David Avery founded Powderfinger Promotions (1994), which focuses on promoting new releases to AAA, Americana, College, Electronic, Jamband, Jazz, New World, and Reggae contacts at radio, press, and social media outlets across North America and Europe. David’s duties include overseeing Powderfinger’s operations and promoting new releases to radio. Some of the hundreds of artists David has worked with include Primus, String Cheese Incident, Steve Winwood, Sting & Shaggy (Grammy nominee), Medeski Martin & Wood, Morgan Heritage (Grammy winner), Bootsy Collins, Gov’t Mule, Esperanza Spalding, and Slightly Stoopid. 

David grew up in a musical family with strong gospel & Americana roots. After high school, he earned a B.A. in music at Fresno Pacific University, spent a year studying at the University of Lancaster (England), earned a M.M. in Musicology from New England Conservatory, and spent two years studying Musicology at the CUNY Doctoral Center in NYC. David has also performed in numerous bands, choirs, ensembles, and musicals. He was also a DJ at NPR radio stations in Fresno and Boston, worked as a Music Editor at Schwann Publications, and was the AAA radio columnist at CMJ for over 4 years. He’s also a lecturer on the Music Industry at Northeastern University in Boston. 

David has also lead and participated in music business panels at numerous conferences, including CMJ Music Marathon, SXSW, Elm City Music, Millennium Music Conference, Cape May Singer-Songwriter conference, and the Berklee College of Music’s entrepreneurs’ panel.