LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The music industry's leading trade group on Monday named Mitch Bainwol, a former top congressional aide with contacts in the Republican party, as its new chief executive and top lobbyist in Washington.
Bainwol, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, will start Sept. 1 as head of the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites), the trade group said in a statement.
Bainwol is also a former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Music industry executives had said the association was looking for a well-connected Republican to increase its leverage with Congress as it battles digital piracy.
The RIAA represents the major music companies, including the music arms of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites)., Vivendi Universal, AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) and EMI Group .
Speculation on the replacement for Hilary Rosen, who stepped down earlier this summer, had centered on a number of high-profile Republican names, including members of Congress like Mary Bono and Billy Tauzin, and former Pentagon (news - web sites) spokeswoman Victoria Clarke.
The RIAA has been increasingly in the public eye in the last few years, as the music industry's fight against digital music piracy has spilled into courts of law and the court of public opinion.
The record industry has seen CD sales slump for three years, a decline it blames on online file-sharing sites where music can be traded freely and sometimes before it is even released.
"What could be more rewarding than helping to promote two great American traditions: music and property rights?" Bainwol said in a statement.