BMG has promoted long-time senior BMG Business & Legal Affairs executive Anthony (Tony) Abner to Global General Counsel, Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs.
Serving as the most senior attorney counseling BMG senior management and managing BMG’s global legal teams, Abner reports directly to BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld.
Previously serving in BMG’s Los Angeles office, Abner’s appointment comes one year after his relocation to BMG’s head office in Berlin to coordinate BMG’s global legal matters.
Abner joined BMG in 2018 as Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, responsible for the BMG recorded legal team in North America.
In 2020 he was promoted to Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs.
Prior to joining BMG, Abner held senior executive posts at PMP Records (which functioned as Def Jam’s first West Coast office bringing Warren G, Domino, and Montel Jordan into Def Jam) and Loud Records (home to Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, 36Mafia, Big Pun, and Funkmaster Flex) as well senior attorney positions at music law firms Lenard & Gonzalez and Davis Shapiro Lewit Montone & Hayes.
Abner’s appointment follows the recent leadership change at BMG, with Thomas Coesfeld, the company’s former CFO, becoming BMG’s new CEO, as of July 1, 2023.
He succeeded founding CEO Hartwig Masuch, who, according to the company, is leaving BMG and Bertelsmann “at his own request and on the best of mutual terms”.
The CEO changeover was originally scheduled for January 1, 2024, but according to Bertelsmann, “due to his personal plans for the future, Hartwig Masuch had requested an earlier departure” from the company, and will remain associated with Bertelsmann in an advisory capacity until 2026.
In May, ahead of taking office as CEO at BMG, Thomas Coesfeld announced further senior appointments for BMG.
The new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) – his successor in this office – was named as Mathis Wolter, who joined BMG from RTL Group.
Sebastian Hentzschel, former Chief Technology Officer at BMG, assumed responsibility for the operating areas Rights & Royalties, Supply Chain, and Technology & Data as Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Dominique Casimir, who has been with BMG since 2008, remains responsible for Repertoire and Marketing for the world outside the US, as well as Global Synch and Corporate Responsibility, as Chief Content Officer (CCO).
Nikola Holle-Spiegel, who joined BMG in 2018, remains the company’s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO).
Mathis Wolter, Sebastian Hentzschel, Dominique Casimir and Nikola Holle-Spiegel have joined Thomas Coesfeld on the BMG Executive Board.
An additional new appointment to BMG’s top management team was Alberto Chullen Llamas, who joins BMG from Bertelsmann Education Group as Executive Vice President Investments to drive forward the Boost strategy and support future catalog acquisitions.Music Business Worldwide
