Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon Steps Back From DJ Career Due to “Media Distraction”

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is ditching the dancefloor for the trading floor after formally stepping away from his DJing endeavors.

When he wasn’t running Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest investment banking enterprises, he was concurrently pursuing a career as a DJ and music producer under his D-Sol moniker. But after a litany of negative stories in the media, it seems mounting pressure from the company’s board has led him to silence the beats to amplify the balance sheets.

According to the Financial Times, Solomon abandoned DJing due in part to criticism of a number of his performances, the optics of which stirred controversy and became inextricably linked to the firm’s financial pitfalls. In 2019, his high-profile booking at Tomorrowland is said to have drawn the ire of Goldman’s board, who reportedly conflated the iconic EDM festival with drug culture, per FT.

“Music was not a distraction from David’s work,” said Tony Fratto, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson. “The media attention became a distraction.”

Solomon, who in 2022 banked $25 million as Goldman’s chief executive, wasn’t in the electronic music business to make money. He donates all of his music-related income to various charitable initiatives through Payback Records, a label he launched in partnership with Atlantic Records to raise awareness of America’s opioid epidemic.

While Solomon is pressing pause on his DJing career, it’s not yet clear if he has plans to continue producing and releasing original music. He has a handful of significant releases under his belt, including collaborations with prolific OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder and chart-topping singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc.

D-Sol’s last performance was in July 2022, when he appeared at Chicago’s iconic Lollapalooza festival on a bill that included dance music superstars Kaskade, Rezz, ZHU and Black Coffee.