Downtown to expand leadership team with appointment of Chief Revenue Officer

Downtown Music Holdings, the parent company of Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust, is expanding its C-Suite positions and is looking to recruit a Chief Revenue Officer.

According to the job ad for the role, this person will be required to lead the company’s global digital licensing strategy through various streaming music partnerships and new music initiatives.

The new CRO (who can be based in Los Angeles, London or New York) will also be required to strengthen relationships with the Downtown’s key digital partners, including DSPs and licensing organizations.

This new strategic executive hire follows a year of impressive milestones for Downtown, having spent the past 12 months methodically transforming its business into a full suite of artist and label services.

The company revealed in March that it would acquire AVL Digital Group and its portfolio of businesses, including CD Baby, AdRev, DashGo and Soundrop.

Industry sources estimated that the deal was in the vicinity of $200 million.

AVL’s client base includes over 900,000 artists, labels and other rightsholders, representing the largest independent sound recording catalog in the music industry.

“By creating a dedicated leadership position focused exclusively on creator compensation, we’re continuing to prioritize our clients and their creative works.”

Justin Kalifowitz, Downtown Music Holdings

The AVL deal was followed in May by the acquisition of the catalog of celebrated independent Belgium-born music publisher Strictly Confidential.

That acquisition included more than 10,000 song copyrights across multiple languages and genres.

Downtown has also made major signings such as Tori Amos and inked a deal to represent the catalog of Summertime composer George Gershwin, not to mention the recent doubling of its New York office space with new Soho HQ.

Also part of the Downtown Music Holdings portfolio is Songtrust, which in June reported significant year-over-year growth, with strong increases in its client base, songs managed, and royalties collected.

As of May 31, 2019, Songtrust had over 2 million songs under its management, from 26,000 publishers and 205,000 songwriters across 64 countries.

Commenting on the expansion of Downtown’s leadership team, Justin Kalifowitz, CEO of Downtown Music Holdings, said: “By creating a dedicated leadership position focused exclusively on creator compensation, we’re continuing to prioritize our clients and their creative works.”Music Business Worldwide