EMI Music Appoints Chris Montgomery as Vice President, EMI Classics in North America
New York, November 12, 2009 – EMI Music has appointed Chris Montgomery as Vice President, EMI Classics in North America. Montgomery begins his role on November 16 and will be based in New York.
Montgomery brings a background in leading international online and retail music channels and product development to this newly-expanded role. He is overseeing marketing, sales and publicity functions for the EMI Classics and Virgin Classics labels in Canada and Mexico in addition to the US. He reports globally to Eric Dingman, President, EMI Classics, and locally to Colin Finkelstein, President of EMI Music in North America.
Montgomery will also take on a global responsibility for driving new digital initiatives for the EMI Classics division, to be launched initially in North America and later rolled out in the rest of the world. In this capacity he will work closely with EMI’s digital marketing, sales and commercial development teams, leveraging a growing number of digital platforms to engage fans more effectively with EMI’s classical repertoire.
“Chris has an excellent background in digital music, in retail and in developing new products, as well as a deep knowledge and appreciation for the classical genre: all skills that will help us find new ways to re-ignite the classics marketplace in North America,” said Dingman. “He also has strong vision and leadership abilities that will help us create stronger connections between fans and our esteemed classical roster of artists and our legendary Classics catalog around the world.”
Before joining EMI, Montgomery held numerous leadership positions in digital media, music and retail. He led marketing, business development and digital strategies on behalf of a number of media and retail enterprises, most recently for the executive search firm Egon Zehnder International, for its Media & Technology and Sports practice groups. He was also founder and principal of Seamont Consulting Group, whose clients have included the Target Corporation retailer, the digital distribution company Yangaroo, Inc., and the entertainment marketer Carbon Music North America. Before that, Montgomery held a number of executive posts at Vivendi Universal Net, including Senior Vice President of Digital Media in Paris and Chief Marketing Officer for VUNet USA, before becoming CEO of its MP3.com European division in 2002. Montgomery also launched MP3.com’s on-demand classical music subscription service – the first of its kind on the internet – in 2000. He was also Director of Content Acquisition for the device and software maker Diamond Multimedia Systems/RioPort.com, the developer of the Rio MP3 player. For four years, he was National Marketing Manager for the classics and jazz unit of BMG Entertainment, North America.
Before being recruited by BMG, Montgomery headed the music department of Toronto’s largest public school, and held a number of music retail management posts in Toronto. He earned an M.B.A from the University of Edinburgh, a B.A. in Education from the University of Toronto, and a B.A. in Music from the University of Western Ontario.
Mark Forlow, Vice President of Marketing for EMI Classics in the US, is leaving the company.
“I want to thank Mark for his many years of dedicated service to EMI Classics and for his passion for our artists, their recordings and for the US classical music community overall,” said Dingman.
About EMI Music
EMI Music is one of the world’s leading music companies. EMI Music represents artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Latin, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. Its EMI Music Services unit provides EMI’s roster of artists – as well as independent labels and artists – with a global menu of commercial services and seamless access to an expanding range of revenue streams and business models.
For more information, contact:
Jeanne Meyer, EMI Music in North America +212 786 8850
Mariko Tada, EMI Classics in North America +212 786 8964