Spotify names former Pandora boss Jane Huxley as managing director
Spotify has named Jane Huxley as managing director of its Australian operations, replacing Kate Vale who left earlier this year to “pursue opportunities outside of the business”.
Huxley was formerly managing director of rival streaming service Pandora, which closed down its Australian operations earlier this week.
Jane Huxley surfaces at rival streaming service Spotify
OFFS
Not that she would have been the cause, but Pandora closed remember. It failed locally. Was there no one else in the country who could help out at Spotify? Not sure what happened to Vale but she was rich and had lots of other interests, so probably didn’t have the passion or interest in the end, or possibly, even the smarts. Jane is passionate. About being passionate. Smart. I feel bad saying it, but it’s ‘usual suspects’. Musical chairs even. No imagination. Spotify is a very interesting group. Guess it’s just a sales and marketing gig like at Facebook, Google and the like. Tick that box. I for one say to the bosses in Europe where ever you are, lazy thinking. I’m being insulting I know and I’m loathe to be as Jane is well known and loved by many. I love Spotify and I don’t really know Huxley at all – I just see her speaking everywhere and being sooooooo optimistic about everything and speaking sooooo digitally correctly. Which, like you hear from Google, new world corporate correctness in digital. Which is dull as. The interesting people got boring. And what was once a Telstra top person or a fairfax top person is now in a new guise. A digital leader and genius. But they aren’t usually. They’re boring. It’s disappointing to me because Spotify is so interesting data wise, emotionally and from a whole lot of angles. I guess as someone who loves the product I wanted someone who seemed a little more real and interesting to head this thing up. When I hear Jane is the new head of Spotify I cringe. Which is pretty bad I guess as from any CV point of view, she’s probably great – except Pandora failed, and she did once work for Fairfax high up in digital (which you couldn’t claim is any claim to fame). Same old same old. Things never seem to change here. We’re a backwater as far as the global digital distribution giants are concerned.
Jane spent her last 4 years trying to build up Pandora (which she arguably succeeded in doing from a management POV).
But the more important aspect of her role was to grow the music streaming industry as a whole, working with other streaming services to establish a new digital channel for advertisers (this included multiple joint ventures and research studies with Spotify)
Her role was to change advertisers thinking when it came to how people consume and interact with music…exactly the same battle that Spotify are fighting.
Seems like a smart move from Spotify to hire someone who can hit the ground running.
Congrats Jane!
I really like this comment. So mus-o!
yeah Pandora closed, yeah Jane has corporate mileage, yeah the US companies come with fake smiles, yeah the lazy bosses just want sales, yeah the interesting people got boring, yeah it’s just another market and yeah the sounds of Spotify sounds could make all this a bit more bearable
I’m with ya Jeremy! Let’s start a band?
Well done Jane. Spotify are lucky to have you.
This seems a little off to me.
I don’t know Jane- nor have I ever met her… but on paper it seems like she was captain of the ship, and jumped while it was sinking.
She paddled in the back water and reappears as captain of the next ship as the one she abandoned hits the ground…crew and all.
I guess I just feel bad for the people she left behind, and ponder what she could have done to save them, and whether her performance led to their ultimate demise.
Sniff test, I didn’t see it that way at first but that is a fare analogy.
It’s called GARDEN leave. When you leave one place and cant legally join a competitor immediately so you take 6 months off.
So how long does spotify have left?
She obviously [edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em??
Looks like the SurfStitch saga didn’t affect Jane’s profile either.
Wow, what a long way from Microsoft application tech support.