REMEMBERING MARK LIPSITZ

October 8th, 1963 - July 5th, 2025

Veteran music industry executive Mark Lipsitz has passed away after a brief illness at the age of 61. A longtime New Yorker by way of Memphis, Tennessee, Mark attended the University of Kansas, where he ran the college radio station KJHK and befriended a local musician, singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston.

Mark started his music industry career at Important Distribution. From his sales job at Important he moved on to run Seed, an independent label funded by Atlantic Records that featured artists such as Madder Rose, the Pastels and Television Personalities. There, he signed the band Ivy to Atlantic before going on to Razor + Tie, where he worked with artists including Dar Willliams and Continental Drifters.

For the last 25 years, Mark had been at Bar/None Records, where he successfully marketed artists such as the Langley School Music Project, the Front Bottoms and Architecture in Helsinki. At Bar/None, he spearheaded a vinyl reissue program that included artists such as Of Montreal, Alex Chilton and the Feelies. Most recently, he reunited with Ivy, reissuing their back catalogue and releasing a new album, Traces of You, set for a September 2025 release on Bar/None Records.

(Glenn Morrow)

Honor Mark by Supporting His Loved Ones

Mark’s family set up a way for all of us to chip in and help his son Max continue his university education in this difficult time. Read more and donate by clicking here.

TRIBUTES TO MARK CONTINUE TO POUR IN.

For an early glimpse, read this article on Pitchfork about Mark’s legacy and how many bands across the music industry are responding to this loss. You can read them below.

Over the coming days, we will continue to add the many tributes we have been receiving from colleagues, friends, and artists. We will leave them here as a reminder of who Mark was and how much joy his life brought to everyone he worked with.

(Updated 16 July 2025)

WFMU ON-AIR TRIBUTES

Three Chord Monty’s Joe Belock had some lovely things to say about Mark and his work at Bar/None, and dedicated an entire set to playing some Mark-centered music. Click here and skip ahead to the 01:46 (“Your DJ Speaks…”) to have a listen.

Ira Kaplan curated some deep cuts from the Lipsitz catalogue and shared some moving words about Mark and his time at the label as well — a really comforting, moving tribute. Click here and skip ahead to the 00:44 (“Your DJ Speaks…) to have a listen.

Michael Azerrad

A friend once observed that some bands are so great, they make you laugh. You see them play a show and they do something so ineffably great that you just chuckle with pleasure.

I felt the same way about Mark's downright evangelical enthusiasm for the bands he worked with. He'd run up to you at some dark, noisy club and exclaim, "You gotta hear these guys!" and rave about them like a really pumped waiter extolling the chef's special. And Mark wasn't shilling — no, he just couldn't help himself. His excitement was so unselfconscious, so pure, that it bordered on artistry itself. And you just had to laugh in appreciation.

Mark's enthusiasm was inspiring in a business — and a world — where one can very easily become jaded and cynical. He constantly, unwaveringly reminded us that music can inspire a powerful sense of wonder and joy. And it made you envy the artists who enjoyed the benefit of the teenager-level passion of this grown man.

That enthusiasm was completely resistant to the countless hard knocks of the music business, that Mark endured for decades — he seemed to deflect it all like the proverbial water off the duck's back. For a lot of us, music is an integral part of our existence, so Mark's enthusiasm was inspiring in ways that went beyond just raving about a band — it was like raving about life. And that's a great legacy to leave behind.

Bank Robber Music

We at Bank Robber Music are devastated by the untimely passing of Mark Newman Lipsitz. The last few years of knowing him well were not nearly enough. You either didn’t know Mark, or you knew that he absolutely loved music — and his effortlessly funky bucket hats. Often, the business of music took a backseat to the love of music: “Have you heard this? It’s my favorite album of last year,” he’d say, sharing something totally unrelated but deeply loved. If we mentioned liking a Bar/None Records catalog song or album, he’d light up with stories about the band’s formation, the recording, and what they’ve been up to since breaking up 15 years ago.

