Discover the Best Books Written by Matt Mason

Matt Mason (born 11 August 1978) is an English author and creative executive. He is the former chief content officer for BitTorrent Inc. and studio head at 1-800-N0TH1NG, an innovation lab financed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is the author of The Pirate's Dilemma and the founding editor-in-chief of RWD Magazine. He has written for VICE, The Observer, Complex, and other publications in more than twenty countries.

Mason grew up in London and began DJing as a teen on the pirate radio stations Ice FM and Mac FM. He attended the University of Bristol, where he graduated with a degree in economics. After his studies, he worked in music and advertising at companies including Warner Music, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Mediacom.

In 2001, Mason became the founding editor-in-chief of RWD Magazine. RWD was created to push new sounds emerging from the UK, most notably UK garage, grime, and dubstep, and Mason became the first journalist to interview a number of prominent UK artists, including Dizzee Rascal, Skepta, and Tinchy Stryder.

RWD became the largest music magazine by circulation in the UK, growing from 5,000 copies per month to almost 100,000. Based on his work at RWD, Mason was selected as one of the faces of former British prime minister Gordon Brown's Start Talking Ideas campaign and was presented the Prince's Trust London Business of the Year Award by Prince Charles in 2004.

Between 2001 and 2004, Mason also ran the independent label Tuned Plastic, specialising in UK garage, grime, and dubstep. Submarine, a record produced by Mason and released on Tuned Plastic, was included on DJ EZ's seminal Pure Garage: Bass Breaks and Beats compilation in 2001. Between 2003 and 2005, Mason also anonymously wrote the Grimewatch column for Vice magazine, only outing himself as its author in his last column, before leaving RWD and moving to New York.

Between 2002 and 2004, Mason connected RWD's online director Lex Johnson and illustrator Art Jaz to create the animated adult sitcom series The Booo Krooo. After the first three-episode web series, the concept was co-signed by Missy Elliott, who asked to be featured to promote her single "Work It". From here, Channel U commissioned a six-episode series to launch their European music TV channel. This was later cited by Ransom Note as the first in the "grime comedy" genre.