Downtown Music Names Tracy Maddux CCO, Amid Other Key Hires and Promotions
Downtown Music Holdings has announced a number of appointments and recent key hires.
Tracy Maddux, who has served as CEO of CD Baby and AVL Digital, which Downtown acquired in March 2019, will transition to Chief Commercial Officer for Downtown. Amber Charania has joined the Legal and Business Affairs team as Legal Counsel, along with Dean Luck, Downtown’s new International Controller. Additionally, Joel Andrew has been appointed to the role of CD Baby President.
“With Downtown’s recent growth to include more expanded services for artists and labels, it’s important to ensure our executive leadership team reflects the variety of capabilities we offer. Having known and worked with Tracy since CD Baby and Songtrust first established commercial ties in 2014, his experience in both the distribution and independent artist sectors combined with a working rapport that has been years in the making, Tracy is a natural and welcome addition to the Downtown Music Holdings leadership,” said Downtown CEO Justin Kalifowitz.
As Chief Commercial Officer, Maddux will continue to oversee Downtown’s distribution, monetization, and promotional brands, including CD Baby, FUGA, AdRev and DashGo, and will report to Kalifowitz. He originally joined CD Baby in 2010.
”I’m thrilled to formally join the Downtown leadership team,” said Maddux. “Working with Downtown for the past several years—first as a partner company, and eventually as a subsidiary—I’ve seen first-hand how focused the entire enterprise is on creating a more equitable music ecosystem.”
With Maddux’s new role within Downtown, Joel Andrew has been appointed President of CD Baby. A 17-year company veteran whose first job with CD Baby was working with its physical distribution services team, he was most recently SVP of Business Affairs and General Counsel. Prior to joining CD Baby, Joel worked for EMI Distribution and was a touring musician.
Serving as Legal Counsel, Amber Charania works on various corporate legal matters and transactions, including M&A activities and music catalog acquisitions, reporting to David Dormon, who oversees acquisitions for Downtown. Based in Charania, Amber previously worked for the multinational law firm DLA Piper, where she was in the corporate law practice, which included a strong focus on representing corporations and private equity firms in connection with M&A transactions and general corporate matters.
Based in London and reporting to Dan Bettes, Downtown’s Vice President of Finance, Dean Luck’s role as International Controller includes oversight of all aspects of international finance matters for Downtown, including financial reporting, treasury management, and multi-jurisdictional compliance. With nearly 15 years of experience, Dean joined Downtown from Extreme Music, where he served as Finance Director.
“Even in the midst of a global pandemic, we’ve continued to hire at a steady clip in 2020 to support our growth. I’m regularly impressed with the amazing talent we are able to bring into the Downtown organization from both within the music industry and beyond,” said Kalifowitz.
Since the start of 2020, Downtown has made several key acquisitions, including the global music distribution and analytics firm FUGA, the France-based audio fingerprinting technology company Simbals, and Africa’s largest independent music publisher Sheer Publishing Africa. Additionally, Downtown acquired independent London-based music publisher Good Soldier Songs, including an ongoing deal with The 1975, and announced it had reached a deal to represent the catalog of iconic hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan.
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