Kurt Thielen
Kurt Thielen (* 1958 in Duisburg, Germany) is a German music executive. After being director at Rough Trade Records and Zomba Records for Germany, Austria and Switzerland for more than 20 years, he founded Zebralution, the first digital distributor for independent labels in Europe that is today one of the world's largest digital distributors of music and audiobooks, together with music journalist and lawyer Sascha Lazimbat. Today he is managing partner of the Berlin company of which the German GEMA acquired a majority stake in 2019. Thielen is also a publisher of audiobooks.
Career
Thielen started his career in 1979 in a record store and was director of Rough Trade Distribution GmbH and, later, Zomba Records in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for more than 20 years. He has worked with a variety of acts from New Order and The Smiths to Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. After the company was sold he founded Zebralution, the first European digital distributor for independent labels with a global focus in 2004 together with Sascha Lazimbat. The name refers to the Duisburg football team MSV Duisburg which is commonly referred to as Zebras and of which Thielen was a board member. In 2007, the Warner Music Group acquired Zebralution. Digital audiobooks and streaming in particular have been an important factor in Zebralution's portfolio since 2010. In April 2017, Thielen bought the company back from Warner together with Lazimbat and two other music managers, Christoph Ellinghaus from City Slang, and Konrad von Löhneysen from Embassy of Music. In addition, Thielen founded the audio book publisher Finch & Zebra together with Sabine Buß in 2016 and entered the podcast business with zebra-audio.net.
In 2019, Zebralution marketed over 1,000 labels and audiobook publishers worldwide. On December 4, 2019, GEMA announced that it had acquired a majority stake of 75.1 per cent in the company. The German collecting society for music represents the copyrights of around 74,000 members (composers, lyricists, music publishers) and over two million rights holders worldwide. Zebralution continues to operate as an independent company in Berlin under the GEMA umbrella. The owners of Zebralution are still shareholders. Thielen and Lazimbat remained managing directors.
Awards
From 1998 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2007, Thielen was a board member of the German International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
In October 2018, Thielen was recognized by the IG Hörbuch of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels as the ″Audiobook Person of the Year 2018″.
Career
Thielen started his career in 1979 in a record store and was director of Rough Trade Distribution GmbH and, later, Zomba Records in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for more than 20 years. He has worked with a variety of acts from New Order and The Smiths to Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. After the company was sold he founded Zebralution, the first European digital distributor for independent labels with a global focus in 2004 together with Sascha Lazimbat. The name refers to the Duisburg football team MSV Duisburg which is commonly referred to as Zebras and of which Thielen was a board member. In 2007, the Warner Music Group acquired Zebralution. Digital audiobooks and streaming in particular have been an important factor in Zebralution's portfolio since 2010. In April 2017, Thielen bought the company back from Warner together with Lazimbat and two other music managers, Christoph Ellinghaus from City Slang, and Konrad von Löhneysen from Embassy of Music. In addition, Thielen founded the audio book publisher Finch & Zebra together with Sabine Buß in 2016 and entered the podcast business with zebra-audio.net.
In 2019, Zebralution marketed over 1,000 labels and audiobook publishers worldwide. On December 4, 2019, GEMA announced that it had acquired a majority stake of 75.1 per cent in the company. The German collecting society for music represents the copyrights of around 74,000 members (composers, lyricists, music publishers) and over two million rights holders worldwide. Zebralution continues to operate as an independent company in Berlin under the GEMA umbrella. The owners of Zebralution are still shareholders. Thielen and Lazimbat remained managing directors.
Awards
From 1998 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2007, Thielen was a board member of the German International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
In October 2018, Thielen was recognized by the IG Hörbuch of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels as the ″Audiobook Person of the Year 2018″.
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