Downtown Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Molly Neuman as President of its Direct-to-Creator division, CD Baby. The move, which follows the alignment of the company’s operating businesses, solidifies Downtown's commitment to empowering independent artists globally. Neuman succeeds CD Baby’s previous President, Scott Williams who led a drive for substantial organizational improvement at CD Baby during his tenure as President, maintaining its position as a leading distributor in an expanding marketplace. He will remain on as a consultant to Downtown and CD Baby. COO Christine Barnum, a longstanding member of the CD Baby leadership and who has been instrumental in many achievements at the company including most recently leading CD Baby and Downtown's efforts on Trust & Safety, will also be leaving the company.
"Molly's appointment marks a significant milestone for Downtown Music," said Pieter van Rijn, CEO of Downtown Music. "After her highly successful stint leading Songtrust and subsequently leading Downtown’s marketing and communications team, Molly is the perfect fit to lead CD Baby in this new chapter. Her visionary leadership and deep understanding of the independent music landscape will elevate our direct-to-creator offerings and help us further our mission to support and empower artists at every stage of their careers. We are extremely grateful for Scott and Christine’s contributions to CD Baby during their respective tenures. They exemplify our commitment to independent music creators and to providing the highest standards of services to our partners across the rights spectrum and at every step of the creative journey.”
Molly Neuman joins CD Baby from Downtown Music’s parent company, Downtown Music Holdings, where she previously served as Chief Marketing Officer and brings to CD Baby a wealth of expertise and a proven track record in the music industry. With nearly three decades of experience in various leadership roles, including her role as president of its scaled publishing administration company Songtrust which has seen revenue growth of more than 2,500% over the past six years. Before Songtrust and Downtown, Molly Served as Head of Music at Kickstarter and interim President at the American Association of Independent Music. Neuman is well-equipped to drive growth and innovation for Downtown's direct-to-creator businesses. As a founding member of the influential band Bratmobile, Molly exemplifies CD Baby’s combination of industry expertise coupled with real-world experience as an artist.
Neuman’s management will encompass Downtown’s Direct-to-Creator brands, CD Baby and Soundrop. As first movers in the direct-to-creator space, these platforms have been instrumental in democratizing access to music distribution and providing valuable resources for independent artists. Under Neuman's leadership, Downtown will continue to expand its service offerings, enhance the user experience, and provide even greater support to the global community of independent creators. The growth of this sector is at the center of many of the changes in the music industry and aligning CD Baby to Downtown’s other core offerings of music publishing, distribution, artist marketing and royalty and financial services is the natural evolution for the group.
"I am thrilled to embark on this next chapter of growth at CD Baby and Downtown," said Molly Neuman. " I am passionate about providing independent artists with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed. I look forward to working with the talented teams at CD Baby and Soundrop to drive innovation and growth and to continue building a vibrant ecosystem for creators around the world. I am extremely grateful to Justin Kalifowitz, Andrew Bergman and Pieter van Rijn for their support and this tremendous opportunity."
