SPOTIFY’S PARKS ROCKETS TO PLUTO

Ken Parks, Spotify’s Chief Content Officer and its very first U.S. hire, will leave the service to join online video startup Pluto TV as Executive chairman, The New York Times’ Ben Sisario and Mike Isaac report. Parks will join the company in October, but will remain an adviser to Daniel Ek.

Pluto TV launched in L.A. just over a year ago and aims to be a free Internet TV service, bundling content from various online video platforms like YouTube and Hulu.

“We’re looking to take the work out of watching video and just let them lean back and be entertained,” Pluto CEO Tom Ryan said in an interview with The Times.

Parks, a former music industry lawyer, has been one of the streaming service’s primary negotiators in dealing with the music industry. Ryan said that Parks, after joining Pluto TV, would also oversee the start-up’s deals with the media companies and other outlets that provide its videos.

“I believe Pluto TV has an enormous opportunity to define the future of television and online video,” Parks said in a statement furnished by Pluto TV. “The timing is perfect for Pluto TV to reach massive global scale and become one of the premier consumer video platforms in the world.”

Parks’ replacement as Chief Content Officer will be Stefan Blom, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer.