Press Release

October 18, 2023

Shawn Alexander, formerly of ALL ACCESS, has partnered with #HAPPENS to launch a curated New Music Discovery Experience for the Alternative community, bringing new content daily to a relaunched #HAPPENS website effective today. Alexander will also resurrect his Every Other Daily newsletter with a #HAPPENS Alternative VIP newsletter delivered to inboxes 3 days a week.

In addition, there will be a #HAPPENS New Music Discovery Digital Download Service coming soon with new music hosted in the new Alternative & Rock sections on the #HAPPENS website, providing a destination for radio programmers to listen & download the latest releases in one place.

Alexander spent over 27 years at ALL ACCESS as SVP/Strategy, Music Formats & Alternative Editor. He launched the Alternative section at All Access in 1996.

“I’m so excited to be partnering with #HAPPENS to keep the Alternative community together,” said Alexander. “We are creating a new one-stop resource with music and information targeted for the Alternative and Rock communities, so this was a perfect fit for me since Todd Sievers, Ken Pittman, and Beatrix Danko already curate a fantastic annual event every February (#HAPPENS 2024 is February 28-March 1 in Las Vegas) so I am grateful to have a new platform to provide our services and content to keep everyone engaged every day.”

Said #Happens: “Our mission has always been to foster Music, Discovery, and Community, so when Shawn became a free agent, it immediately felt right to partner with him. The whole process has been very organic, and it felt logical to take his expertise to expand the #HAPPENS brand into a daily content source. Shawn is not only at the top of his game, which is why we partner with him almost weekly on new projects, but he is our personal friend as well as the friend and face of his format. We are very excited to announce the launch of our new partnership, website, and multi-weekly format e-blasts.”

Alexander will curate the following content on #HAPPENS for the Alternative community: Format News, New Music Discovery Picks, New Music Artist Discovery Of The Week, Music Info, Singles, Upcoming Album Releases, Weekly Famous Firsts feature, Photos, and a Rolodex for Radio And Records. Look for more exciting additions for the Alternative & Rock communities coming soon.

Alexander will offer his own promotion services to help labels, artist management, and independent artists get programmer feedback to help songs with their radio campaigns. These services will remain independent from #HAPPENS under his own company, Shawn Alexander Delivers.

Beatrix Danko, founder of The Contraband convention, partnered with Todd Sievers and Ken Pittman to establish #HAPPENS in 2018. #HAPPENS is an organically driven, rock and alternative new music experience hosted the last week of each February.

Our curated events bring together the best radio programmers, label and streaming executives, culture-tastemakers, artists, and brands, inspiring new ideas in the ever-evolving music community.

Over three days, participants receive maximum exposure to radio’s decision-makers and industry influencers. During the day, attendees will participate in thought-provoking conversations and unique social experiences. The evenings will showcase new artist music in exclusive settings with the colorful backdrop of downtown Las Vegas.

Over the last nine years participating artists have included The Offspring, Papa Roach, Alter Bridge, Gavin Rossdale/Bush, Nickelback, Fever 333, Daughtry, Weathers, Biffy Clyro, Blue October, Nina Strauss, Mammoth WVH, Thrice, Chino/Deftones, Disturbed, Incubus, Jonathan Davis/Korn, Serj Tankian, Sixx:A.M., Perry Farrell, Badflower, The Score, Bones (UK), The Federal Empire and many others.

Alexander can be reached at shawn.alexander@happens.vip