Who is Steve Stoute? All about the UnitedMasters CEO who earned 'Music Mogul of the Year' title by Variety

Steve Stoute, the CEO of UnitedMasters and the advertising company, Translation, has been declared "Music Mogul of the Year" by Variety. He was the former manager of artists including Trackmasters, Nas, and Mary J. Blige.

Stoute was the president of Sony Music Entertainment's urban music division from 1990 to 1999. During that time, he signed 50 Cent. According to his LinkedIn profile, during those nine years, he was simultaneously the executive president at Interscope Geffen A&M Records.

According to Variety's July 23, 2025, report, Stoute was the "key executive" behind the soundtrack of the 1997 film, Men in Black.

In 2004, he founded the advertising and marketing company, Translation. The company ran successful campaigns, including McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It," Apple Music's "Chapters" campaign, Budweiser's "Made in America," and State Farm's "Meet The Hoopers" commercial.

Steve grew up in Queens, and his parents were immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago. He attended Holy Cross High School in Flushing, New York City. Then Stoute attended five colleges before dropping out to pursue a career in the music industry.

 

 

 

 

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More details on Steve Stoute's career

Stoute wrote a book in 2011, The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy, in which he discussed how pop culture reshaped the American Dream. In 2014, VH1 made a four-part documentary based on the book.

The documentary was titled The Tanning of America: One Nation Under Hip Hop featuring interviews with several artists including Dr Dre, Mariah Carey, Will.i.am, Rick Ruben, Russell Simmons, Pharrell, Sean "Diddy" Combs, and Nas among others. It was directed by Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman.

In 2013, Ad Age named Steve Stoute the executive of the year. In 2017, he founded the music distribution company UnitedMasters, which helped to launch the careers of various up-and-coming artists, including Veigh, NLE Choppa, FloyyMenor, Lil Tecca, and BigXthaPlug.

The CEO told Variety that he advised artists to own their masters, as he believed no company should control a musician's career.

"When I first started telling artists to own their masters, people thought I was crazy. Now everybody is looking to do it," he stated.

In an interview with The New York Times on July 2, 2025, Steve Stoute shared that he advises his clients not to get swayed by the media and give statements. He also stated that he wants his celebrity clients to keep a distance from politics.

Steve Stoute credited his parents for his values. He shared that they taught him to keep people with "strong principles" around himself, people who don't leave because of money or other reasons.

"You should have people around you in your life who have strong principles. They stand behind ideas, and they don't move because it's convenient or because there's money. I learned that from my dad and my mom," Stoute said.

Steve Stoute's advertising company, Translation, works for various companies, including Meta, Lego, and the NBA, among others.

UnitedMasters collaborates with artists to distribute their music across different streaming platforms. Brent Faiyaz partnered with the company to release his 2022 album, Wasteland.