Full Name
Matt Young
Job Title
President
Company
Bravado
Speaker Bio
Matt Young has spent his entire career building connections between artists and their fans.
That mission continues today in his current role as President of Bravado, one of the world’s leading providers of consumer/lifestyle goods and services for recording artists and pop culture brands around the world. The company plays a key role in parent company UMG’s strategy to connect its artists to fans on a global level. Since his appointment in 2021, Young has continued to build Bravado into an industry-leading powerhouse to superserve the needs of its artists and their fans, with creative tour merch, direct-to-fan e-commerce, VIP experiences, brand licensing partnerships, innovative fashion and lifestyle brand collaborations, and more. The company lives at the crossroads of music, fashion, and culture and strives to build artist brands and legacies that live on beyond the music. Under Young’s leadership, Bravado had a historic 2024, coming in as the #1 artist merch company in a year that saw music merch across the board hitting an all-time high.
Young and his team have pioneered several sustainability-focused merchandise initiatives, including an ambitious program launched in June 2025 with Hallotex to upcycle 400,000 obsolete or unsold t-shirts and other merchandise at scale, spinning them into new yarn that will be made into an estimated 280,000 new 100% recycled cotton t-shirt blanks. The company has also forged collaborations with SUAY, Lost Love, Fashion-Enter, and other brands to create new items from old stock.
Young brings to Bravado more than 20 years of music industry experience in building brands and artist services with a focus on merchandising, e-commerce, retail, consumer product licensing, ticketing and customer relationship management (CRM). Prior to Bravado, Young was President of Warner Music Artists Services, where he was instrumental in developing consumer engagement, marketing execution and revenue generation for the company’s most prominent recording artists. Before Warner Music, he worked at Bandmerch, where he held the roles of General Manager of the New York office, and Head of A&R, and earlier as Vice President of Sales at Blue Grape Merchandise. Young got his start in music as an on-air college DJ for WSOU at Seton Hall University.
That mission continues today in his current role as President of Bravado, one of the world’s leading providers of consumer/lifestyle goods and services for recording artists and pop culture brands around the world. The company plays a key role in parent company UMG’s strategy to connect its artists to fans on a global level. Since his appointment in 2021, Young has continued to build Bravado into an industry-leading powerhouse to superserve the needs of its artists and their fans, with creative tour merch, direct-to-fan e-commerce, VIP experiences, brand licensing partnerships, innovative fashion and lifestyle brand collaborations, and more. The company lives at the crossroads of music, fashion, and culture and strives to build artist brands and legacies that live on beyond the music. Under Young’s leadership, Bravado had a historic 2024, coming in as the #1 artist merch company in a year that saw music merch across the board hitting an all-time high.
Young and his team have pioneered several sustainability-focused merchandise initiatives, including an ambitious program launched in June 2025 with Hallotex to upcycle 400,000 obsolete or unsold t-shirts and other merchandise at scale, spinning them into new yarn that will be made into an estimated 280,000 new 100% recycled cotton t-shirt blanks. The company has also forged collaborations with SUAY, Lost Love, Fashion-Enter, and other brands to create new items from old stock.
Young brings to Bravado more than 20 years of music industry experience in building brands and artist services with a focus on merchandising, e-commerce, retail, consumer product licensing, ticketing and customer relationship management (CRM). Prior to Bravado, Young was President of Warner Music Artists Services, where he was instrumental in developing consumer engagement, marketing execution and revenue generation for the company’s most prominent recording artists. Before Warner Music, he worked at Bandmerch, where he held the roles of General Manager of the New York office, and Head of A&R, and earlier as Vice President of Sales at Blue Grape Merchandise. Young got his start in music as an on-air college DJ for WSOU at Seton Hall University.
Speaking At
