Former Top BMG Execs Start New Rights Company in Germany

Former BMG executives Dominique Casimir, Maximilian Kolb and Justus Haerder have formed a new rights company, umn — pronounced “human” — that will be based in Berlin.  

The new company today announced a forthcoming project from German pop star Max Giesinger, whose new album Menschen comes out Sept. 13. But the company will operate across a few sectors. 

“The starting point is on the record side, but what we will build is a very artist-centric service concept,” Casimir told Billboard. Presumably the company will also involve music publishing in some way.  

Over the past few weeks, the company umn has posted job openings on LinkedIn and generated some talk in the Berlin music business about what, exactly, its focus would be. Over the course of this year, under new CEO Thomas Coesfeld, BMG lost several top executives amid a reorganization that will bring the company back to its core business of acquiring and managing recording and publishing rights. Casimir was BMG’s chief content officer, Kolb was the company’s executive vp of repertoire & marketing for Continental Europe, and Haerder was one of the financial dealmakers.  

“Menschen is the beginning of a new cycle in my career and I need a label capable of doing it justice,” Giesinger said in the announcement. “umn is a breath of fresh air and I’m delighted to be working with them.”

“As umn Entertainment makes its entry into the music world, we couldn’t be more proud than starting our journey by joining forces with Max Giesinger and his team,” the company said in a press release. The last line of the announcement: “Further signings will be announced shortly.”