Platzman was born on September 28, 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Berklee College of Music where he earned a degree in film scoring. While at Berklee, Platzman played in the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, the Urban Outreach Jazz Orchestra and the Berklee Rainbow Big Band, and received the Vic Firth Award for Outstanding Musicianship and the Michael Rendish Award in Film Scoring. He also played in a guitar performance ensemble with future Imagine Dragons bandmates Wayne Sermon and Ben McKee.

In 2011, Platzman was invited by Wayne Sermon to join Imagine Dragons, based out of Las Vegas. McKee dropped out of his final semester at Berklee to join the band, inviting Daniel Platzman to play drums, completing the lineup. The band proceeded to earn a number of local accolades including “Best CD of 2011” (Vegas SEVEN), “Best Local Indie Band 2010” (Las Vegas Weekly), “Las Vegas’ Newest Must See Live Act” (Las Vegas CityLife), and more sent the band on a positive trajectory. In November 2011 they signed with Interscope Records and began working with producer Alex da Kid.

In 2012 their debut album Night Visions brought the band mainstream success. It reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart and won the Billboard Music Award for Best Rock Album (2014). Single “It’s Time” became the band’s first single reaching #15 Billboard Hot 100 and certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Second single “Radioactive” reached #3 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the RIAA, becoming the best selling rock song in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. Third single “Demons” reached #6 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Their album made the highest debut for a new rock band in six years (since 2006) and single Radioactive set a new record for longest time atop the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart with 23 consecutive weeks. Tracks from the album topped the Billboard Rock Songs, Billboard Alternative Songs, and Billboard Pop Songs charts. Radioactive was also nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.

The band has contributed songs to several film soundtracks, including “Ready Aim Fire” for Iron Man 3, “Who We Are” for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, “Battle Cry” for Transformers: Age of Extinction and “Not Today” for Me Before You. In addition, in September, 2014, “Warriors” was released by Riot Games along with an animated music video promoting the League of Legends World Championships.

In 2015, Imagine Dragons’ second album Smoke + Mirrors reached #1 on the Billboard 200, UK Albums Chart, and Canadian Albums Chart. It features singles “I Bet My Life”, “Shots” and “Gold”.