After leaving the corporate advertising world as an account manager at Ogilvy & Mather, Stevenson joined Advanced Alternative Media as the Head of College Marketing. Envisioning and launching the first-ever independent music distribution network for college radio, he quickly immersed himself within the fabric of the business. His distribution network, The Sunday Service still exists today.
In 1998, Stevenson began a nine-year stint at Island Def Jam Music Group in A&R. While at Island Def Jam, he found, signed, and guided the careers of some of the biggest names in rock, alternative, and pop including The Killers, Fall Out Boy, Sum 41, and more. He also orchestrated the label's partnership with Sony Pictures for the highly successful Spiderman soundtrack in 2002. By the time he'd become Executive Vice President, A&R for IDJ, the projects he spearheaded had cumulatively exceeded over 35 million album sales around the world. He oversaw and helped deliver seven multiplatinum and five gold albums that notched a total of 9 Grammy nominations, 15 MTV VMA nominations with 5 wins, 2 American Music Award nominations with 1 win. Entertainment Weekly dubbed him the "Must A&R Guy" on the magazine's 2006 "Must List", while New York Magazine awarded him “The Industry Award” in their 2005 Pop Culture Awards Issue.
sought him out in 2008 and brought him on board as President of A&R. While overseeing Artist & Repertoire operations at Virgin, he signed the resurrected Seattle legends Alice In Chains, paving the way for their Gold-selling comeback Black Gives Way to Blue. While in the EMI Group, he worked on Katy Perry's blockbuster multi-platinum-selling smash Teenage Dream, which produced a record-setting five #1 singles. Other notable projects included Beastie Boys' final studio effort Hot Sauce Committee Parts 1 & 2, and crucial releases from Thirty Seconds to Mars and The Decemberists.
Attracted to the cutting edge ethos of Republic Records, he became a part of the label's family in 2011 as Executive Vice President of A&R. Stevenson signed Gotye, whose "Somebody That I Used to Know" became the top selling song of 2012, selling over 6.8 million digital downloads. “Somebody That I Used to Know” then went on to receive Grammy Awards for Best Pop Song by a Duo or Group and the esteemed Record of the Year. The album Making Mirrors won the Grammy for Best Alternative album. Stevenson spearheaded label efforts to bring Iceland’s Of Monsters and Men and Canada’s The Weeknd to the label. Of Monster and Men's debut album is now certified Gold and the "Little Talks" digital single went platinum in 2012 and is still growing. The Weeknd’s debut, “Trilogy,” is already platinum and the single “Wicked Games” scanned gold. New projects include Youngblood Hawke, Phantogram, Mayer Hawthorne, AFI, Angel Haze, and James Bay.
In addition to attracting new artists to Republic, Stevenson is currently overseeing the re-launch and reinvention of Casablanca Records. Known as the soundtrack to nightlife in the 1970s, the label is quickly returning to glory by establishing it as the soundtrack to club life in the 2010s with a roster that includes Avicii, Alesso, C2C, Kavinsky, The Presets, Tiesto, the Bingo Players and Duck Sauce.
