Downtown Music Holdings has appointed Pieter van Rijn, President of the group’s business and professional services division, Downtown Music, to its Board of Directors.
Van Rijn joins Downtown’s existing board of directors, including independent directors Alison Moore and Kelli Turner, who joined in January 2022.
Prior to becoming President of Downtown Music, van Rijn was the CEO of music distributor FUGA, which Downtown acquired in January 2020.
Joining FUGA in 2014 as CEO, Van Rijn developed the company’s global footprint, launching new hubs across EMEA, LATAM and APAC, and led the transformation of FUGA becoming a music tech leader.
Following the sale of its owned song copyrights in 2021, Downtown says that it “has undergone a significant transformation of its music services businesses through the positioning of its business services into one fully integrated division”.
In July 2022, Downtown Music Holdings established a new division to manage its global services for artists and songwriters. Van Rijn was appointed to lead this division.
In April 2023, Downtown Music formed a new Artist & Label Services division. Ben Patterson was promoted to the role of President of the division. The Artist & Label Services division was born from Downtown’s distribution arm, DashGo.
Most recently, Downtown added new royalty and financial services to its offerings with the acquisition of Curve Royalty Systems earlier this year.
“Pieter is an exceptional executive who has played a key role in transforming Downtown Music into the market leader for business and professional services.”
Justin Kalifowitz, Downtown Music Holdings
Justin Kalifowitz, Founder and Executive Chairman, Downtown Music Holdings, said: “Pieter is an exceptional executive who has played a key role in transforming Downtown Music into the market leader for business and professional services.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Pieter to the Board as we continue to chart the future of the company.”
“I’m excited to join Justin, Andrew and the Downtown board of directors to continue shaping that future.”
Pieter van Rijn
President of Downtown Music, Pieter van Rijn, added: “Already the largest end-to-end music rights management platform in the world, Downtown is firmly positioned as the future of the music industry.
“I’m excited to join Justin, Andrew and the Downtown board of directors to continue shaping that future.”
“The addition of Pieter to our board further demonstrates Downtown’s commitment and mission to empower creators and the businesses that serve them.”
Andrew Bergman, Downtown Music Holdings
Andrew Bergman, CEO of Downtown Music Holdings, said: “When we first set out to transform Downtown Music, our B2B division, into a fully integrated suite of business service offerings, we were fortunate to have such a strong executive in our organization who could help us execute on that vision.
“The addition of Pieter to our board further demonstrates Downtown’s commitment and mission to empower creators and the businesses that serve them.”
Music Business Worldwide
