Wednesday, February 4, 2009

ARTISTdirect Names Villard CEO

Los Angeles-based ARTISTdirect, which operates a music focused information website and runs MediaDefender, which looks for copyright violations on the Internet, said Wednesday that it has appointed interim CEO Dimitri Villard as its permanent CEO. Villard--who is a member of the Tech Coast Angels, and is a co-founder and Chairman of USC Keck School of Medicine spinout Pivotal BioSciences--has been interim CEO since March for the firm. The announcement for the publicly held firm--which is traded over the counter--came alongside what the firm described as a "significant change" in its capital structure, including paying off its senior debt and converting its subordinated debt into common stock.