As Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing for Electronic Arts, Steve Schnur is responsible for the pursuit, creation and continuous development of the global vision for music in EA games. In only five years, Schnur’s unprecedented innovations in bringing together the worlds of music and gaming led The Washington Post to call him “The Clive Davis of the video game industry.” He has brought established stars, breakthrough new artists and award-winning composers to such top-selling EA franchises as MADDEN NFL, FIFA, NEED FOR SPEED, HARRY POTTER, MEDAL OF HONOR, THE SIMS and more, changing the industry’s perception of video games from simple ‘licensing opportunities’ to their now-essential role in artists’ careers. His EA TRAX initiative resulted in the first RIAA certified Platinum video game soundtrack with NBA LIVE 2003, and established the collaborative partnership with legendary hip-hop lifestyle company Def Jam to produce the landmark DEF JAM VENDETTA. In 2004, Schnur spearheaded the creation of Next Level Music, EA’s groundbreaking joint venture with Cherry Lane Publishing. In 2005, he created EA Recordings, a digital record label focused on the distribution of EA’s enormous collection of scores and songs.

Schnur began his career at MTV, where he was part of the original programming team during the network’s formative years. Prior to joining EA in 2001, he held various executive positions between New York, Nashville and Los Angeles with the Warner Music Group, EMI and BMG, and has supervised and produced music for films including Cruel Intentions and Miss Congeniality. Mr. Schnur has been profiled by the New York Times, London Financial Times, and CNN, was selected as ‘One Of The Most Creative People In Entertainment’ by Entertainment Weekly, both “One of the Most Powerful People in the Music Business” and “One of the Top 20 Power Players in Digital Entertainment” by Billboard Magazine, “One of The Top 25 Power Players in the new Hollywood” by The Wall Street Journal, as well as contributed to the Berkeley School Of Music textbook The Future Of Music. He is a frequent guest speaker on the gaming and music industry and international youth culture. Steve Schnur is also a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), the Country Music Association, and currently serves as Chairman of the Grammy Foundation.