ERGATOUDIS EXITS
SPOTIFY—FOR APPLE

Spotify U.K. playlist king George Ergatoudis has jumped ship to Apple Music, where he’ll take on the role of Head of U.K., according to a report from MBW. Is it possible more defections are forthcoming? Insiders are speculating Troy Carter will be out of the streaming service before the end of the year.

Ergatoudis joined Daniel Ek’s company in 2016 as Head of Content Programming in Blighty after spending 10 years at BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra where he was most recently Head of Music.

Ergatoudis was the most high profile amongst a number of BBC execs to exit for Spotify two years ago, and now he’s amongst a handful of Spotify execs to leave the streaming service following its IPO. As pointed out by MBW, those include Dave Rocco, Mark Williamson, Tuma Basa, Kevin Brown and Angela Watts. Question: Were the high profile music business names on borrowed time at the streaming service, while it solidified its relationship with the industry?

According to a job ad for the role Ergatoudis is said to be filling at rival Apple Music, he'll be defining the music strategy for the U.K., leading an editorial team and managing strategic partnerships.