Chris Maltese (US)

Chris Maltese is the current GM of Label & Artist Services for Vydia, a US based music distribution company. However, his long history in the music and entertainment space spans more than 20 years.

The New Jersey native began his career at MTV, the epicenter of pop culture at the time, where he stayed for 8.5 years, eventually departing as a Senior Producer & Writer. He left to open his own artist management company where he quickly found multi-platinum success. A few years later, Maltese partnered with management and publishing company, Primary Wave. Aside from managing the careers of a Grammy Award winning artists, as well as 2-time International DJ of the year, Erick Morillo, Maltese also had multiple #1 radio hits with a number of clients over the years. He also worked on the publishing side, signing and developing writers, in addition to starting and overseeing an in-house label, Cure8.

In 2019, Chris took over the role of Head of Artist Services, US for the largest independent music company in the world, Paris-based, Believe. It was here where he signed and developed a wide variety of artists while managing the US operations, aiding in the company going public in 2021. Now in his current role, Maltese oversees the large A&R team at Vydia, working alongside its parent company, gamma., signing and developing both labels and artists around the world.

With a deep understanding of artist development, distribution, management, publishing, royalties and more, Chris has been featured on a variety of podcasts, press, and on panels for the likes of The Recording Academy, SXSW, SHIFT and more.