Spotify has restructured its global and North American music teams with newly created roles and music leads, so fortify yourself with some Swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce—it’s gonna be a deep dive.
The industry-facing partner team is now made up of Global Artists and Audience and Music Strategy, which will be run by division heads Joe Hadley and Madeleine Bennett, respectively. Hadley and Bennett join the Music Leads executive team, which includes Bruno Crolot (International, and yes, it's OK to talk about him), Sulinna Ong (Editorial) and Kim Lee (Operations and Business Strategy)—all of whom report to Global Head of Music and top-ranked Movember stache owner Jeremy Erlich.
Hadley joined Spotify earlier this year as global head of Artists and Audience after a tenure as CAA’s global head of Hip-Hop & R&B. His team is tasked with driving revenue opportunities for artists and leading innovative music and culture campaigns to attract listeners to Spotify. The newly formed Global Artists and Audience team will include the Artist & Industry Partnerships, Artist Engagement and Talent & Artist Relations divisions.
"Our goal,” Hadley relates, “is to create and identify opportunities that will deepen and expand our partnership with artists as well as innovate how we talk with audiences through genre and playlist marketing. This also includes creating opportunities to showcase and lift up creators who have historically been underrepresented in the music industry, which reflects Spotify's public commitment. Our team is full of incredible talent who want to create a better world for artists and listeners alike. I believe that Spotify will continue to be at the forefront of that movement."
Bennett—who has worn many hats at Spotify, including oversight of the International team—will lead the Music Strategy division, which includes the Label and Commercial Partnerships teams, as well as the Music Product Strategy team.
"This is an exciting time for Spotify,” she says. “We have phenomenal talent in the Music team and have expanded our core competencies and increased our focus. Collaboration continues to be what Spotify does best, and these team updates will further develop the best-in-class creative and business partnerships we've built across the music industry over the past decade.”
TEAM HADLEY
Chris Sampson, who leads Talent & Artist Relations, oversees talent booking for, among other events, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Spotify LIVE, Live From Rolling Loud (Miami) and RapCaviar LIVE Hulu series, all of which will debut in 2023.
Bryan Johnson oversees outreach and education for artists and their teams, manages strategic relationships with biz organizations and is the host of Spotify’s Masterclass events.
Mary Catherine Kinney has been upped to lead the Artists Partnerships team, which will have oversight of the Pop, Dance & Indie, Rock & Alternative, Latin and Country teams, while focusing on relationships with artists and managers, strategic cultural partnerships and playlist and genre campaigns (such as the launch of Taylor Swift’s Midnights on the platform).
Sydney Lopes leads Hip Hop and R&B, Artist Partnerships, which includes oversight of Frequency (amplifying Black voices on Spotify), as well as events for RapCaviar and Are & Be.
Max Weinstein, who helped build RapCaviar’s social presence over the last four years, is the newly appointed Hip Hop lead; he will manage all relevant artist and playlist campaigns in the genre. He does not play drums for Springsteen.
Ashley Graver will oversee the Pop, Dance & Indie Artist Partnerships team, which includes playlist marketing campaigns for Today’s Top Hits, New Music Friday and Fresh Finds, as well as partnerships such as Best New Artist, ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) and Coachella.
Eddie Santiago manages the U.S. Latin Artist Partnerships team. It handles playlist-marketing campaigns for Viva Latino and Fuego, as well as cultural campaigns for Latinx Heritage Month and the Latin Grammys. He works closely with the teams in Latin America & Spain.
Former Island exec Chissy Nkemere leads the newly created Rock and Alternative Artist Partnerships team; she's responsible for artist partnerships, playlist campaigns and partnerships.
Markus Hwang leads strategy and operations for the Global Artists & Audience team, which strategizes operations among Spotify teams in tandem with Artists Partnerships.
TEAM BENNETT
Vic Trubowitch leads the North American Label Partnerships team, which maintains Spotify’s relationship with frontline and catalog labels, distributors and recorded-rightsholder organizations.
The following folks oversee relationships with label groups and regional labels:
Peter Szabo manages the Commercial Partnerships team, which assists labels and managers in using paid promotional tools and maximizing value with label groups.
Mark Butterworth presides over the Commercial Label Partnership team, which focuses on optimizing global B2B relationships between Spotify and its label partners while managing label engagement and the development of Spotify's promotional tools and fan-commerce products.
Jules Parker will continue to report to Crolot as leader of the Songwriter and Publisher Relations team. He also oversees Noteable, Spotify's global home for songwriters, producers and publishers.
Phew! Now get out your #2 pencils; there's gonna be a quiz.
THE RISE OF CHAPPELL ROAN: BEHIND THE SCENES
Here's how it happened. An oral history by Craig Marks. (8/30a)
A SIZZLING HITS LIST
Hot off the grill. Pairs well with your brewski of choice. (8/30a)
GUY MOOT AND CARIANNE MARSHALL: THE HITS INTERVIEW
Publishing's dynamic duo (8/28a)
THE COUNT: A LABOR (DAY) OF LIVE-MUSIC LOVE
Your other option is staying home and watching college football. (8/30a)
| ||
THE GRAMMY SHORT LIST
Who's already a lock?
COUNTRY'S NEWEST DISRUPTOR
Three chords and some truth you may not be ready for.
AI IS ALREADY EATING YOUR LUNCH
The kids can tell the difference... for now.
ALL THE WAY LIVE
The players, the tours, the enormous beers.
|