We know how excited he was about the new albums by Matching Outfits and Ivy. He simply adored the music of the Feelies, Koleżanka, Darren Jessee, Paranoid Style, and countless others.

It’s hard to imagine the bands under his guidance didn’t know how much they meant to him, but just in case, know that he was tirelessly hyping and extolling both your music and you as people every chance he got. May his memory be a blessing.

Alan Becker, VP, The Orchard

Mark and I were buyers at Important Record Distributors in the '80s up until Sony bought the company in 1991. We were one of only a handful of independent distributors handling the new underground of indie rock and heavy metal music at the time.

Mark handled the indie labels such as Twin Tone, SST, Touch & Go, Sub Pop, etc., and I specialized in the hard stuff. We not only ordered the albums and cassettes, we picked which labels we wanted to work with. Mark had impeccable taste and a natural charm that landed the best music for us.

It wasn't long before Mark left to run a new Warner Music label we distributed called Seed Records that later formed the basis for creating Warner's new ADA division to compete with us.

We stayed in touch as industry friends do and I will remember him always.

Emmy Black OF Bar None Records

If you were lucky enough to have Mark champion your band, you had an advocate and friend for life. He wouldn’t allow opportunities to be lost, and he wouldn’t stop bugging his contacts till they listened to your record. Even years later if he could help you he would. I am extremely grateful to have worked with him for the past 15+ years, and I am going to miss his emails in all caps, which, coming from Mark, was nothing but ENTHUSIASM.

Scott Ambrose Reilly (Bullethead)

I was happy every time I saw Mark Lipsitz. Because of that grin. He always led with that grin. Whether the prior time I saw him we had been arguing about Memphis BBQ or talking about some new band he cared too much about. Over the 30+ years I knew Mark I also knew him to be a stubborn, persnickety, uncompromising, difficult person when he thought he was fighting for a band or album that needed fighting for. But then… the next time I saw him he leaned in with that grin that said, “I am happy to see you even if you were so wrong the last time we spoke." Do I think that grin was a facade? Hell, no. I know that grin was the real Mark. The stubborn, persnickety, uncompromising, difficult person was just his day job.

Blue Broderick of Diners

Mark was a sweet and lovable friend who I will miss dearly. He was a big believer in the power of music; He advocated tirelessly for each and every artist he collaborated with. He’d get so giddy talking about an upcoming project because he took that much pride and joy in working with people he admired. What a blessing he was. He’d text me on Friday evenings just to check in and chitchat, and when we’d hop on the phone to discuss business, he’d say, “But, first let’s gossip…” He really felt like an uncle, the way he’d joke around and offer infinite album recommendations. He had so much patience, and I appreciated his counsel more than he ever knew. Mark had my back, and I don’t know many artists who can say the same about their label management. I count myself among the very fortunate to have known him. My heart goes out to all his family and friends. Thank you for everything, Mark.

Holly Greene

My sincerest condolences to the entire family, as well as to Mark's wide circle of friends and colleagues. I have known Mark since the early Ivy days at Seed Records. A band could truly not have a better friend than Mark. He was in it for all the right reasons, his passion and integrity were always front and center. Gone way too soon, I am so sorry. Rest in peace, Mark. You will be very missed.

Freedy Johnston

I met Mark Lipsitz in Lawrence, Kansas in the mid 1980s. His roommate Doug Hitchcock was the drummer in a band I played in.

Everybody had the same reaction to meeting Mark: you trusted and liked him immediately. He was funny as hell. A constant joker who was constantly serious about the music that he loved. He would sit you down and say, "You have to hear to this record!" And then he would watch you while you listened.

I loved that man so much. He was a true good soul. Always positive, always enthusiastic about some new band. Always cracking jokes. If you asked him about even a classic-level album, he would say, "That's a good little record." Or some deity like Marshall Crenshaw: "He's a good little songwriter." It was a beautiful, respectful, comical restraint.

At his burial, it was an honor to shovel a little dirt onto my old friend's grave. It was a moment of physical dedication and love that I've never felt before. I threw in my little plastic duck that I always keep for good luck, and Glenn Morrow and I threw in guitar picks that miraculously landed right next to each other.

