Twitch’s head of music dies at 69 after garbage truck accident

Cindy Charles, the head of music at Twitch, has died at age 69.

The music exec was killed in a traffic accident in Amsterdam, according to the company’s CEO Daniel Clancy. Local outlets like Het Parool and Algemeen Dagblad reported that Charles was struck by a garbage truck as a pedestrian on Oct. 14, and that she was declared dead by the time emergency services arrived on the scene.

Clancy memorialized Charles by sharing about the work she did behind the scenes at the live-streaming platform. “Most of the members of the Twitch community are probably not familiar with Cindy’s work, but she has been leading our team that manages our relationship with the music industry,” he wrote. “Cindy has a deep history in the music business and she has been critical in creating the strong relationships that we have today.”

Clancy continued, “Anyone that uses music on Twitch owes a debt of gratitude to Cindy’s work. She always had a bright smile on her face even as she negotiated unprecedented music licensing agreements for Twitch including the recent DJ agreement.” The DJ agreement saw Charles successfully negotiate with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to secure music licensing from all of the big three labels as well as numerous indie labels. 

“Anyone that worked with Cindy knows how much she cared about everyone with whom she worked,” Clancy wrote. “I know everyone that has worked with her was shocked to hear the news. We will all dearly miss her and we are sorry to see her go. A little bit of her will remain with all of us that worked with her all of these years.”

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Charles’ husband Ricky Fishman confirmed the news on social media. “My family and I have been devastated by this loss,” he wrote on Facebook. “I met Cindy fifty years ago at SUNY Buffalo. Though we didn’t date at the time, we were good friends, running with  the same motley crew. We lost touch after college, both got married, each had a son, and reconnected at a thirty year ‘friends reunion’. We have been together ever since, living bicoastal lives, between Manhattan and Berkeley.”

Fishman said that “there will be no filling the hole in the universe left by Cindy’s departure from this world,” noting how “she gave love and she received love, building  a network of friends unrivaled by any person I have ever known.”

Fishman concluded, “Hug those you hold closely, tell them that you love them…a lot. Life is such a fragile affair, and what we have today, we may not, tomorrow. Sending love to you all, but especially to Cindy, who graced the world with her presence. Her life was cut short, but it burned brightly as her memory surely will.”

Charles previously worked for Amazon, Viacom, and MediaNet Digital, and served as an advisor to the board of governors at the Recording Academy. She is survived by her husband, her son Ben Charles, and her stepson Sam Fishman.