Spotify’s original-content boss Tom Calderone may be leaving the streaming service, but his replacement is already lined up: and he’s a familiar face for the music industry.
Courtney Holt is joining Spotify from Disney, where he was EVP of ‘advanced media strategy’ having joined the company when it acquired MCN Maker Studios.
Before his role as head of that, Holt was president of Myspace Music between 2008 and 2011, with digital roles at MTV Networks and Universal Music also on his CV. Holt is now head of studios and video at Spotify, having taken up the role this month according to his LinkedIn profile.
Variety has more details, explaining that Holt will work out of Spotify’s Los Angeles office, reporting in to chief content officer Stefan Blom.
“His main focus will be to drive and lead the direction and development of Spotify’s global studios strategy including premium video content, podcasts and other audio content,” a spokesperson told Music Ally this morning.
Variety also outlines one of the big problems Calderone grappled with: producing video shows is all well and good, but if they aren’t put in front of people, their traction will be limited.
“Producers and publishers who have dealt with Spotify describe a disconnect between the content team and the engineers in the company’s product division who ultimately decide how much visibility its 140 million active users worldwide are given to the videos and podcasts,” suggested the piece.
Over to Holt to try to sort that out.
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