Mark Lipsitz, your daily love and enthusiasm left this world changed for the better.

ANDY CHASE AND DOMINIQUE DURAND OF IVY

Our beloved Mark Lipsitz just passed away suddenly, unexpectedly, tragically of a heart attack. Dominique and I are devastated. And the irony is, for the past 30 years — and behind his adorable back — Ivy would constantly talk about how beautiful that heart was, how sensitive and caring and kind he was, how down to earth he was, what a music business anomaly he was….and we would pray that his beautiful heart wouldn’t ever be broken by us or anyone in his sphere.

Mark was running SEED Records in 1994 when Adam and I submitted our demo, with Dominique singing. We sent it to SEED behind her back. She had zero interest in being a singer but had made the unfortunate decision to sing on a demo Adam and I had recorded and produced, and now Mark had heard it and was hell bent on signing us, sight unseen. SEED was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, and all the higher ups warned Mark that they were NOT behind his business decision. But Mark marched to the beat of his own unique drummer. Despite Dominique kicking and screaming about not wanting to be a singer and Atlantic threatening Mark's job security...Mark still offered Ivy a record deal.

Dominique eventually settled into her role as front-woman largely because she felt protected and safe under Mark’s guidance. Our band quickly saw how different Mark was. He was real. He had an infectious empathy and nurturing presence. He cared about human kindness. He was not a backstabber but, instead, tried to see the beauty in everyone and everything. Me, Dominique and Adam soon referred to him as our one and only quirky, eccentric Champion.

In 2025 we still have a career because of Mark’s instincts, love and commitment to our musical vision. There would be no IVY without Mark Lipsitz…no Fountains Of Wayne without Mark Lipsitz…so many of the dominos that fell because of Mark Lipsitz wouldn’t have fallen, including me and Dominique’s beautiful children, our carers today….the list is endless.

So Mark discovered IVY, fought his superiors to get us signed, loved us musically and as people, was our a&r guy, our true friend and support system in those early days. He used to refer to us as the “IVY Kids” even though we were only a few years younger than him. He was our mother, our backbone, and our indisputable cheerleader in those early years.

IVY eventually went on to sign with Atlantic, then Sony, and then Nettwerk Records...but Mark was always at our NY shows, proud and supportive. He was THE guy in our lives.

In 2021 Mark was running BarNone Records. Our bandmate Adam had just passed away and, in a bizarre twist of fate, our entire IVY catalogue of albums had just reverted back to us. IVY needed a new home - a new record label - to ensure our music would still be available to people. We reached out to Mark and, as always, his big heart welcomed us back. Mark made sure that BarNone was committed to re-releasing our music so it would be out there again, forever. We rekindled our relationship and had glorious meetings, dinners, pow-wows sitting around shooting the shit talking about the old days and the new exciting days to come, together.

When we told Mark in 2022 that we might have enough old material we could finish for a new IVY album, he was ecstatic about it and encouraged us to forge ahead and finish them. He was the loving, supportive mentor as always. It felt so right to make this new album under his watch. He planned our new release, has been quarterbacking every piece of the big puzzle for us…strategizing, hiring all the right people, riding them to focus on IVY this summer, plotting the entire game plan for our singles coming out and the launch of the album in the fall. Secretly, Dominique and I were just glad to be having a pretext to be in his energetic, enthusiastic sphere again. Lunches, meetings, phone calls, always Mark’s delicious southern drawl infusing us with his spirit and kindness. We were so happy to be doing all of this for and with Mark again.

The loss to us and of course the rest of the world is beyond our ability to write here, especially for strangers. But in an ever changing and more turbulent musical climate now than ever, just know that if everyone in the music industry could have been like Mark Lipsitz, the landscape would be a more beautiful and stable place today. This much we know.

Dominique and I have loved Mark since the day we met in 1994. And we have loved and respected him nonstop since then. Our world will never be the same without him. But his heart, his energy, his contributions to our sphere - and others - will never be forgotten and will be alive in every song of ours that people hear.

