Senior TikTok executive Michael Kümmerle is leaving the platform after a four-and-a-half-year tenure.
Kümmerle has served as Global Head of Music Partnership Development at the ByteDance-owned company for over a year, and was previously Global Music Partnership Development / Content BD Lead.
The widely-respected Hamburg, Germany-based exec joined TikTok in 2021 as Head of Music Operations, DECEE.
Kümmerle confirmed in a social media post today (October 7) that he has “decided to move on” but that it is “not a goodbye,” as he’s “not leaving the industry”.
He joined TikTok from Warner Music Central Europe, where he worked for over 12 and a half years, most recently as Director Digital Sales & Artist Services Central Europe.
He explains on LinkedIn that as Global Head of Music Partnership Development at TikTok, he has overseen “the strategic partnerships with [the company’s] 3rd party music partners across platforms, media, content creation and music monetization”.
“When I was given the opportunity in early 2021 to help build the German TikTok music team and the DECEE TikTok content organization, I never imagined how quickly we would take the music industry by storm and establish ourselves as the world’s most important platform for music promotion and discovery,” Kümmerle wrote in a LinkedIn post confirming his departure.
“I never imagined how quickly we would take the music industry by storm and establish ourselves as the world’s most important platform for music promotion and discovery.”
Michael Kümmerle
He added: “The journey has been nothing short of amazing, full of lessons learned and shared successes. We’ve come a long way, starting with convincing artists to join the platform in the early days, to bringing classical music to younger generations, establishing a global music partner network across music festivals, awards shows, ticketing, music media, charts and broadcasting the most successful LIVEstream ever on TikTok together with Tomorrowland this summer.
Amongst the partnerships struck by TikTok during Kümmerle’s tenure were deals with ticketing company AXS and Germany-based live events giant CTS Eventim.
Elsewhere in his leaving note, Kümmerle wrote that he “would like to express [his] deep gratitude to my wonderful colleagues from all departments at TikTok, whose tireless support and creativity have made all the great projects of the past few years a success”.
He added: “And especially to my colleagues, whom I had the privilege of personally accompanying and supporting in the teams. Thank you for allowing me to learn from you and with you! It has meant a lot to me.
“None of this would have been possible without the trust and support of our amazing partners from all areas of the music industry. It has been a great honor to help develop the platform for and with you, and in particular to open up direct monetization opportunities via the platform for parts of the industry for the first time.”
Other executive changes amongst TikTok’s global leadership in recent months included the news that Ole Obermann was leaving his role as Global Head of Music Business Development at ByteDance after five and a half years. He went on to join Apple, in a newly created role in music focused on strategy and innovation.
Following Obermann’s departure at the end of March, Tracy Gardner became the new Global Head of Music Business Development at ByteDance.
Paul Hourican, former Global Head of Music Operations at TikTok, left his position at the ByteDance-owned app in 2024.Music Business Worldwide