Japan’s transition from sales to streaming has been a long time coming, and there are still some bumps in the road. Now Spotify will have to deal with them under new leadership, after its general manager and president in Japan, Ichiro Tamaki, was hired by Universal Music Group. He’ll be leading Universal Music Japan’s digital strategy, data analytics and platform partnerships from 15 February, reporting to the label’s CEO Naoshi Fujikara.
The former Amazon executive joined Spotify in September 2016, the month that the streaming service launched in Japan. “His skills, experience and advanced knowledge will bring us game-changing strategy and help drive UMJ towards the next phase of our rapidly evolving music market in Japan,” said Fujikara in a statement. It will be interesting to see who Spotify brings in or promotes to replace Tamaki, in what’s going to be a key territory for its growth.
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