Love always,

Andy & Dominique

Laveda

Over the past few months that we got to know Mark, he was nothing but kind and welcoming to us. We are deeply saddened to hear of his passing. Mark came out to every one of our shows in New York over the past few months to show his love for our band and truly made us feel welcome at Bar/None as a new signee. Recently Jake and I stopped by his apartment to grab the test pressings of our upcoming LP. Mark invited us to stay for a few Spaten’s (which he mentioned were his favorite beer) and we ended up chatting a while about all things music. He was an incredible champion for every artist he worked with and we only wish we could have gotten to have more time with such a cool guy.

Jerry Leibowitz, Canadian Starmaker Fund

I’m reeling after finding out about the passing of one of my closest friends when I lived in New York: Mark Lipsitz. We met at the end of the 80’s and palled around for years, both trying to make our way and survive in the independent music business in the city. We were both red-headed, the same age, had names that were close to each other and were completely obsessed with music and trying to help bands we loved succeed.

Mark and I spent so much time together going to shows, listening to Funkadelic records and obsessing about bands like Ivy, whom he had signed early in their career when Adam Schlesinger was in the band — years before he started Fountains of Wayne. I was in touch with Mark a few weeks ago and he told me he was now a co-owner of Bar/None Records, where I had worked a few years before him, doing marketing and publicity. Mark was extra excited that Bar/None was going to release archival material from Ivy and was his general happy self. Of course, he kindly sent me an Ivy Best of LP, along with the Sun Ra lathes, because he knew I would love it.

Sending love out to his friends and family. Mark, I’ll never forget that Southern lilt in your voice and mischievous smile. You will not be forgotten and your memory will always be a blessing.

Matching Outfits

Bar/None’s Mark Lipsitz was the kind of label guy who gave record labels a good name, a truly passionate champion of bands that were too obscure and idiosyncratic for the mainstream to touch. Matching Outfits is proud to be one of them.

In March, after months of long-distance correspondence, we all finally met him in person in New York. In between our shows, where he tirelessly handed out our trading cards and hyped us up to anyone who’d listen, we shared a meal in his home neighborhood of Chinatown and talked about the band’s future, our lives and the state of the world.

We are devastated that Mark is no longer with us, and that he won’t be here for the release of the album he helped bring into existence. Our hearts go out to his family, friends and colleagues.

Chad Matheny of Emperor X

You meet a lot of people on the music path. Some of them don’t care. Some of them help you out when they can. Some of them go out of their way to make absolutely sure you have everything you need, and that everyone and their grandma knows about your music. Mark was the third kind. This is an incalculable loss for those of us who knew him that way, and we can only imagine what it’s like for his family. I think we’ll slowly discover in the coming seasons that, simply by being who he was, Mark quietly built a web of sparking connections that would not have existed without him. I’ll be grateful for that web, for Mark’s lifework, and for his impact on mine, forever. Blessings to you and your family and your legacy, Admiral Lipsitz of the mighty tugboat Bar/None. We’ll do our best to make you proud.

Elizabeth Nelson of The Paranoid Style

The great golfer Gary Player once famously said, "The more I practice, the luckier I get." By the time I met Bar/None label manager Mark Lipsitz, I had practiced a lot: years playing in bands, hanging around various scenes, years spent writing my own songs, plotting what became the Paranoid Style. I sent my music to Bar/None because in some way, I had the fleeting hope that they would get me. They got They Might Be Giants — still my all-time heroes — and they got the Feelies, the dB's, Yo La Tengo, Alex Chilton, Ezra Furman. If they listened, I thought they would get it. It helped that Bob Christgau, by some outsized miracle, heard the barely released, let alone distributed, 2015 EP Rock & Roll Just Can't Recall and raved about it. Anyway, the call came and they signed me. That was 2016. It felt deeply surreal but also strangely inevitable. I can't believe it's been nearly a decade.

