HOLMSTÉN ANNOUNCES HE'S STREAMING OUT OF SPOTIFY

Nick Holmstén has made it official: He's exiting Spotify on 3/4. Holmstén sent a farewell memo sharing the news to his colleagues on 1/9.

As Spotify’s Global Head of Music, Holmstén and his 100+ staffers curated north of 5,000 playlists, including RapCaviar, Today’s Top Hits, New Music Friday and ¡Viva Latino!, while also interacting with labels and artists.

Holmstén’s career path has been a winding one. Early on, he was a member of Swedish Britpop band Apple Brown Betty, and in 2007, he co-wrote and produced the 2007 X Factor-winning song, “A Heartbreak Away.”

He subsequently moved into tech, co-founding and serving as the CEO of the social network Snowfish.com, but his game-changer was Tunigo, the seminal playlist app he launched in 2010. The startup was one of Spotify’s first partners on its desktop-apps platform, as well as its iPhone and Android apps.

Tunigo had been a top 10 app since Spotify first launched its app platform in 2011, and few were surprised when Daniel Ek bought Holmstén’s company in 2013. Soon thereafter, Ek hired him as Global Head of Programming, Senior Director Product. In 2016, he was made VP Content.

When Global Head of Creator Services Troy Carter departed Spotify in the summer of 2018, Holmstén, who was then head of shows and editorial, including playlists, took over Carter’s role and combined Carter’s team with his own. Holmstén had direct oversight of the music team, made up of the industry-facing, editorial and music-culture teams. In that role, he wielded enormous power, and he gained the trust of the music business.

"The very first time I walked into Spotify office in Stockholm and met with Nick," Interscope Vice Chairman Steve Berman recalled, "I saw—and more importantly felt—like we and the artists we represent had a powerful new ally to help guide us into the future."