Thomas Coesfeld has been named the new boss of music company BMG and will succeed current CEO Hartwig Masuch on Jan. 1 after Masuch steps down at the end of this year. German media giant Bertelsmann, which owns BMG, made the announcement on Monday.
Coesfeld is currently BMG CFO, a post he took over in April 2021. He will take on the CEO role as of the start of 2024 at which time he will also take a seat on the Bertelsmann Group management committee, which advises the group executive board.
Coesfeld joined Bertelsmann in 2016 and worked with BMG, as well as with Bertelsmann subsidiary Relias, a healthcare data company, in the U.S. Before that, he was a management consultant at McKinsey.
Masuch, who has been with Bertelsmann for 32 years, has been at the company’s music division since BMG was relaunched in 2008 following Bertelsmann’s sale of its stake in the Sony BMG label. Under his leadership, BMG has grown to become the world’s fourth-largest music company, representing more than 3 million songs and recordings, including music publishing rights from such artists as David Bowie, Tina Turner and The Rolling Stones. His exit is part of a long-term succession plan at BMG.
“Hartwig Masuch has shaped the music business at Bertelsmann and far beyond over three decades,” said Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe. “Since 2008, he has built the new BMG from scratch with a completely new business model that focuses on the needs of artists and songwriters, based on its core values of service, fairness, and transparency…I would like to take this opportunity to thank Hartwig for the services he has rendered to music, to BMG, and to Bertelsmann – and for preparing the transition to his successor, which will be finalized at the end of the year.”
For his part, Masuch said it was time for him “to hand over the reins to a new generation,” noting that he was leaving the company “in excellent shape both creatively and financially” and was looking forward to “a seamless transition by the end of the year.”