Spotify Taps Disney’s Courtney Holt to Head Original Content and Podcasts
Holt will be VP of Spotify Studios and Video
Sean Burch | September 6, 2017 @ 9:04 AM
Last Updated: September 6, 2017 @ 9:50 AM
Spotify is bringing Disney executive Courtney Holt aboard as vice president of Spotify Studios and Video, the company announced Wednesday.
In his new position, Holt will spearhead the music streaming service’s continued push into original content — including video and audio programming — and podcasting.
Holt will be based in Los Angeles and report to Chief Content Officer Stefan Blom.
The industry veteran was an EVP of advanced media strategy at Disney. Holt joined Disney after it purchased Maker Studios in 2014, which he led for more than five years.
His roots in the music business run deep; he previously led MySpace Music and was EVP of digital strategy at MTV Networks before joining Maker Studios in 2011.
With 140 million active users (including 50 million paid subscribers), Spotify is in prime position to double down on its original content offerings. The Swedish streaming giant began pushing its own video and podcasts in 2015, with mixed results.
Shows like “Trading Playlists,” which debuted last year and had NFL stars swap music, haven’t been game changers. Spotify had recently reignited its podcasts efforts, looking to add more original shows to its slate and promote established podcast producers.
As its chief competitor, Apple, aims to put $1 billion into content, Spotify and Holt will face stiff competition in providing attractive programming.
6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
Jeff Bezos – Washington Post
The Amazon founder purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. President Trump has called the paper the “Amazon Washington Post.”
The Facebook co-founder purchased The New Republic in 2012, becoming executive chairman and publisher. However, he sold the venerable political magazine to Win McCormack in 2016, saying he "underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate."
The eBay founder is a well-known philanthropist who created First Look Media, a journalism venture behind The Intercept. Inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Omidyar teamed up with journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras to launch the website “dedicated to the kind of reporting those disclosures required: fearless, adversarial journalism.”
The PayPal co-founder doesn’t own a news organization, but he makes this list because he essentially ended one -- Gawker -- proving once again the power of an angry billionaire. Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media because he was upset that the website once outed him as gay. Hogan won the defamation lawsuit against the site that sent its parent company into bankruptcy, and Gawker.com is no longer operating.
OK, so Facebook isn’t technically a news organization… yet. However, the company is preparing to launch its much-anticipated lineup of original content later this summer, and there are also signs that it's on the verge of becoming an even bigger media platform.
Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships at Facebook, confirmed last week it’s developing a subscription service for publishers willing to post articles directly to Facebook Instant Articles, rather than their native websites.
Tech is increasingly intertwined with news, for better or worse
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.