Beggars Group executives have paid tribute to Jo Brooks, who has passed away after a long illness.
Brooks was content ID manager at Beggars Group, where she had worked since 1999. According to a press release, Brooks passed away last weekend.
Beggars Group CEO Paul Redding worked with Brooks throughout her time at the company.
“Jo’s passing is a huge loss to Beggars,” Redding said. “She guided us through our first moves into D2C, was part of our first digital team and continued to be an integral part of our digital operation department through her diagnosis. Underpinning everything though was an encyclopaedic knowledge of our catalogues and her love of music. We will miss you Jo.”
Jo’s passing is a huge loss to Beggars, her encyclopaedic knowledge of our catalogues and love of music underpinned everything
Paul Redding, Beggars Group
Global head of digital operations Tim Roddis said: “As the longest standing member of the digital operations team at Beggars, Jo was central to what we do, with us through every change, every up and down. Her limitless knowledge of our catalogue proved invaluable countless times on the many projects we worked on together. Always keen for an early morning chat and a cup of coffee to catch up on what was going on. I know I speak for the whole team, past and present, when I say we will miss Jo immeasurably both as a colleague and more importantly, as a friend.”
Ed Horrox, head of A&R at 4AD also paid tribute to Brooks.
“In the days before social media, Jo was a perfect bridge between 4AD artists and a group of seriously committed fans,” he said. “They knew they could turn to Jo for any information and she would sometimes correct them if necessary when things got heated in the chat rooms. She loved to know as much as possible about developments in an artist’s career. I can remember distinctly the look of excitement and the sound of her voice as we would talk, for example, about a new Breeders record. She is a legend in the world of 4AD and will be sadly missed.”
Brooks joined the Beggars Group from music distributor 3MV in 1999 and started out by setting up the mail order department while focusing on AV:Deck, the company’s then online radio station.
She went on to head up digital production for Beggars Group, before managing the company’s day-to-day workings with YouTube.
Beggars Group sent “our love and deepest condolences” to Brooks’ family and friends, saying in a statement, “We are going to miss her terribly. We were so lucky to know her and even luckier to be able to call her one of our own.”
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