Cindy Charles, the Head of Music at Twitch who spearheaded the recent introduction of the platform’s exclusive DJ channel, passed away at 69 following a traffic accident in the Netherlands.
On Friday (18th October), Daniel Clancy, the CEO of Twitch, announced Charles’s passing through his LinkedIn account. Clancy expressed his appreciation for Cindy’s contributions to Twitch, stating that her work has been instrumental in securing music licensing agreements for the platform. He also mentioned her constant positivity and the recent DJ agreement as examples of her hard work.
According to a report by NL Times, the American national was fatally struck by a garbage truck on Monday, 14th October, while walking on the Passeerdersgracht in the centre of Amsterdam. Charles was scheduled to speak at ADE on Thursday, 17th October. A spokesperson for ADE expressed their condolences to her loved ones, stating that she will be deeply missed by her family, friends, colleagues, and the global music industry.
Cindy Charles, originally from Queens, New York, significantly impacted music licensing with record labels and publishers and actively supported music programming and artist relations on the platform. In June of this year, it was announced that Twitch had entered into a new agreement with both major and independent labels, permitting DJs to stream on the platform without any takedown issues. In August, they unveiled their exclusive channel for DJing, which featured a 24-hour stream in its inaugural week.
A significant agreement was made in reaction to the increasing number of DJs utilising the platform for live-streaming their performances. This deal included Twitch securing licensing agreements with the three major record labels - Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment - and multiple independent labels.
Charles’ extensive CV also included stints at MediaNet (formerly MusicNet), ViaCom, and MTV Networks.
She is survived by her husband, Ricky Fishman, son Ben Charles and stepson Sam Fishman.
We would like to extend our deepest condolences to Cindy's family, friends and colleagues at this deeply sad and difficult time.
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