Disrupt NY 2016 (L–R) David Pakman, Charlie O'Donnell and Ajay Agarwal speak onstage In 1991, Pakman joined
Apple Inc.'s System Software Product Marketing group and later co-created Apple's Music Group. In 1995, he co-founded the Macintosh New York Music Festival, which became one of the earliest examples of
webcasting music concerts. He co-produced the webcast of the 1997
Grammy Awards. He was vice president at N2K Entertainment. He co-founded Myplay, Inc., in 1999 in
Redwood City, California, which introduced the "digital music locker" and pioneered the locker category. In 2000, he testified before the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration and
United States Copyright Office about the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In 2001, Myplay was sold to
Bertelsmann's ecommerce Group. In 2003, Pakman joined Dimensional Associates, a private equity firm focused on acquiring distressed digital media companies. The firm bought
eMusic from
Vivendi Universal and Pakman became the COO. In 2005, Pakman became the CEO. He defended the company's pricing to
Reuters. He resigned in 2008. He then worked at
Venrock, an American venture capital firm. He invested in
Dollar Shave Club. In 2021, he became the managing partner at Coinfund. On November 29, 2012, Pakman testified in front of the U. S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet regarding the state of internet radio licensing. He has provided commentary regarding the business of music streaming,
Cryptocurrency and venture capital, and
non-fungible tokens. He has written about
artificial intelligence and the music industry. He lectured on digital distribution for artists at
George Washington University in 2005. == Personal life and volunteer work ==