Concord has revealed a planned transition at the top of its international music publishing business.
Longtime executive and Concord’s president of international publishing, John Minch, will step back from his day-to-day managing of international publishing operations. Under the title of executive director, publishing, he will refocus on the rights held by Concord and advocate for the company’s songwriters and composers in the evolving copyright landscape.
“I’ll work on projects and with clients that I have had a close relationship with, but it is time to make way, after nearly 25 years,” said John Minch. “It’s a pity, I am only just starting to understand what I am doing. But it’s time to put my feet up and light a cheroot. I am hugely grateful to Concord for the freedom and encouragement they have given me over the last seven years and for encouraging me to continue to represent Concord and our composers and writers on industry associations.”
Jeff Van Driel will move from Concord’s US headquarters in Nashville to London, as general manager, international operations and will be responsible for Minch’s music publishing operations duties as well as the European operations of all of Concord’s businesses.
“I am honoured and excited to be taking on this role for Concord,” said Van Driel. “Given Concord’s rapid and disciplined growth, there are ongoing opportunities to enhance operations and prove our global commitment to the creative community throughout the world. We have dedicated and talented teams who embrace continuous improvement, utilising the best and most practical technological solutions in the market. Concord is a full-service music company representing many of the world’s best artists, songwriters, creators and catalogues and I am committed to its continued growth and success.”
Minch will continue to report directly to Jim Selby, chief publishing officer and Van Driel will report to Vic Zaraya, chief operating officer.
“Concord is truly a global force and that’s a testament to John’s contributions,” said Selby. “I believe that with Jeff and John as a team in our London office, Concord will only further solidify its strengths as a global independent publisher.”
I am hugely grateful to Concord for the freedom and encouragement they have given me over the last seven years
John Minch
John Minch joined Boosey & Hawkes (B&H) as its managing director in 2001. In 2003, he led a management buyout of the music publishing company under B&H, with executives Janis Susskind (currently managing director, B&H) and Winfried Jacobs.
Along with Susskind, Minch expanded the business of the classical publisher, developing a catalogue of music by living composers such as John Adams, Steve Reich, Sir James MacMillan, Sir Karl Jenkins, Detlev Glanert and Osvaldo Golijov but also Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, Copland and Elgar.
“B&H then came to be valued as a perpetuity business and not a victim of copyright expiry,” noted Concord’s statement.
John Minch continued to lead Boosey & Hawkes once Imagem bought the company in 2008, while also helping to lead the development of the acquiring company. He was part of the Imagem acquisition team that bought Rodgers & Hammerstein in 2010 and struck a deal to administrate the Genesis and Pink Floyd catalogues.
After the recruitment of Kim Frankiewicz, the Imagem frontline list was “aggressively developed”, said Concord, including re-signing Daft Punk and signing artist, songwriter and producer Mark Ronson.
Minch was appointed president of Concord’s international music publishing when Imagem was sold to Concord in June 2017. Since then, he’s led the acquisitions of the historic Sikorski catalogue consisting of the works of Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Khachaturian and music publisher Native Tongue in Melbourne, Australia. He will remain a director of PRS and MCPS in the UK and of ICMP in Brussels, focusing his efforts on songwriter advocacy.
As Concord's general manager of global administration for the last three years, Jeff Van Driel has led significant restructuring of the administration teams, spearheaded ongoing technology and process enhancements, overseen acquisition onboarding across Concord's business units and introduced systems and staff to improve interaction with its roster of artists and songwriters.
He developed operational and leadership skills during his decade and a half in manufacturing and transportation prior to moving from Canada to Nashville in 2007.
Since then, he has filled a variety of operational, business affairs and executive roles in the music industry and tech start-up space, including 11 years at the classical label and distributor Naxos before moving to Concord.
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