# Caroline Bienstock, Former President/CEO of Carlin Music, Dies at 68

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/caroline-bienstock-former-president-ceo-of-carlin-music-dies-at-68/
- Published: 2026-09-09T15:15:08+00:00
- Updated: 2026-09-09T21:24:42+00:00
- Original publisher: Billboard
- Original article: https://www.billboard.com/pro/caroline-bienstock-death-carlin-music-president-ceo-dead/
- Topics: Business, Companies, Government, Markets, Politics

## Key points

- Former Carlin Music president/CEO Caroline Bienstock has died aged 68
- Led the indie publisher through its 2017 sale to Round Hill Music
- Daughter of Atlantic Records and Carlin Music founders, industry board member

## Summary

Caroline Bienstock, the former president and CEO of independent music publisher Carlin Music, has died in New York on 1 September after a long illness, aged 68. She led the company for decades, including through its roughly $250 million sale to Round Hill Music in 2017, and was a prominent figure in the American music publishing industry, serving on the boards of the NMPA, ASCAP, AIMP and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which honoured her with its Abe Olman Publisher Award in 2017.

Carlin Music, once based in New York's Brill Building, held more than 80,000 titles and 8,500 songwriters in its royalty system by 2016, with a catalogue spanning American Songbook standards and hits recorded by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, AC/DC and James Brown, including songs such as "What A Wonderful World," "Spanish Harlem" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Bienstock, born in 1958, was the daughter of Atlantic Records co-founder Mariam Bienstock and Carlin founder Freddie Bienstock, who named the company after her; she joined the family firm in the late 1980s after working in law and at Goldman Sachs, rising to CFO/COO by 1993 and president by 1998. She is survived by her husband, children, grandchildren and brother Robert, also a Carlin executive, with the family requesting donations to ALS charities in lieu of flowers.

## Coverage

- [Billboard: Caroline Bienstock, Former President/CEO of Carlin Music, Dies at 68](https://www.billboard.com/pro/caroline-bienstock-death-carlin-music-president-ceo-dead/)
- [American Songwriter: Legendary Music Publisher Behind Classics From Frank Sinatra, AC/DC, and James Brown Dies at 68](https://americansongwriter.com/legendary-music-publisher-behind-classics-from-frank-sinatra-ac-dc-and-james-brown-dies-at-68/)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.