[1] Silverman grew up in White Plains, New York, and earned a bachelor's degree in environmental science from Colby College in 1976.
Many hip-hop artists have accused Silverman and the Tommy Boy label of exploitative business practices and "unfair and unbalanced terms",[4] such as Maseo of De La Soul,[5] GZA of the Wu-Tang clan (on the track "Labels"[6]), and the Gravediggaz (a supergroup made up of former Tommy Boy artists[7]).
Then as part of his split negotiations from the Warner Music Group in 2001,[9] Silverman co-founded Tommy Boy Films with Kung Faux creator Mic Neumann,[10] which was then merged with Tommy Boy Records in 2002 to create Tommy Boy Entertainment, a newly branded multimedia company with the same iconic trademark, encompassing the original music label, a diverse catalogue of artists, and new audiovisual content.
[12] Silverman had also co-founded the annual New Music Seminar, which initially ran for fourteen years from 1980 to 1994, then was subsequently relaunched for another six-year run from 2009 to 2015.
Silverman is the longest continuously serving board member of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).