whether the Summly purchase itself turns the content world on its head or not, there's no getting around one fact: there's a...

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The Content Brief: Location Marketing and the Future of Retail

(1) Comments | Posted March 22, 2013 | 8:27 PM

It's the dawn of a new era in retail. The days of blaming the digital revolution for siphoning business are dwindling, as merchants are realizing that the smartphones customers have always got at the ready are actually a marketer's dream.

Mobile local ad spend is predicted to reach

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The Content Brief: What Does Google Glass Mean for Marketing?

(0) Comments | Posted March 15, 2013 | 5:51 PM

This year's SXSW Interactive was a little bit like stepping onto the bridge of the starship Enterprise.

From the MakerBot Digitizer, which lets users scan a physical object and print it in 3D, to Leap Motion's award-winning gesture-based controller, it was a preview of futuristic tech...

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The Content Brief: What's Hot at SXSW?

(1) Comments | Posted March 8, 2013 | 8:29 PM

From space exploration to 3D printing, this year's South by Southwest Interactive is thinking bigger than the next cool app.

Sure, everyone's still on the lookout for tomorrow's Foursquare or Twitter, but more people seem to appreciate that SXSW hype doesn't always predict future success. (Gowalla, we

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The Content Brief: Real-Time Marketing Backlash?

(0) Comments | Posted March 4, 2013 | 2:49 AM

Hey, real-time marketing was fun while it lasted, wasn't it? One day you're The Next Big Thing; the next day you're marched off to the sales & marketing history museum with Burma-Shave signs and the Fuller Brush man.

Well, maybe it's not quite that stark, but it sure seemed like...

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The Content Brief: What's Up With All the Hacking?

(0) Comments | Posted February 22, 2013 | 6:21 PM

Is there a hacking epidemic? Earlier this week, Burger King saw its Twitter account get a McDonald's makeover, and then Jeep had its feed taken over by pranksters less than 24 hours later.

Less mischievous and more ominous, earlier this month, both the New...

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The Content Brief: LinkedIn's Long Game Pays Off

(0) Comments | Posted February 18, 2013 | 1:38 AM

Quick: how many social networks can you name that date back to 2003 and still make Wall Street swoon? Probably not many. In fact, maybe only one: LinkedIn.

While you probably know about LinkedIn as a career tool, you may not know what it can do for your...

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WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

(0) Comments | Posted February 9, 2013 | 4:45 PM

When you settle into a night of Grammy action on Sunday, chances are you'll be doing it with your tablet or smartphone in hand, primed for action after weeks of extensive social media build-up.

Yep, the Grammy Awards have gone digital, going after music fans where they live: online. This...

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WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

(0) Comments | Posted February 1, 2013 | 5:05 PM

Remember when Super Bowl ads aired, you know, during the game? Welcome to the Social Super Bowl, coming to a device near you.

Once closely guarded secrets, some companies are maximizing exposure by teasing their ads online. Of course, early debut risks early criticism as well: Mercedes Benz' Kate Upton...

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WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

(0) Comments | Posted January 28, 2013 | 4:26 PM

When you're about to buy a new TV, do you look for consumer reviews on sites like Amazon, or professional reviews? If you're like 77% of people, you care more about the opinions of those usually anonymous strangers than the people who supposedly know what they're talking about.

...
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WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

(0) Comments | Posted January 19, 2013 | 10:26 PM

Did Facebook just usher in a new era of personalized search?

Facebook's big reveal this week wasn't the rumored Facebook phone as some had hoped, but Graph Search, Facebook's attempt to harness the enormous data sets it possesses toward contextual search. Want to find a local Italian restaurant...

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WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

(0) Comments | Posted January 14, 2013 | 1:23 AM

CES 2013 is a memory now, but we're still thinking about one particular category of futuristic gadgetry that stood out: automotive tech.

Your personal idea of the car of the future usually depends on what you were watching on TV and in the movies as a kid. You...

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