CEO & FOUNDER

David "Beno" Benveniste

Our CEO & Founder, David "Beno" Benveniste is an American entrepreneur, music manager, and the founder of Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group, a Los Angeles-based firm widely regarded as one of the most influential independent management companies in rock music. Over the course of nearly three decades, Beno has guided the careers of some of the most iconic artists in rock and metal — including System of a Down, Korn, Deftones, Avenged Sevenfold, Alice in Chains, and AFI — through a management philosophy rooted not in spreadsheets, but in vision.

"I don't manage conventionally, I manage spiritually, through vision, energy, belief, hope and just straight will."

Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group

In 1996, after catching System of a Down rehearse in North Hollywood through a tip from a mutual friend, Beno was immediately struck by the band's raw energy, unconventional influences, and complex musicianship. He gradually took over their management through relentless, innovative grassroots effort - he entered online chatrooms via dial-up modem, shared his home phone number so fans could listen to demos over the line, and manually duplicated and mailed tapes for free distribution to build a global audience long before streaming existed.

Velvet Hammer was formally founded in 1997. Under Beno's leadership, the company expanded beyond core management to encompass A&R, production, marketing, touring, and publishing. The firm signed OneRepublic and has released records for acts including Poison the Well. System of a Down's landmark 2001 album Toxicity sold over a million copies in its first weeks — driven by fan momentum rather than conventional marketing — and remains one of the fastest-selling rock albums of its era. As producer Rick Rubin stated in a 2001 Time magazine profile: "The first 100,000 albums are always the hardest to sell, and that's the expertise Beno provides."

In 2022, Music Business Worldwide profiled Beno in their prestigious "World's Greatest Managers" series, recognizing his spiritual approach to artist development and his ability to sustain cultural relevance for rock acts across decades of industry disruption.

StreetWise Concepts & Culture

Around the time Velvet Hammer was founded, Beno also launched StreetWise Concepts & Culture, a digital marketing agency that pioneered social media, interactive, and word-of-mouth marketing to connect major brands with emerging trends in youth culture. Building a database of over 200,000 volunteer promoters and blending online buzz with physical street-team activations, StreetWise created authentic engagement at a time when the industry was still catching up to the internet.

Notable campaigns included a coded bracelet activation for Warner Bros.' I Am Legend, an online community of 750,000 members for Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and major work for Coca-Cola, Electronic Arts, Live Nation, ABC, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, and many more. Even as the RIAA filed hundreds of subpoenas for file-sharing violations, Beno continued sharing free music with fans — through physical mail and online — recognizing that direct fan engagement was the most durable counter to piracy.

Sick New World Festival

Beno is the co-creator of Sick New World Festival, launched in partnership with Live Nation on May 13, 2023, at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. The inaugural edition sold out to 65,000 fans within hours of tickets going on sale. The second annual festival on April 27, 2024 achieved an immediate sell-out as well. Sick New World has firmly established itself as one of the biggest, most culturally impactful rock festivals in the country.

Personal Life

Beno earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC). As an alumnus, he continues to give back to USC, speaking to students and challenging them to think beyond conventional music industry business models. As Michael K. Garcia, chairman of the USC Thornton Music Industry Program, has noted: "When it comes to guest speakers at USC Thornton's Music Industry program, Beno is definitely a headliner." Beyond music, Beno is active in the luxury real estate market and has built a prolific collection of street art and pop art — pursuits that reflect the same instinct for culture and long-term value that defines his work in music.

Awards & Recognition

Velvet Hammer

  • RIAA Commemorative Award for the certified combined worldwide sales of more than 5,000,000 copies of the American Recordings/Columbia Records release of Toxicity by System of a Down.

  • RIAA Commemorative Award for the certified sales of more than 1,000,000 copies of the American Recordings/Columbia Records release of Steal This Album!

  • 6x Multi-Platinum Award, 5x Multi-Platinum Award, 2 3x Multi-Platinum Awards, 3 2x Multi-Platinum Awards, and 3 RIAA Gold Awards for System of a Down.

  • 5x RIAA Multi-Platinum Award, 4x RIAA Multi-Platinum Award, 2 3x RIAA Multi-Platinum Awards, 4 2x RIAA Multi-Platinum Awards, and 9 RIAA Gold Awards for Alice in Chains.

  • RIAA Commemorative Award for the certified Gold sales of more than 500,000 copies of the Virgin Records release of Black Gives Way to Blue by Alice in Chains.

  • RIAA Commemorative Award for sales of more than 1,000,000 copies of the Maverick Records album Around the Fur by Deftones.

  • 1 RIAA Gold Award and 3 RIAA Multi-Platinum Awards for Deftones.

  • 2 2x RIAA Multi-Platinum Awards, 9 RIAA Platinum Awards, and 1 RIAA Gold Award for Avenged Sevenfold.

  • 5x RIAA Multi-Platinum Award, 3x RIAA Multi-Platinum Award, 2x RIAA Multi-Platinum Award, 5 RIAA Multi-Platinum Awards, and 3 RIAA Gold Awards for Korn.

  • 2 RIAA Multi-Platinum Awards for AFI.

  • Sony/ATV and Velvet Hammer Music collaborated to publish the ASCAP award-winning song "Apologize" by OneRepublic.

Streetwise Concepts & Culture

  • 2010 Communication Arts: Pick of the Day — Tony Hawk: Ride Website

  • 2009 American Design Awards: Monthly Design Contest Winner — Tony Hawk: Ride Website

  • 2009 Interactive Media Awards: Best in Class – Gaming — Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Website; Best in Class – Gaming — Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa the Video Game Website

  • 2008 Davey Awards: Gold Award Winner — Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Website

  • 2008 Webby Awards: Official Honoree — Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Online Community

  • 2008 MI6 Awards: Most Clickable Website for a Product & Most Effective Attention Getters — Call of Duty 4

  • 2008 American Business Awards: Stevie Award Finalist — I Am Legend Movie Website

  • 2007 Interactive Media Awards: Best in Class – Movie/Film — I Am Legend Movie Website

  • 2007 Interactive Media Awards: Outstanding Achievement – Marketing — CharlieOscarDelta.com (Call of Duty Website)

  • 2007 Summit International Awards: Leader in Emerging Media — CharlieOscarDelta.com (Call of Duty Website)

  • 2006 DFWIMA – EIMA Awards: Most Effective Marketing Program — Nokia Xpress Audio Messaging

  • RIAA Commemorative Award for the certified sales of more than 10,000,000 copies of the La Face/Arista release of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast.