It’s been an eventful few months for Downtown Music Holdings. In April, the New York-based firm sold its entire owned music rights catalog to Concord for $400 million. Then, it re-launched its flagship subsidiary as Downtown Music Services, working with partners in both publishing and recorded music.
Today (August 18) another major new chapter for the company arrives. Downtown Music Holdings (DMH) has announced that its founder, Justin Kalifowitz, will vacate his role as CEO to take up a new position as DMH’s Executive Chairman.
Kalifowitz will be succeeded as CEO by DMH’s current COO, Andrew Bergman. Bergman will assume all day-to-day responsibilities as CEO effective September 1.
Kalifowitz has served as Downtown’s CEO since establishing the company more than 14 years ago.
In his new role, Downtown says Kalifowitz will continue to focus on driving strategic development, leading Downtown’s Board of Directors and working together with Bergman and DMH’s executive team on “transformational growth opportunities” for the company.
Kalifowitz said: “Downtown has always set ambitious goals both internally and with respect to our role in driving equity and innovation across the music industry. As we continue to expand our market position by empowering entrepreneurial creators and their partners, Andrew’s unrivaled knowledge of the business coupled with his operational excellence make him the perfect choice as our next CEO.
“With Andrew managing day-to-day operations for Downtown, I’m looking forward to continuing to work closely together in advancing the organization’s strategic development at an accelerated pace.”
“As we continue to expand our market position by empowering entrepreneurial creators and their partners, Andrew’s unrivaled knowledge of the business coupled with his operational excellence make him the perfect choice as our next CEO.”
Justin Kalifowitz, Downtown
Bergman’s history with Downtown extends back to the company’s inception when he served as outside legal counsel. In 2008, Bergman formally joined Downtown as General Counsel and Executive Vice President, prior to his promotion to COO in 2014.
In recent years, Bergman has been charged with leading Downtown’s M&A integrations and operations, spanning more than 500 employees on six continents.
Bergman commented: “I feel very fortunate to continue my 14 year collaboration with Justin in my new role as CEO and I am excited about what we will accomplish together in Downtown’s next growth stage.
“With an exceptional team, global operations, industry leading technology and substantial capital resources, Downtown is well positioned to continue expanding our role as the leading service provider to the global music industry,”
“I feel very fortunate to continue my 14 year collaboration with Justin in my new role as CEO and I am excited about what we will accomplish together in Downtown’s next growth stage.”
Andrew Bergman, Downtown
Today, Downtown manages more than 23 million music assets on behalf of over a million artists and enterprise clients.
In addition to Downtown Music Services – led by British exec Mike Smith – Downtown Music Holdings’ subsidiaries include the likes of FUGA, AdRev, and Downtown Neighbouring Rights.
In addition, DMH is home to Songtrust (which works with hundreds of thousands of songwriters and publishing rightsholders) plus DIY distribution company CD Baby.
Collectively, Downtown is projecting to generate over $600 million from its music services businesses in 2021.Music Business Worldwide