They may have a keen rivalry, but there has been relatively little poaching going on between Apple Music and Spotify thus far.
It’s unclear whether the former’s appointment of Steve Savoca in a label relations role qualifies as a ‘poach’ given that he announced his departure from his role as global head of label relations at Spotify in July 2016.
Still, according to Billboard, Savoca will be in charge of Apple Music’s New York office, and he is already in place in his new role. Savoca also has industry connections thanks to serving on the board of directors of the Music Business Association.
Savoca also has a strong independent heritage thanks to his previous role as head of digital at Domino.
That may be important: Apple Music recently came in for criticism over its support for independent music at our NY:LON Connect conference in London.
“On the ground level they’re brilliant and very supportive of independent artists,” said Hannah Overton of Secretly Group. “But further up at the top level of Apple, they don’t give a s**t about independent music. That’s where you see the Apple Music festival having no independent artists there at all last year.”
Savoca may be the man to help turn around that perception.
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