Virgin Music Group completes Downtown acquisition; Pieter van Rijn named COO as Downtown founder Justin Kalifowitz steps away
Virgin Music Group (VMG) introduced on Friday (February 20) that it has accomplished its acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings LLC (Downtown).
The closure follows the European Fee’s approval of the deal final Friday (February 13), topic to Common Music Group‘s dedication to divest Downtown’s Curve royalty accounting enterprise.
UMG’s Virgin Music Group first introduced the transaction in December 2024.
Alongside the deal’s completion, it was introduced that Pieter van Rijn has been appointed Chief Working Officer of VMG, having been CEO of Downtown since final 12 months.
He’ll report back to co-CEOs Nat Pastor and JT Myers and can proceed to be primarily based in Amsterdam.
Downtown Founder Justin Kalifowitz confirmed he’s stepping away from the corporate he based in 2007. Andrew Bergman, beforehand Chairman of Downtown, will transition right into a senior advisory function.
In a Founder’s Letter shared on Friday (which you’ll learn in full beneath), Kalifowitz mirrored on Downtown’s origins: “Once we first began Downtown’s publishing enterprise, the music trade was in freefall,” he stated.
“Our first hit was the 2007 ringtone of the 12 months — a phrase that now feels museum-worthy. CDs had been collapsing, streaming hadn’t but discovered its footing, and a lot of the dialog centered on what was being misplaced. We noticed one thing completely different.”
He added: “We believed extra music can be created, not much less. Extra entrepreneurs would enter the enterprise, not fewer. Extra international participation. Extra direct relationships. The query wasn’t the way to defend what had been — it was the way to construct for what was coming.”
In line with the announcement on Friday (February 20), the completion of the deal marks “a big milestone within the creation of a world, end-to-end answer that meets the evolving wants of unbiased entrepreneurs, artists, and rights holders”.
Initially established in 2007, Downtown collectively serves over 5,000 enterprise purchasers and greater than 4 million creators in 145 international locations.
Immediately, the corporate has core divisions throughout Artist & Label Providers, Distribution, and Music Publishing. The corporate’s portfolio of companies contains FUGA, Downtown Artist & Label Providers, CD Child, Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust.
VMG famous that with in depth management expertise throughout each Downtown Music and FUGA, van Rijn has been a “key architect within the improvement of revolutionary, scalable providers designed to empower the unbiased neighborhood”.
The corporate added that as COO of Virgin Music Group, he’ll oversee international operations, tech, product, and strategic integration throughout the mixed companies, in addition to “guaranteeing continuity for Downtown’s purchasers, groups, and types whereas unlocking new alternatives for development and collaboration”.
“Pieter’s appointment alerts our intent to convey these companies collectively thoughtfully and strategically.”
Nat Pastor
Nat Pastor stated: “Pieter’s appointment alerts our intent to convey these companies collectively thoughtfully and strategically.
“That is about making each Virgin Music Group and Downtown even higher — preserving their distinct strengths whereas growing the funding, expertise and international sources accessible to unbiased entrepreneurs. Pieter’s expertise and management make him the suitable particular person to assist information us ahead.”
“I’m grateful to Justin and Andrew for his or her imaginative and prescient in constructing Downtown, and to Nat and JT for his or her belief as we enter this subsequent chapter.”
Pieter van Rijn
Pieter van Rijn stated: “This mixture enhances the selection, service and international attain accessible to the unbiased neighborhood.
“I’m grateful to Justin and Andrew for his or her imaginative and prescient in constructing Downtown, and to Nat and JT for his or her belief as we enter this subsequent chapter. Our focus is evident: strengthen what makes each firms particular and ship even higher worth to the entrepreneurs we serve.”
“Immediately acknowledges the extraordinary firm the Downtown group has constructed.”
JT Myers
JT Myers stated: “Immediately acknowledges the extraordinary firm the Downtown group has constructed. Justin’s pioneering spirit — and the management of Andrew, Pieter and colleagues worldwide — created a corporation outlined by its highly effective perception in unbiased creators.
“We deeply respect what this group has constructed and are dedicated to backing it, defending what makes Downtown profitable, and increasing alternatives for the worldwide unbiased neighborhood.”
“Justin and I sit up for cheering on Nat, JT, Pieter and the mixed groups as they proceed to create new alternatives for the worldwide music neighborhood.”
Andrew Bergman
Andrew Bergman stated: “I’m extraordinarily happy with the tradition we created, grounded in belief, long-term partnership and the fixed pursuit of excellence. Pieter van Rijn epitomizes that tradition and watching my buddy develop into such an distinctive chief has been extraordinarily gratifying.
“Justin and I sit up for cheering on Nat, JT, Pieter and the mixed groups as they proceed to create new alternatives for the worldwide music neighborhood.”
VMG famous that, since turning into Downtown’s CEO in 2024, Pieter van Rijn has been chargeable for main Downtown Music’s international enterprise {and professional} providers, spanning distribution, artist and label providers, publishing administration, neighbouring rights and sync licensing.
Previous to turning into President of Downtown Music in July 2022, he served as CEO of world music distributor FUGA, becoming a member of in 2014 and guiding the corporate by way of “a interval of serious worldwide enlargement and technological innovation,”
Underneath his management, FUGA grew to serve greater than 900 trade purchasers throughout over 50 international locations.
Initially headquartered in Amsterdam, van Rijn expanded the corporate’s international footprint with hubs throughout EMEA, North America, LATAM and APAC, remodeling FUGA right into a full-service label providers companion providing advertising, sync, royalty accounting, bodily distribution, viewers improvement and superior knowledge insights, “whereas sustaining its fame as a number one music-technology platform”.
You’ll be able to learn Justin Kalifowitz’s message in full beneath:
Once we first began Downtown’s publishing enterprise, the music trade was in freefall. Our first hit was the 2007 ringtone of the 12 months — a phrase that now feels museum-worthy. CDs had been collapsing, streaming hadn’t but discovered its footing, and a lot of the dialog centered on what was being misplaced.
We noticed one thing completely different.
We believed extra music can be created, not much less. Extra entrepreneurs would enter the enterprise, not fewer. Extra international participation. Extra direct relationships. The query wasn’t the way to defend what had been — it was the way to construct for what was coming.
Downtown grew up inside that perception. We weren’t excellent, however we had been all the time tinkering — questioning, adjusting, enhancing. Making an attempt to serve artists, entrepreneurs, and companions higher at the moment than the day earlier than. Service beats management. Infrastructure beats trend-chasing. Tradition beats hierarchy.
Of all of the modifications over the previous twenty years, the one I consider we helped form most is mindset — that creators deserve alternative, that independence can scale, that service will not be a weak spot however a method.
What I’m personally most happy with isn’t a catalog, an acquisition, or a headline. It’s our individuals. The operators who confirmed up on daily basis and did the work. The alumni who now sit throughout this trade and past. The companions who trusted us. The creators who selected us. Almost twenty years later, that’s the true story.
To everybody who has been a part of the journey — and particularly these operating with us for the reason that very starting — thanks.
Andrew and I step away happy with what we’ve constructed collectively and assured within the management and tradition that outline Downtown at the moment. We congratulate our good buddy Pieter on his new function and need Nat, JT, and the broader Virgin group nothing however the most effective as they carry the enterprise ahead into its subsequent chapter.
Corporations evolve. Markets shift. Robust cultures endure.
I do know that is solely Downtown’s story — to this point.
JustinMusic Enterprise Worldwide
