Cindy Charles, head of music at Twitch, dies after a traffic accident

Twitch’s head of music, Cindy Charlesdied in a traffic accident in the Netherlands last week. She was 69.

Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy confirmed Charles’ death on LinkedIn on Friday (October 18). Clancy noted, “Everyone who uses music on Twitch owes a debt of gratitude to Cindy’s work. She always had a bright smile on her face, even as she negotiated unprecedented music licensing deals for Twitch, including the recent DJ deal.”

That deal, which specifically covers DJs live-streaming on the platform, was announced in June and included Twitch signing music licensing deals with all three major labels – Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment – ​​as well as many indies -Labels represented by Merlin.

Charles was scheduled to speak on a panel on Thursday (October 17) at the Amsterdam Dance Event, an annual dance music industry conference in the Dutch capital, offering expertise to DJs who use Twitch.

At Twitch, Charles led the music team in cultivating industry relationships and building partnerships with labels, publishers and PROs while helping artists establish a presence on the platform. Previously, she spent three years at Amazon, where she served as head of business development in the music division of Amazon Tickets. She also served as development manager in the video shorts department. Earlier in her career, she worked as a digital music consultant, working with streaming platforms and music apps such as Spotify and Beats Music to help them navigate the music business. She also spent seven years at Viacom, where she led corporate digital legal and business affairs within MTV Networks, and more than eight years at MediaNet Digital as their senior vice president and general counsel.

In addition to these positions, Charles served as an advisor to the Recording Academy Board of Directors, co-founded Women in Digital, which has more than 1,500 members, and co-founded the San Francisco chapter of She is the Music.

Charles lived in Berkeley, California and grew up in Queens, NY. He studied political science at SUNY Buffalo. She is survived by her husband Ricky Fishman, her son Ben Charles and her stepson Sam Fishman.

“Every success, every setback, every moment of working toward our shared mission felt deeply personal,” says Twitch Kira Karlstrom wrote in memory of Charles: “Because Cindy did it that way. She cared wholeheartedly for her team, and our work was an extension of that care.”

“It will not be possible to fill the hole in the universe left by Cindy’s departure from this world,” her husband wrote on Facebook. “She gave love and received love and built a network of friends unlike any person I have ever known. So many are grieving right now.”

This story has been updated with additional details and context.