Celia Hirschman

Celia Hirschman

Host of On the Beat

Celia Hirschman is an independent consultant for the music business. She founded the marketing consulting company, Downtown Marketing, in 1999. Concurrently with Downtown Marketing, Ms. Hirschman also ran the US division of the British record label, One Little Indian (2003-2010), where she oversaw over campaigns for Bjork, The Twilight Singers, Jesse Malin, Marc Anthony Thompson, Olof Arnalds, Pieta Brown and many more. At Downtown Marketing, she has worked with Bryan Adams, Martina McBride, Sonia Dada, Cindy Bullens to name but a few. In 1984, Celia started Vis-Ability an independent video promotion firm. As a video promoter, Ms. Hirschman worked with labels representing acts such as Madonna, aha, Talking Heads, Aimee Mann, 10,000 Maniacs, Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Halen and many more.

In addition to her independent work, Ms. Hirschman has served as a label executive at several large labels in a marketing and managerial role. Celia was the General Manager of Chris Blackwell's Palm label, overseeing the entire roster. Previously she held the position of VP of Marketing and Artist Development at Mercury Records, and she began her label experience at A& M Records as the Executive Director of Marketing. She started her career in the music business managing seven record stores in California and Hawaii for a large music chain.

Celia has taught music marketing at UCLA and served on the boards of both the East coast and West coast chapters of NARAS. Ms. Hirschman founded and ran two non-profit organizations in the Music Business - Los Angeles Women In Music (LAWIM) and the Music Video Association (MVA).

Her On The Beat commentaries for KCRW run Wednesday afternoons at 6:44pm, during NPR’s All Things Considered.

She resides in San Francisco.

Celia Hirschman on KCRW

At the behest of record labels, last October, US District Judge, Kimba Woods ordered LimeWire, the popular file-sharing service to suspend its peer-to-peer site.  The judge ruled that…

LimeWire and the RIAA

At the behest of record labels, last October, US District Judge, Kimba Woods ordered LimeWire, the popular file-sharing service to suspend its peer-to-peer site.  The judge ruled that…

from On the Beat

No doubt about it. The most exciting growth in the record business this year has come from Apple.

IPad Apps

No doubt about it. The most exciting growth in the record business this year has come from Apple.

from On the Beat

Guy Hands may finally be losing control of his company, EMI Music Group, to their chief investor, the financial bank Citigroup. EMI owes Citibank almost $3 billion. Mr.

EMI, Spotify and Google

Guy Hands may finally be losing control of his company, EMI Music Group, to their chief investor, the financial bank Citigroup. EMI owes Citibank almost $3 billion. Mr.

from On the Beat

More from KCRW

The latest film releases include Wicked, Gladiator II, and The Piano Lesson.

from Weekend Film Reviews

Evan Kleiman taps flavor scientist Arielle Johnson to co-host Good Food's annual Thanksgiving episode.

from Good Food

Grammy winning producer Latroit, powerhouse South African vocalist Nomvula Maneli, and LA gospel royalty DC6 Singers Collective bring “History of House” to HQ.

from Live From

This week clinical psychologist and author Dacher Keltner delves into the science and mysteries surrounding awe and shares that awe is not just found in nature or music but most often…

from Life Examined

In the mid 1970s, as glam rock fizzled out, new kids began to trickle in on the block–kids who looked up to the groupies as party girl icons, as rock’n’roll legends, who went out there…

from Lost Notes

Small stages provide a place for newer acts to gain exposure. But faced with inflation and corporate competition, venue owners have to be scrappy.

from KCRW Features

This week clinical psychologist George Bonanno at Columbia University explores resilience and challenges some traditional notions about trauma and says that humans are far better at…

from Life Examined

Jesse Eisenberg breaks down his new film “A Real Pain,” Elvis talks Quincy Jones with KCRW DJ Chris Douridas, and Zoë Kravitz has The Treat.

from The Treatment

Gaza today symbolizes nothing but death, destruction and oppression.

from Scheer Intelligence