Phil Bauer Named President of DistroKid as Philip Kaplan Moves to Chairman

Leading indie distributor DistroKid has named COO Phil Bauer as its new president, the company announced Thursday (Jan. 11), where he will lead day to day operations. As part of the new leadership structure, founder and CEO Philip Kaplan is transitioning into the role of chairman moving forward.

Bauer has served as COO of the company since 2018. Kaplan, who founded DistroKid in 2013, built it into a DIY distro platform that now serves more than 2 million artists, with mobile apps, a video distribution platform and an AI-powered mastering tool, called Mixea, unveiled last year.

“I’m honored to become DistroKid’s president and humbled by the trust and confidence Philip is showing in me and our talented team,” Bauer said in a statement regarding his promotion. “Philip changed the game when he launched DistroKid with unlimited uploads in 2013, a model which has now been adopted across the industry to the benefit of artists everywhere. His mentorship over the past five years will absolutely carry forward as DistroKid continues to build high quality tools and services that help artists at any level be prolific.”

“When I first started coding DistroKid 12 years ago, I never imagined the immense scale DistroKid would achieve, and the positive impact it would one day have on the music industry,” Kaplan added in a statement. “I’ve relied on Phil’s insight since we first began working together about five years ago, and he’s been instrumental toward our incredible growth and success. I’m excited for this next era, and to help support Phil and continue contributing toward DistroKid’s innovation, culture and progress.”

DistroKid says it distributes as much as 35%-40% of all new music being released around the world, and has processed more than 45 million songs in its decade-plus history. The company also maintains around 20 free tools for artists of all sizes to utilize in creating, producing and uploading their works.