Thomas Hesse

Thomas Hesse is a media and digital media executive and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Dreamstage, Consonance Investments LLC and co-founded JAMM Music. Hesse has been a vocal proponent of connecting artists directly with their most active fans.[1] He was previously the President of Global Digital Business & US Sales/ Distribution for Sony Music Entertainment and president of Corporate Development and New Businesses as well as Member of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann.

Thomas Hesse
Alma materOxford University and University of St. Gallen
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active2002-present

Education

Hesse holds a BA and MA from Oxford University, an MSc from the London School of Economics and a Doctorate in Corporate Finance from the University of St. Gallen.[2] He studied as a concert pianist at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf, Germany.[3]

Career

Hesse began his career in the media and entertainment industry as a corporate consultant at McKinsey & Company, In 2002, he was appointed as the EVP and chief strategic officer of BMG in New York. Prior to joining BMG, he held a number of executive positions at the company’s television division RTL, including the secretary-general of RTL Television and CEO of RTL New Media.[4] He briefly held a position as CEO of Paddle8 Auctionata, a startup formed from the merger of New York-based Paddle8 and Berlin-based Auctionata.[5]

In his position as president and chief digital officer at Bertelsmann,[6][7] Hesse oversaw the company's worldwide corporate and digital development, as well as its music rights division BMG Rights Management and its venture capital arms, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments and Bertelsmann Asia Investments. He was also responsible for the M&A team and the company's engagement in education venture fund University Ventures.[8][9][10]

Hesse has been the president of Sony Music and he was the in-charge of Global Digital Business and US Sales & Distribution.[11][12] He also led Sony Music's digital direct-to-consumer efforts and was as co-founder of VEVO, the digital music channel, together with Universal Music and Abu Dhabi Media Company.[13]

Copy protection rootkit scandal

In 2005, asked about the Sony BMG Copy protection rootkit, Hesse's declaration to Neda Ulaby: "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" became famous and added prominence to the case to reporters and the general public.[14]

gollark: We've been able to assemble Turing machines out of social constructs actually.
gollark: Words don't actually exist.
gollark: We should fix this by using a superior, formally specified, parseable language.
gollark: Doesn't really seem like that?
gollark: This is a reasonable thing to be annoyed about! Dodecahedron good!

References
  1. "Music's Big Players: One-Fifth of Streamers Drive Majority of Profits & Should Be a New Industry Focus (Op-Ed)". Billboard. Apr 15, 2019. Retrieved Aug 5, 2020.
  2. "17 March 2003 - New management structure at". RTL Group. 2003-03-17. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  3. Thomas Hesse Adds Responsibility For U.S. Sales To Existing Role as President, Global Digital Business, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT Archived 2008-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Gallo, Phil; Gallo, Phil (27 September 2004). "Sony BMG sets vets". Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  5. "Auctionata Paddle8 Names New CEO". artnet News. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  6. Sisario, Ben (Nov 29, 2011). "Sony Music Executive to Rejoin Bertelsmann". Retrieved Aug 5, 2020.
  7. "Sony digital boss to join Bertelsmann | News | Music Week". www.musicweek.com. Retrieved Aug 5, 2020.
  8. Barraclough, Leo; Barraclough, Leo (Nov 29, 2013). "Bertelsmann Digital Guru to Exit Media Giant". Retrieved Aug 5, 2020.
  9. "Bertelsmann Digital Head Thomas Hesse Resigns". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved Aug 5, 2020.
  10. KGaA (www.bertelsmann.com), Bertelsmann SE & Co. "Thomas Hesse to Leave Bertelsmann Executive Board at His Own Request - Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA". www.bertelsmann.com. Retrieved Aug 5, 2020.
  11. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20029281-261.html
  12. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10459568-261.html
  13. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10459262-261.html
  14. "Sony Music CDs Under Fire from Privacy Advocates". NPR. 2005-11-04. Archived from the original on 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
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