Rachel Narozniak is an independent music journalist and editor specializing in dance/electronic music, with a broader body of work spanning multiple genres, including pop, hip-hop, and R&B. Now in her fourth year working as a freelance music journalist, she has regularly contributed to leading trade publications and mainstream media outlets, with bylines in Variety, Billboard, DJ Mag, Beatportal, GRAMMY.com, MusicTech Magazine, and Los Angeles Magazine.

Outside of music journalism, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, several academic literary journals, and prominent oncology trade publications. She holds a Master’s degree in English from The George Washington University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from Rutgers University.

In 2016, a fateful DM from a Crust Nation affiliate — “Hey, you should come write for us” — provided the serendipitous push that propelled Rachel into music editorial. She went on to pen more than 500 articles for the music events promotion company’s website while picking up bylines on Club Glow/Echostage’s website.

In July 2017, Rachel was hired as a Contributing Writer at Dancing Astronaut (DA), where she would go on to play a central role in shaping its editorial philosophy, content strategy, and execution. During her tenure, she held every single editorial position at the outlet, including Staff Writer, Editor, Editor at Large, Senior Writer, Managing Editor, and Editor-in-Chief. Over nearly a decade with the platform, she published more than 2,800 news stories, track posts, reviews, interviews, and long-form features under her DA byline.

Her primary area of interest was regional live music markets in the United States, where she examined the evolution of dance/electronic ecosystems in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and the greater DMV area, often serving as the outlet’s lead editorial voice on live music coverage. She was also deeply invested in scene analysis and long-form editorial that contextualized artists, audiences, and infrastructure within the broader cultural and economic forces shaping dance music.

Alongside this reporting, Rachel led and championed editorial initiatives to address inequities within the genre and its industry. This included two original recurring features she conceptualized: Supernovas, an interview-driven editorial series spotlighting singer-songwriters in the dance/electronic space, and ORBIT: AMPLIFY, a weekly playlist series that invited artists across dance/electronic subgenres to curate 20-track playlists featuring songs exclusively by Black artists and other artists of color who inspired them.

After serving as Dancing Astronaut’s Editor-in-Chief, Rachel stepped down from her leadership role in 2022 to launch her independent journalism career. She remained a Senior Writer at the platform until Dancing Astronaut went defunct in January 2026.

In addition to her independent reporting, Rachel is the Freelance Editor at Beatportal, where she is responsible for curating and executing much of the site’s daily music and news coverage. In this role, she also produces many original editorial features, shaping coverage that blends timely reporting with deeper analysis of the dance/electronic landscape.

In 2024, Rachel relocated from her home state of New Jersey to Los Angeles, California, to take the next step in her work as a music journalist. A proud Jersey girl at heart, she brings an East Coast sensibility to her reporting and remains a committed defender of the em dash.

Rachel’s core areas of interest remain rooted in live music markets and in long-form analysis of the forces shaping music culture. She is particularly drawn to unpacking emergent trends, fan and audience behavior, consumption patterns, and release and rollout strategies, with an emphasis on how artists and their communities engage with music in real time. Through this lens, her work often examines the evolving relationships among artists, audiences, and infrastructure — and the broader systems that shape how dance/electronic music is created, distributed, and enjoyed.

Rachel also writes artist bios across dance/electronic music and other genres, with recent clients including OMNOM, HYPERBEAM, James Kennedy, RIVO, and FILLY. She is a recognized and trusted voice in dance/electronic music and has been invited to moderate and host panels at industry conferences and events for Women in Music and Beatport, among other organizations.

A selection of her work appears below.

Author Archive

• Variety

• Billboard

• DJ Mag (no centralized link, features linked below)

• Beatportal (no centralized link, select features linked below. Daily music and news coverage available on Beatportal.com)

• GRAMMY.com

• Los Angeles Magazine

• MusicTech Magazine

• Dancing Astronaut

📧 Email Rachel at: hello@rachelnarozniak.com