Thomas Hesse is a media and digital media executive and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Dreamstage Inc. and Consonance Investments LLC. He was previously the President of Global Digital Business & US Sales/ Distribution for

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and president of Corporate Development and New Businesses as well as Member of the Executive Board of

Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...

Education

Hesse holds a BA and MA from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, an MSc from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in Corporate Finance from the University of St. Gallen. He studied as a concert pianist at the ''

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg ( German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteu ...

'' in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and the '' Hochschule für Musik'' in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Career

Hesse began his career in the media and entertainment industry as a corporate consultant at

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

, 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. He briefly held a position as restructuring CEO of Paddle8 Auctionata, a startup formed from the merger of New York-based Paddle8 and Berlin-based Auctionata. In his position as president and chief digital officer at Bertelsmann, Hesse oversaw the company's worldwide corporate and digital development, as well as its music rights division

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was formed in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its st ...

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. Hesse has been the president of Sony Music and he was the in-charge of Global Digital Business and US Sales & Distribution. 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.

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.

References

External links

THOMAS HESSE NAMED PRESIDENT, GLOBAL DIGITAL BUSINESS, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

Bertelsmann AG
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hesse, Thomas Sony people Living people Mozarteum University Salzburg alumni University of St. Gallen alumni Year of birth missing (living people)