Patrick Mushatsi-Kareba is the CEO of Sony Music GSA, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
He started out as a freelance writer for Amazon.de in 1999.
Patrick Mushatsi-Kareba: Career History
Mushatsi-Kareba began his professional career while pursuing both Political Science and Cultural Studies degrees at Goethe University.
While still in school, Mushatsi-Kareba was a freelance music writer for The Associated Press, Amazon.de, and Bewegungsmelder.de, as well as a project manager at Bewegungsmelder.de and the Head of Music at FRITZ Das Magazin.
Mushatsi-Kareba’s first job after graduating from Goethe was serving as a Product Manager for Musicload T-Online Deutsche/Telekom. He would eventually become Editor-in-Chief at the company. Mushatsi-Kareba stayed with Musicload from 2002-2005 and continued freelance writing for the AP during this time. He would remain a freelance writer for AP until 2008.
In 2005, Napster announced that Mushatsi-Kareba would become their Director of Music Programming. At the time, Napster had rebranded itself as a subscription-esque service that allowed users to download their catalog of songs on portable devices for no additional fee. iTunes, in comparison, used an a-la-carte model where users would purchase individual songs or albums for consumption. Mushatsi-Kareba launched Napster in the European market, but his main responsibility was managing the company’s operations in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. He remained with Napster until 2008.
After his stint at Napster, Mushatsi-Kareba jumped ship to Apple. He was tasked with overseeing iTunes and Apple’s other music endeavors in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, among other European nations. As music consumption habits modernized, Mushatsi-Kareba’s focus shifted from iTunes to Apple Music. He held various roles at Apple, eventually becoming the Head of Apple Music & iTunes GSA. He remained with the company until 2016.
Mushatsi-Kareba shortly joined Universal Music Germany in August 2016 when they appointed him General Manager of Marketing and Digital.
In his new role with Universal Music, Mushatsi-Kareba was put in charge of UMG’s social/digital marketing as well as the label’s prospective tech advancements. He was only one-and-a-half years into his gig with Universal when Sony Music GSA announced that Mushatsi-Kareba would become their CEO.
As Sony Music GSA’s CEO, Mushatsi-Kareba is tasked with overseeing all of Sony Music’s operations in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and their neighboring countries.Music Business Worldwide