David Alexander

David Alexander is the Founder and was the Managing Director of Sheer Music Publishing (Pty) Ltd, the largest independent music publishing company on the African Continent for over 25 years. David built Sheer Publishing from a small boutique South African music publisher into a pan-African power house with a market share that was comparable with the multi-nationals that had African businesses. In February of 2020 Sheer Publishing was sold to Downtown Music Holdings and David began to work across the group of Downtown companies. A serial entrepreneur David has started or invested in many companies in the music industry over the last 30 years and while the business of the music industry has been disrupted by technology David has managed to align himself with the changes in technology affecting the industry and has kept his business interests relevant in the digital marketplace. David has featured in the Billboard 100 International Players list for the last 2 years.

David was promoted to Senior Vice-President of New Markets at Downtown Music Holdings in June 2022 and he strategized and oversaw the roll out of Downtown’s Operating Companies in 6 key fast developing markets across the world.

David’s experience in the CMO environment is extensive. Most recently he was a non- Executive Director of SAMRO (The South African Music Rights Organisation) from 2018 till the end of 2022. David was the youngest member of the National Organisation for Reproduction Rights in Music (NORM) Board when he was invited to join in 2004. From 2010 to 2014 David served as the Vice-Chair and subsequently the Chairman of NORM. During that period NORM led the charge into Pan-African licensing and was the first African Licensor for iTunes which covered 14 African countries at its launch in 2012. As the Chairman of NORM David oversaw the organisation split into its 2 separate functions in early 2014; The Music Publishers’ Association of South Africa and the Composers and Publishers Association of South Africa on whose Board David served as the Vice-Chair for 4 years. CAPASSO has led the African entry into digital licensing and now licenses music users distributes over R250 million annually for Composers, Authors and Publishers each year. His work with African CMOs has been in a consultative role and he has encouraged their adoption of global best practices. While running New Markets David has had to engage with many CMOs in South America and Asia and he has added to his understanding of the global CMO environment.

Having overseen the formation of the MPASA (the Music Publishers Association of South Africa) in 2014 David was a Director and the Chairman of the organisation and in 2021 stood down from his second term as the Chair of MPA-SA a position he held for 4 years over the duration of his Directorship.

Sheer Publishing is very active on the African Continent and while running the company David travelled to many sub-Saharan countries in search of new clients. David has also given papers and served on panels at music industry conferences such as Midem (France) Canadian Music Week (Canada), African IP Forum (Tanzania), Salaam Music Expo (Senegal), Womex, Kenya Music Week and ONGEA (Kenya), NIMEX- the Nigerian International Music Expo (Nigeria), Porto Musicale (The Brazilian Music Exhibition) and the Wami Conference (Western Australian Music Industry) as well as at Moshito, Music Exchange, Music Imbizo in South Africa.

In 2013 David was a speaker at the Creators’ Summit in Washington and announced the formation of the African Licensing Hub. Although it took a few years to implement the hub now represents Collective Management Organisations from Anglophone, Francophone and Lusaphone Africa and is licensing the Global Digital Service Providers such as Apple Music, and YouTube and Facebook for all African Music served to their subscriber base. David still Chairs the African Hub and is an outspoken advocate for African based Collective Rights Management. In 2019 the African Licensing Hub announced its first distributions to partner CMOs across the African Continent.

At the Annual General Assembly (GA) of the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) held during Midem 2016 David was appointed to the Popular Music Bureaux which is a sub-Board of the ICMP. There David represented the African Music Publishers’ Associations and was responsible for keeping the global industry appraised of various threats to Intellectual Property rights on the African Continent.

Publishers (ICMP) held during Midem 2016 David was appointed to the Popular Music Bureaux which is Publishers’ Associations and was responsible for keeping the global industry appraised of various threats to Intellectual Property rights on the African Continent.

David served on the Board of the IMPF (Independent Music Publishers Forum) which is a global organisation representing Independent Music Publishers from 2019-2022. Distinct from the ICMP that represents trade Associations the IMPF represents companies that are aligned by virtue of their independence from global multi-national publishers and from their partners in the recording industry.

In 2024 David made the USA and Atlanta the new home for his family and is excited about this new adventure and an opportunity for a new challenge. David is currently consulting to Publishing companies who are looking to reduce their global administration fees and to CMOs who are looking to increase their revenue from key markets outside of their home territory.