Staff

Despite his degree in political science, Zach will tell you that the only news source he reads obsessively is Bandcamp Daily. Born and raised in New York City, Zach spent many weekends in high school traversing the city’s record stores with his friends. When he moved upstate to Skidmore college, he immediately embedded himself in the campus’ music scene. He managed the DIY music venue Falstaff’s Lodge and worked at the campus station (WSPN) for 3 years as the head music director, head of programming, and as an interim general manager.

In 2020, Zach co-founded Forte Creative Group, a multi-stakeholder music cooperative which helps musicians in the Capital Region of New York establish collective organizing, resource sharing, and peer-to-peer networks. That same year, Zach also produced a podcast for Harvard’s Eurasian studies center called How to Kill a Superpower: Lessons from the USSR, where he examined the mysterious circumstances behind the final days of the Soviet Union.

In his free time, Zach is either playing ultimate frisbee, listening through the many albums he’s bookmarked throughout the week, grinding Super Smash Bros tech skill, or, if inspiration strikes, working on some playwriting.

Brett Gleason has been looking for ways to communicate since he was a kid on Long Island with a speech impediment.

Drawn to music and writing, he moved to NYC to pursue a dual composition degree at the New School.

After performing and releasing and promoting music for a decade, he came to Los Angeles to study at UCLA and pursue a career in the industry.

Disheartened to see artists chasing viral trends and vanity metrics instead of using social media to foster an engaged relationship with their fans, Brett has come to Planetary Group to help.

When not involved with music or media, Brett can be found walking his boxer pup, riding his bike, doing back flips, or drinking coffee, and taking naps.

Sam is a born-and-raised Angeleno hailing from the San Fernando Valley. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from Skidmore College, where he also served as a music director at the college’s radio station, WSPN. When home from college during the summers, he worked various roles at KCRW in Santa Monica. Before that, he acted as general manager of his high school’s Internet radio station, KHWS. When he’s not hunting for rare cassettes, Sam can be found diligently cataloging every cafe and restaurant in Los Angeles to try exactly once and then never return.

Jaden Amjadi comes to Los Angeles by way of Iowa, where he was raised and attended college. He became Music Director of KRUI in his freshman year at the University of Iowa. There, he discovered the joys of sorting through and hearing many dozens of records on a weekly basis. His DJ shows focused on new music, with a bend towards the lo-fi and bizarre. He loves to hear everything the wide musical landscape has to offer, and loves to discuss great music finds with others. He graduated from the University of Iowa and the Music Director role in 2022, and beelined for a job as Music Promoter with Planetary, to help a new set of Music Directors find great music as many promoters had done for him before.

At any given moment, Jaden is likely playing a Silver Jews or Green Day song on his guitar, telling a horrendously cheesy joke to his friends, or petting his cat, Kirby. He’s published a far-reaching breadth of music reviews on the KRUI website, and likes to read poetry and fiction in his free time. Having just arrived in Los Angeles, he imagines it is only a matter of time before the Lakers invite him to make playlists full-time for team practices–an offer he will ultimately reject out of passion for college radio promotion.

Born and raised in southern Illinois just outside of St. Louis, MO, Matty’s love of music formed when he was young listening to classic rock and pop radio, eventually translating over to hip hop and indie music in his teenage years. While in high school, he founded the Indieheads Podcast in 2014 and a year later, joined the radio broadcasting program at Lewis and Clark Community College, where he eventually 89.9 WLCA’s Assistant Program/Promotions Director from 2016 until his graduation in 2017.

In late 2016, he joined the moderation team at Reddit’s r/indieheads subreddit, eventually heading up their AMA (ask me anything) and social media teams, along with editorial duties as the founder and editor of the r/indieheads Album of the Year Write-Up series. In his spare time, he’s a writer with bylines in Paste, Merry-Go-Round, and Opinion Police, along with heading up Soft Sounds, the weekly newsletter of the Indieheads Podcast.

Chene is a Detroit native who attended Michigan State University, B.A. Communications with a concentration on Mass Media and Entertainment. His family roots are deeply embedded in the music industry from his grandfather’s Big Band era ties to his Uncle having toured with Iggy Pop in the 70’s and many family members in bands spanning across generations. Chene decided to pursue a career in the music industry starting with management of local artists and heavy involvement in the Detroit local music community eventually moving to Los Angeles in 2022.

Founder of LIB MGMT serving in the traditional artist management space with a focus on Digital strategy and artist development. LIB MGMT is an audiomack verified tastemaker, hosting several verified playlists headlined by Fresh Picked Dope. He also serves as the Detroit community curator for the digilogue and aiding in artist discovery/onboarding. LIB MGMT offered a unique artist development program, PROOF, that focused solely on educating artists on how to release & market their music in 2022 with high success rates. Chene joined the planetary group in 2023 to lead a new department focusing on digital distribution and editorial playlisting services.

Jackson Chant is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico and has always had a strong interest in the music industry. After moving to Los Angeles in January of 2022 to pursue a music career he began working for Grant Owens at We Found New Music as a production assistant. Learning the ins and outs of the music industry while working multiple jobs in the Los Angeles area, he has proven that while pursuing his own artist project, he has also been able to help solidify the success of other artists in the industry as well.

After joining the planetary team, he is ready to develop his skills on the promotional side of the music industry. Outside of music he enjoys hanging out with friends, trying to cook food without burning it, and staying up to date on all things pop culture. He hopes to continue to make music and make connections in Los Angeles.