Dean Budnick is the co-author of concert promoter Peter Shapiro's The Music Never Stops: What Putting on 10,000 Shows Has Taught Me About Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Magic. He has written seven books, including John Popper's autobiography Suck and Blow: And other Stories I'm Not Supposed to Tell. He is the editor-in-chief of Relix and has reported on the live entertainment industry for Billboard, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. His book, Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped chronicled the previously untold story of the modern concert industry, revealing the origins, development and ongoing strategies of companies such as Ticketmaster, Live Nation, StubHub and the efforts of numerous independent competitors Budnick, who received a Ph.D. from Harvard University's History of American Civilization program, also wrote the novel Might As Well, which explores the Grateful Dead scene of the late 1980s, as well as Jambands: The Complete Guide to the Players, Music, and Scene and The Phishing Manual. He directed the documentary Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Rock Club, which earned film festival laurels, opened nationally via First Run Features, and then aired on the Sundance Channel. Budnick is the creator and host of the Long May They Run podcast, which reached #1 on the Apple Music Podcast charts. For many years co-hosted Jam Nation, a radio show that aired weekly on SiriusXM. He holds a JD from Columbia Law School and also has taught at the University of Rhode Island, Roger Williams University and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
