Goldman Sachs doesn’t often appear in the pages of Rolling Stone magazine, and when it does, the mention isn’t always complimentary.
“The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money,” is one memorable line, published in 2010, that probably still haunts the institution’s global headquarters on West Street.
Almost a decade later, however, the magazine was covering Goldman more positively, and for a different reason. Its chief executive and chairman, David Solomon, 58, was moonlighting as a successful electronic dance music deejay, under the moniker DJ D-Sol.
“He’s been on a nice little hot streak,” the EDM critic wrote approvingly, noting that one of his remixes “might even be better than the original.”
Solomon’s spinning skills were back in the news this summer, when he played a controversial Hamptons fundraising concert, headlined by EDM-pop duo The Chainsmokers. Critics pounced when images of the event were published online, appearing to show an egregious lack of social distancing.
“We have no tolerance for the illegal and reckless endangerment of public health,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Twitter. “I am appalled.”
Adding an extra twist was that the Southampton town supervisor, Jay Schneiderman, who granted the event a permit, opened the night with his own band. (He plays the drums.)
“It’s like this controversy that involves everybody’s embarrassing dad,” said one young East End resident who attended the concert. “What are these middle-aged guys going to want to try next, skateboarding?”
Solomon, whose total compensation in 2019 was $27.5 million, probably doesn’t need the extra income a side hustle would bring. Besides, all proceeds from Payback Records, which he established to support his hobby, go to charities fighting opioid addiction.
But if nothing else, the controversy was good for his social media presence. Solomon’s Instagram account, @djdsolmusic, grew by almost a thousand to 31,900 followers over the summer.
As the kids say, that’s sick
