A new indie label has arrived in Germany led by a trio of music executives with some serious credentials in the indie label sector.
Ex-BMG senior execs Dominique Casimir, Maximilian Kolb and Justus Haerder have launched a new Berlin-based entertainment company called umn (pronounced ˈhjuːmən).
Casimir and Kolb vacated BMG under the new leadership of Thomas Coesfeld, who was named CEO of the music company last summer.
Coesfeld subsequently slashed the headcount of BMG by around 10% – a key factor in the company’s recent bump in profitability.
Justus Haerder exited BMG at the end of 2021, after 12 years with the company, most recently leading M&A.
Dominique Casimir, meanwhile, is the former Chief Content Officer of BMG and a former board member of the Bertelsmann Content Alliance.
The exec, who first joined BMG when it was reborn as an indie in 2008, was named CCO of the company in May 2022 and exited BMG in March this year.
Maximilian Kolb was most recently EVP of Repertoire & Marketing Continental Europe at BMG. He exited the role in July after over a decade with the company.
Kolb joined BMG in 2012 as an A&R manager and was ultimately appointed Managing Director for the GSA region in 2019.
Singer-songwriter Max Giesinger has been named as the debut signing to umn. His new single Menschen is out tomorrow (September 13).
Giesinger is described in a press statement as, “one of the most successful German artists of the past decade, releasing four albums and playing over 800 concerts since 2014″. Giesinger has racked up more than 600 million streams to date.
His album Der Junge, Der Rennt (released via BMG) spent over 93 weeks in Germany’s Top 100 album chart.
Giesinger’s hit singles include the platinum Wenn sie tanzt and multiple-gold 80 Millionen.
In a statement issued on Thursday (September 12), umn’s founders said: “As umn Entertainment makes its entry into the music world, we couldn’t be more proud than starting our journey by joining forces with Max Giesinger and his team around Lars and Flo.”
“As umn Entertainment makes its entry into the music world, we couldn’t be more proud than starting our journey by joining forces with Max Giesinger and his team around Lars and Flo.”
Dominique Casimir, Maximilian Kolb and Justus Haerder
They added: “It is a partnership rooted in empathy, creativity and a shared vision for the next iteration of our industry.” Further signings will be announced shortly.”
“umn is a breath of fresh air and I’m delighted to be working with them.”
Max Giesinger
Said Giesinger: “Menschen is the beginning of a new cycle in my career and I need a label capable of doing it justice. umn is a breath of fresh air and I’m delighted to be working with them.”
“Given Max’s success, we wanted to decide carefully and thoughtfully for our next partner. umn is clearly something different. Less than a month since we signed the deal, we can see the traction they are achieving.”
Florian Gahm and Lars Brand, management for Max Giesinger
His managers Florian Gahm and Lars Brand said: “Given Max’s success, we wanted to decide carefully and thoughtfully for our next partner. umn is clearly something different.
“Less than a month since we signed the deal, we can see the traction they are achieving.”Music Business Worldwide
