Caroline Bienstock, Former President/CEO of Carlin Music, Dies at 68
Caroline Bienstock, the former president and CEO of Carlin Music, has died in New York on 1 September after a long illness, aged 68. She led the influential independent music publisher for decades, overseeing its catalogue of American Songbook standards and hits by artists including Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, AC/DC and James Brown, until its roughly $250 million sale to Round Hill Music in 2017.
Born in 1958, Bienstock was the daughter of Atlantic Records co-founder Mariam Bienstock and Freddie Bienstock, who named the publishing firm after her when he founded it in 1966. After training as a lawyer and working at Goldman Sachs, she joined Carlin in the late 1980s, becoming CFO and COO by 1993 and president by 1998, steering its growth strategy of acquiring catalogues in new territories. She served 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, and is survived by her husband, children, grandchildren and brother Robert Bienstock.
- Former Carlin Music president/CEO Caroline Bienstock dies aged 68
- Led family publishing firm through its 2017 sale for $250m
- Held board roles at NMPA, ASCAP, AIMP and Songwriters Hall of Fame
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Caroline Bienstock ran Carlin Music, an independent music publisher whose catalogue included American Songbook standards and songs recorded by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, AC/DC and James Brown. Music publishers own or administer the rights to songs rather than recordings, earning royalties whenever those songs are performed, streamed or covered, which made Carlin's catalogue a significant and valuable asset in the music industry.
Bienstock's family were central to the company's history: her mother, Mariam Bienstock, co-founded Atlantic Records, and her father, Freddie Bienstock, founded Carlin Music in 1966 and named it after her. She trained as a lawyer and worked at Goldman Sachs before joining Carlin in the late 1980s, eventually rising to become its president and chief executive and leading its expansion until the company was sold to Round Hill Music in 2017 for around $250 million.
Beyond her role at Carlin, she was active in the wider music publishing industry, serving on the boards of several trade and songwriting organisations and receiving recognition from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her death, reported at age 68, marks the end of a career that helped shape how a major catalogue of well-known songs was managed and preserved over several decades.