ERLICH TO EXIT SPOTIFY FOR TBA VENTURE

Spotify Global Head of Music Jeremy Erlich will be exiting the company, sources at the DSP confirm. He will remain at the Spot in an advisory role through the end of February, after which he will depart to begin a to-be-announced entrepreneurial endeavor.

During his five-plus years at Spotify—with and without various mustaches and beards—the extremely well-liked exec has earned industry-wide kudos for building strong teams, solidifying operations and vastly enhancing relationships with the global biz. Over the course of his tenure, we might add, Spotify more than doubled in size.

Jeremy’s direct reports—Global Head of Editorial Sulinna Ong, Global Head of Music Partnerships & Audience Joe Hadley and Global Head of Music Go-to-Market Madeleine Bennett—will report to VP Music & Audiobook Business David Kaefer.

The message below went out to staff as a final entry in Jeremy’s regular “What’s on my mind” email series. We’ll miss being able to pester him with our questions about streaming stats, but we wish him nothing but success in his next chapter.

Hi everyone,

This version of “What’s on my mind” will be different from all others… as it will be my last one in my role.

In the past few months, I’ve been reflecting on what we’ve achieved as a team and as a company and the challenges that lay ahead. Through this reflection, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to turn a page on this chapter after 5.5 incredible years.

As I thought about the future, I found myself more and more excited about embarking on my own entrepreneurial journey. It’s been a goal of mine for a long time and now feels like the right time to pursue it. This was a very difficult decision but, as I’ve said many times before, you are the best team in the industry and I know you’ll be in good hands going forward.

So what now?

You’ll still see me around for a while as I step into an advisory role to support David and the team as they chart the path forward. While change can feel hard, I’m confident that this will only result in great things for the team and I’ll be here to help you all navigate through it.

Leading all of you has been the privilege of my career. Thank you for the incredible memories. I am so grateful to every single one of you. See you in the all-hands soon.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Jeremy