Cindy Charles, Twitch Head of Music and DJ category pioneer, has died in a traffic accident in AmsterdamCindy Charles, Twitch’s head of music, has passed away following a traffic accident in Amsterdam, as confirmed by her husband.
Per NL Times, the incident – in which Charles was hit by a garbage truck while walking on the Passeerdersgracht in the centre of the Dutch capital – occurred at around 1pm on Monday 14 October. The driver of the truck was arrested, but has since been released, with authorities currently deciding on possible prosecution.
Charles, age 69, was in the country for a speaking engagement at the Amsterdam Dance Event. Among many other achievements, Charles was a driving force behind Twitch’s new DJ category, which lets creatives live stream sets legally thanks to licensing deals with the three major labels – Sony, Warner, and UMG – plus other indies. She was passionate about giving underrepresented communities a platform.
Charles’ colleague, Kira Karlstrom (Head of Twitch Music Label Relations) has since written a blog post in response to her passing, in which she shares that Charles grew up in Queens, New York, and originally majored in Political Science. After working on her first campaign and witnessing her father’s experiences as an entertainment lawyer, she decided to embark on a new path – “A form of activism that spoke to her passion: advocacy for music, for artists, and for women”.
Karlstrom states, “She was the heart and soul of our team, and a force for good in everything she touched… Her career speaks volumes. Cindy held numerous positions of influence, but what she did outside of her day-to-day was nothing short of remarkable. She was an advisor to the Board of Governors at the Recording Academy, co-founder of Women in Digital – a group with over 1,500 members between NYC and SF – and co-founder of the SF chapter of She is the Music.
“Behind the scenes, Cindy never stopped advocating for the causes she believed in. She was relentless in the best way, fighting for what was right, taking calculated risks, and rallying people around her mission.” Karlstrom also shares that Charles “believed DJs could bring immense value and growth to Twitch, but even more importantly, she saw Twitch as a home where DJs could be supported, promoted, and given the tools to build their global communities”.
She concludes: “I’ll never forget sitting with Cindy in the JFK Delta Lounge on Sunday evening, just before we left for Amsterdam — the night before she passed. We reflected on all we had accomplished — the success of the DJ programme, the Charli XCX event at Storm King — and talked about the exciting things ahead. In that moment, Cindy said something I’ll carry with me forever: ‘I finally feel like all my life’s work has been worth it. I’m making a difference for artists.’”
Daniel Clancy, CEO of Twitch, has also written a tribute to Charles. You can read it below:

In Memory of Cindy Charles
Last week we received some truly tragic news at @Twitch about the passing of Cindy Charles. Cindy was killed in a traffic accident when she was traveling in the Netherlands. Most of the members of the Twitch community are probably not familiar with…
— Daniel Clancy (@djclancy999) October 18, 2024

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