Earlier this year, BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld declared his company is “doubling down” on its operations in North America – a region already responsible for more than half of the company’s revenue – as part of an overall refocus towards its core music publishing and recording business.
To that end, Coesfeld promoted John Loba to President, Frontline Recordings, North America (from his previous role as President of BMG Nashville) and Thomas Scherer to President, Global Catalog Recordings, in addition to Scherer’s role as President, Music Publishing, North America.
Now, BMG is making another move in its North American leadership team, appointing Marian Wolf to the role of Senior Vice President, Music Publishing, North America. In his new role, Wolf will report to Scherer.
Wolf joined BMG in 2011 in the company’s Berlin office, before transferring to the Los Angeles office in 2014. In 2019, he was promoted to Vice President, Global Writer Services & China, and in 2022, he was further promoted to Senior Vice President, Publishing & Chief of Staff.
BMG credits him with being “influential” in the signing and renewals of significant publishing clients, including George Harrison, Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, Riot Games, Jessie J, Dave Gibson and others.
The company also credits him with developing a global digital service for publishing clients that includes promotion of catalogs and clients across platforms such as Spotify, Apple, YouTube and Instagram, among others.
Wolf was behind the creation of BMG SoundLab, a collaborative songwriting camp that has charted number-one hits in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Korea and elsewhere. BMG’s SoundLabs have collaborated with partners that include major labels, charitable organizations, American Idol and She Is The Music. One notable collaboration involved the United Nations and Holocaust survivor Ben Lesser.
Wolf has also led collaborative efforts between BMG and platforms owned by parent company Bertelsmann, including European media conglomerate RTL.
“With Marian’s expertise and success in the US and globally, he is the ideal leader for our North American music publishing business,” Scherer said in a statement issued on Wednesday (February 28).
“With Marian’s expertise and success in the US and globally, he is the ideal leader for our North American music publishing business.”
Thomas Scherer, BMG
“We are confident he will continue to grow and transform the opportunities and digital services for our music publishing catalog clients, as well as frontline songwriter signings.“
“I am excited to lead our North American publishing teams into this next chapter,” Wolf added. “Publishing continues to be a cornerstone of BMG’s business and I am thrilled to continuously innovate the way we serve our songwriters and publishing clients as creative partners.”
BMG’s increased focus on North America is part of a broader strategy shift that CEO Coesfeld unveiled last fall.
Among the changes that have taken place since Coesfeld assumed the CEO role last summer are taking digital distribution in-house; ending the company’s film/TV and live music operations; and dropping a long-running partnership with Warner/ADA Worldwide, and signing a physical distribution agreement with Universal Music Group.Music Business Worldwide
