Storefront Music Adds Matt Nelson as Managing Director

Storefront Music, the original music, sound design, and audio-post company led by founders John “Scrapper” Sneider and Adam Elk, has added long-time music production executive Matt Nelson as their Managing Director. Nelson, who was most recently Executive Creative Producer at Yessian Music, brings to Storefront Music his extensive experience in audio post-production, music supervision, film/TV score production, immersive audio, advertising agency music supervision, and radio production.

“Matt's presence and creativity give a boost to Storefront Music’s production abilities, allowing us to handle adventurous and complex modern advertising ideas,” said Sneider. 

Elk adds, “Nelson joining our team as managing director is a milestone of growth for our company. It’s exciting to see us already working on projects outside of traditional ad formats and projects beyond our typical core business.” 

As Managing Director Nelson will be focused on expanding Storefront’s work in the advertising/branding sector and building on its recent successes, including recent work for Wells Fargo and BBDO New York, featuring Steve Martin and Martin Short; and the elaborately-produced campaign for Princess Cruises and agency Terri & Sandy New York, featuring a jazzy arrangement of “The Love Boat” theme performed by Hannah Waddingham of “Ted Lasso” fame.

A New York native, Nelson holds a Bachelor's in Music Engineering and a Master's in Trombone Performance from the University of Miami - Frost School of Music. In his professional life his standout achievements span projects like producing Coca-Cola's 'Masterpiece'; producing music for the Wieden and Kennedy #WannaSprite Cranberry commercial starring DRAM and LeBron James; and overseeing the year long production of the music, sound design, and the on-site immersive mix for the USA Pavilion at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan. 

On the feature film front, Nelson produced the score for M. Night Shyamalan’s film Old; Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things; Heidi Ewing’s I Carry You With Me (winner of both the NEXT and Audience awards at Sundance); and was a Music Supervisor on "Fanboy," a film by Bean McKee, which follows a socially awkward Ohio State football fan, premiered in February at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival. 

In addition to his work as a music production executive, which includes several years spent on the agency side working as a Producer and an Executive Producer at agencies J. Walter Thompson Worldwide and Horizon Media, respectively, Nelson is known throughout the ad music industry for his leadership role as National Board President of the Association of Music Producers and as a member of the AICP Post Council.

"Joining Storefront is exciting in a lot of ways, but what appealed to me most was the opportunity to use the full breadth of my skills,” Nelson says. “Merging my production, business, leadership, and creative skills with a respected and highly experienced team is a perfect balance and ideal situation for a small creative business like SFM. There’s nowhere I can’t make an impact and no shortage of challenges to tackle. No two days or two projects are alike. It keeps me sharp and learning, it’s what I love about this industry.”

Thoughts On AI Music: 

For Nelson, despite the recent buzz about AI, Nelson remains optimistic about original music and excited for new tools available for music production, despite acknowledging the real impact AI poses to creators. The bottom line, Nelson says, people love music and crave authenticity, and know it when they hear it. 

“Original music production, when produced with care and craftsmanship, is the most effective way to create an engaging custom music treatment without the sticker price of a big license,” Nelson says. “Contrast this to the recent heavy use of stock production assets and now AI, ’the real thing’ is going to be sought after more than ever.”