I loved working with Mark. He was quick with a joke, but quicker even with encouragement and enthusiasm. He was forever asking me to solicit popular Spotify playlists to add my songs: "You get on one of those and your audience triples!" I was an obstinate refusenik and this was a constant source of both merriment and tension. I couldn't quite gin myself up to beg playlisters to bother with me, and Mark was frustrated because this was the gig in the unfortunate times we live in. "But if more people hear the Paranoid Style," he would reason with me, "Maybe that would make a difference." Making a difference mattered to him. He’d always ask me to take a selfie after I voted so he could share that on Bar/None’s socials on Election Day and get people out to the polls.

Two weeks ago, I was so excited to send him the mastered version of the new Paranoid Style record. It's a bit of a curveball, a little Wowee Zowee, and I wasn't sure how he was going to take it. His last email to me reassured me and made me laugh:

"Once again an all-star cast. I am just on the first song now; we will talk to you soon. What are your hopes as far as a timeline is concerned?"

Timelines. I have no idea anymore. It's easy to say: what does it matter? But that was not Mark, and that is how we should revere him. He believed in me, and he never stopped believing that acts of resistance both small and medium accrued to something ultimately meaningful — a bubbling cauldron of happy-warrior resistance. This is a hard loss. We must rally in his honor.

Rocky O'Reilly of Oppenheimer

RIP the one of the greatest of all time.

On the 8th July 2005 I got an email from Mark Lipsitz that completely changed my life.

I’d sent him a 3 track cd of my band Oppenheimer and within a few days he’d offered us a record deal. Within a few months I'd bought two moogs, within a year we’d played by SXSW and from that moment music has been my full time job.

Over the next 7 years Mark and I called or messaged each other relentlessly, planning, plotting and dreaming.

He did so much more than a record label had to do. Pretty sure he convinced the legend Glenn Morrow to pay for our visas, flights, van hire and much more.

Mark missed our first US show at SXSW as it was when his son was born. He still called me after midnight to see how the gig went. He checked in late nights, early mornings as I trailed across the USA.

I still remember meeting him for the first time at the Bar None Records office in New Jersey. He proudly paraded us around the building, connecting us to every tenant. He did exactly the same across the entire world.

He talked people into letting us support Hot Chip, Nina Perrson, Tilly & The Wall, got us radio sessions, record deals in Japan, Australia, DJ sets, connecting me with friends for life and looked out for me as a person along the way.

"Brown bagging" with him in Central Park when touring was wearing me down, sharing our favourite new bands, him taking me to see some new band he liked called Vampire Weekend...so many special memories.

His two biggest phrases that will continue to instruct me daily are the above quoted “pro activity breeds pro activity” and the even more important “make party” He was most insistent that we made party.

After my band stopped he didn’t stop caring, sharing and loving me. This year he set me up with new friends at Abandoned Albums and he offered to clear our long-standing debt and start a fresh 50/50 split moving forward. He sent me new records he was excited to be signing, he said he always wanted me to hear it.

I think he knew how special and important he was to me, one kid from a tiny village in Ireland.

I’d be nowhere without him intercepting my life twenty years ago tomorrow.

He was impossibly special to so many.

Sheila B, WFMU DJ

I know we all have a short list of people who, during our formative years, came into our lives and forever changed us. Mark Lipsitz was at the top of my list. He was the world's friendliest and most enthusiastic label boss and A&R man, who discovered and signed two of my favorite bands, Madder Rose and IVY to his Seed record label and who welcomed me into the New York music biz with an internship at Seed during my final semester of high school.

There's nowhere I wanted to be more than in the company of Mark. In an industry mostly made up of gatekeepers who paid little mind to kids and their photocopied fanzines, Mark was the super-giddy teenage music obsessive all grown up and eager to share the keys to his musical kingdom. He made sure I got the IVY and Madder Rose interviews I so badly wanted for my fanzine 'Plume,' added my name to guest lists, snuck me into 21+ shows, and sent me promos and posters and all sorts of memorabilia that I craved. Thinking about it now, it felt like he was looking out for my musical heart, and making sure it got the nourishment it needed.

