Joel Flatow Leaves RIAA After 30 Years, Starts Consulting Firm
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- Joel Flatow is departing the RIAA after more than 30 years to form Flatow Strategies, a strategic consulting firm focused on the intersection of policy, culture, technology, and public impact.
- Flatow most recently served as RIAA senior vice president of artist and industry relations and chief of West Coast operations, a role he built after establishing the trade group's LA office in 2000.
- Flatow first joined the RIAA in 1995, working on artist and industry engagement around the passage of the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act, and was later recognized by Billboard for his work on LGBTQ+ initiatives.
- Flatow Strategies has signed an initial client slate including the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA, The Creative Coalition, The Schramm Group, Center of Gravity Productions, and Whitenoise Music Group.
- RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier called Flatow 'a cornerstone' of the trade group's artist relations work, citing his role in opening the West Coast presence and building coalitions across the creative community.
- Flatow will continue to represent the RIAA on the West Coast from his new firm, creating an unusual dual mandate that lets him advise both the trade group and outside arts, policy, and production clients.
Why it matters: Flatow exits with a rare arrangement — he keeps his RIAA mandate while building an outside client roster spanning arts, policy, and production. That positions Flatow Strategies as a cross-sector advisor just as music-industry lobbying increasingly overlaps with tech regulation and cultural policy debates.
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