Spotify Hires Conde Nast Executive Dawn Ostroff to Manage Content

(Bloomberg) -- Spotify Technology SA hired Dawn Ostroff as its chief content officer, tapping a Conde Nast entertainment executive to oversee music, audio and video partnerships.

Ostroff will work in the Swedish company’s New York office, Spotify said in a blog post on Tuesday. She will start the job Aug. 1.

The move puts a music outsider into a key role at the world’s largest paid streaming service. Ostroff has spent most of her career in television and film -- experience that could be helpful as the company tries to offer more video, including original programming.

Spotify has reported losses throughout its existence because of the high cost of music rights, and that’s put pressure on the company to offer other kinds of services. Podcasts and original programming could give Spotify a more cost-effective way to keep customers loyal, but early efforts in that realm haven’t taken off.

Ostroff’s hiring also puts a woman in the top ranks of a largely male-dominated company. But she won’t be in charge of striking new licensing deals with major record labels, a contentious process that was wrested away from her predecessor, Stefan Blom, and placed under the company’s top lawyer, Horacio Gutierrez. Spotify has been searching for a successor to Blom for most of the year.

Troy Carter, who serves as Spotify’s liaison to artists, will now report to Ostroff.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles at lshaw31@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net

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