Seed Records had just been bought by Atlantic when I began my internship in the spring semester of 1994. The newly named TAG (The Atlantic Group) offices were corporate and cold, and Mark was well aware of how out of place he was in that environment and found it all rather hilarious. I lived for the moments when he would call me into his office, desk piled high with demos, music always blasting. He wanted me to hear a new band from Ireland that he hoped to sign called the Catchers. We listened to the entire demo together at full volume. He's freaking out, I'm freaking out, and together we went to see them live at Under Acme and fell even harder.

I moved to London shortly after my internship at Seed ended, but our bond remained. Whilst I had my regular FMU show, Mark would send word, insisting I join him and his wife Amy to check out Brute Force and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu live, and it was thanks to Mark that I learned of local band Michelle and got to see an early performance with him and his son, Max. Almost 30 years after we met, Mark was still bursting with enthusiasm for new and under-the-radar music and championing the artists he loved. I'm 47 now and have worked in all facets of the music industry, but it was only those three months with Mark that the music business was what I hoped and dreamed it would be.

Mike Soden

RIP to my great fellow Jayhawk Mark Lipsitz. A former KJHK staffer, he is the one that put me with Monsterland on my road managing gig during my NYC days. I owed him much. Rock On, and Rock Chalk, Mark. A true mensch.

Rob Tannenbaum

Condolences to family and friends of Mark Lipsitz. I was emailing with him this spring about the Ordinaires, for a project I’m working on, and also about Ivy, because he loved the band and believed they merit more attention. Mark was an old-fashioned advocate for overlooked music, which remains a noble job.

Greg Vegas

Mark and I first met in the early ‘90s, when he was the label manager at Seed Records and I was an artist (Monsterland), and we were both trying to strike a balance between being indie in a major label situation. I admired Mark's knowledge and appreciated his dedication to bringing great things to my developing band. After that, we kept in touch for years, and I always found Mark to be a great resource for developing new artists, which is something we often collaborated on.

I will deeply miss catching up with Mark at rock shows!

Ben Weber

Mark gave me my first job out of college at Seed Records, and he couldn't have been a better boss, allowing me to learn about and discover the music business, benefitting from his experience. He was always available and always wanted to help, genuinely wanting the best for the artists on the label and the people he worked with.

Mark loved to share and turn people on to the things that he loved: new music, movies, and restaurants (Princess Pamela's) most come to mind. And he was generous in so many other ways. I can't count the # of times I slept on the couch of his UWS apartment after a show or party when I couldn't afford a taxi back to Queens.

Recently, we didn't see each other much, but when we did he always had a big smile on his face and wanted to know what was going on in my life. I'm so grateful to have run into him a few weeks ago.

LuAnn Williams

Mark was one of those people who, even though I only saw him every few years, always brightened my day. The last time I saw him, at the Swansea Sound (couple of folks from the Pooh Sticks, who were on Mark‘s Seed Records label) show in New York last summer, he was his usual enthusiastic self. I remember him saying to me “I can’t believe I get to do this music thing for a living.” The small world of Memphis to New York. I loved that we shared southern roots. Godspeed, sweet Mark Lipsitz.

Annie Zaleski

I knew Mark for many years through music journalism circles, and was flattered and happy when he reached out and asked me to write the bio for a forthcoming new Ivy record. I'm a longtime fan of the band, so it was such an honor to tell the story of their unexpected new chapter. The bio process was a breeze, in no small part because Mark set me up with all the information I needed and was so incredibly excited about its release. His enthusiasm was such a bright spot in what's been such a challenging year.

Once the album news was out there, he was clearly ecstatic about the positive reception to the record; he told me how thrilled he was several times via email. And on top of all this, he also said some really nice things about me, mainly how happy he was that I was involved in this rollout. As a freelancer, you don't always feel like you're part of a team. But his warmth and enthusiasm made me feel included and involved in a much deeper way than I usually am with an assignment.

Reading what other people have said about him, that generosity of spirit was baked into who he was. Sending condolences to all who knew Mark; the world is dimmer without him.