CD Baby Hires Industry Veteran Jon Bahr as Vice President of Music Publishing and Rights Management

Independent distributor and artist services company CD Baby is pleased to announce the hiring of Jon Bahr as Vice President of Music Publishing and Rights Management. A 13-year veteran of ASCAP, Bahr brings strong relationships and extensive experience to the position, which now includes administering more than 500,000 compositions for 100,000 songwriters in CD Baby Pro, in cooperation with SongTrust. Bahr will remain based in New York City.

“I’m thrilled to bring onboard a skilled and experienced industry veteran to spearhead CD Baby’s rights management initiatives,” says CD Baby CEO Tracy Maddux. Bahr’s expertise will supplement the company’s constantly expanding offerings. CD Baby has been at the forefront of creating support structures to support independent artists and their royalty and rights needs, boosting income and helping create substantive careers. The company distributes nearly 7 million songs to a wide range of digital services, such as Spotify and Apple Music.

"CD Baby has been the heart and soul of the independent music industry for many years and I've spent my career serving these same music creators,” Bahr enthuses. “I'm incredibly excited to lead the growth of CD Baby's publishing capabilities, deliver new opportunities to artists and get more money into the pockets of songwriters."

Bahr worked at ASCAP since 2003, most recently as Senior Director of Marketing & Communications. Bahr oversaw ASCAP's advertising, sponsorships, member benefit partnerships and marketing campaigns. He was a creator and executive producer of the successful annual ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO conference, heading content, sponsorships, logistics, customer service and marketing for the event. Bahr was instrumental in driving the success of ASCAP's 100th birthday integrated marketing campaign, including the star-studded commissioned film, Why We Create Music, and its companion song, "More than the Stars." Prior to ASCAP, Bahr worked at music booking agencies Artist Group International and Ted Kurland Associates, Emcee Artist Management, Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's organization True Majority and managed indie rock band, The Slip.

“Publishing remains one of the cornerstones of artists’ careers, and CD Baby is committed to providing the best possible administrative support to its CD Baby Pro artists,” explains Kevin Breuner, CD Baby Vice President of Marketing. “Having Jon on our team will help us reach our goal of being a one-stop place for independent artists to manage and grow their careers.”

About CD Baby

CD Baby is one of the largest distributors of independent music on the planet, home to almost 500,000 artists and 7 million tracks, getting independent music to more than 100 digital services and platforms around the globe and allowing artists to monetize their presence on YouTube. Its one-stop professional dashboard, CD Baby Pro, allows indie musicians to collect all of their publishing royalties. CD Baby Pro administers the publishing rights of more than 500,000 songs for 100,000 songwriters.

CD Baby has become the go-to partner for many icons in the new music industry. Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Macklemore had their start on CD Baby, while others like Ingrid Michaelson and Gregory Alan Isakov have maintained independent and highly successful careers. Greg Brown and Rooney are among musicians who’ve dropped the old label system and turned to CD Baby to strike out on their own.