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Digital
Spotify seeks COO, still hoping for 2010 US launch
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 29 October 2010
Recruitment consultants are trying to find a COO for Spotify to be number two executive alongside founder and CEO Daniel Ek. It is thought US-based tech types are being sounded out, leading to speculation the COO’s first big task would to push through the streaming music service’s long awaited North American launch.
There had been rumours that head hunters Odgers Berndtson were actually looking for a new CEO to replace Ek, but the Spotify founder denied that was the case when contacted by TechCrunch, telling the IT site “we’re looking for a COO to help run the company”.
Ek also told TechCrunch that he was still hopeful that a US launch could happen this year, even though it’s known deal negotiations with the major labels are still proving tricky, with a number of key US music execs nervous the free version of Spotify could hinder the growth of other subscription-based music services. Though CNet reckons Spotify have now offered rather large upfront cash payments to the labels, which might persuade even the nervous execs to sign on the dotted line.
Ongoing label talks in America might also be helped by a Music Ally report yesterday that reckoned Spotify had now paid out 40 million euros to rights holders in Europe, 30 million of it this year. Moreover, in some European countries, Spotify is now a bigger earner for the majors – well, Universal and Sony at least – than Apple’s iTunes.
And in Sweden, the streaming music service’s home territory, Spotify is apparently Sony Music’s biggest single revenue provider, over all other retailers, online or offline. Music Ally quote Sony Music Sweden’s digital sales man Jacob Herbst who says: “Spotify is on track to become the largest single partner we have. We already have several artists who receive 80% of their revenues from Spotify”.
Of course, some remain concerned that while Spotify is a big payer to music companies (especially labels) at the moment, the money is coming from venture capital rather than ad revenues and subscriptions, and worry that when the start-up money runs dry actual revenues won’t be able to sustain that level of pay out to content owners long term.
