Orchard Co-Founder Joins Senior Management Team
Widely respected music entrepreneur Scott Cohen has joined Warner Music Group (WMG) in the newly created position of Chief Innovation Officer, Recorded Music. Cohen, who co-founded pioneering digital music, film & video distribution company The Orchard, reports to Max Lousada, WMG’s CEO, Recorded Music. In his new post, Cohen will work closely with Lousada and other members of Warner’s senior management team to help chart the long-term course of the company at the intersection of music, technology, and culture.
Max Lousada said: “Scott spots and champions emerging technology with the same level of passion, creativity and ambition that our A&Rs bring to artist development. A valuable addition to our senior team, he’ll be an amazing brand ambassador and thought-leader, who joins a great lineage of maverick entrepreneurs at the independent major.”
Scott Cohen said: “It’s no longer enough for entertainment companies to merely embrace change, they need to create the future themselves. What attracted me to Warner was the sense that Max and his team are building an environment where truly original, disruptive ideas can flourish. Warner is uniquely positioned to take an agile but principled approach to growing the universe of opportunity for music.”
A prominent public speaker and lecturer, Cohen travels the world evangelizing new business models for the digital age. An outspoken proponent of AR, VR, Blockchain and AI, he is also the co-founder of CyborgNest, a company exploring the interface of biological and digital intelligence.
Cohen began his music career in the late ‘80s in independent and major label artist management.
In 1997, Cohen and Richard Gottehrer (co-founder of WMG’s Sire Records label), started The Orchard on New York’s Lower East Side to provide independent artists the ability to sell their music to mainstream audiences. With the launch of iTunes in 2003, The Orchard delivered the largest catalog of independent music to the digital music consumer. A year later, they had become the first indie digital distributor to hit one million paid downloads. In subsequent years, The Orchard expanded into video, music licensing, marketing & analytics, royalty collections, sports media, and other arenas. Two decades after its formation, the company is now owned by Sony Music and has operations in 40 global territories.
Cohen sat on the British Phonographic Industry Council for many years and sits on the boards of many cutting edge companies. He is also a human rights activist and strict vegan. Cohen holds a BA degree in Psychology from George Mason University.
