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Spotify abruptly loses its chief content executive ahead of planned IPO

In a seemingly abrupt move, Spotify’s chief content officer has today announced that he will be leaving the music streaming service just ahead of its IPO.

Reported by Recode, Stefan Blom, who has been behind Spotify’s major deals with music labels, announced he will be leaving the company in an internal memo today. Blom was also in charge of Spotify’s original content efforts, which have struggled over the last year.

It’s possible this departure could be somewhat of a surprise as Spotify hasn’t announced who will be filling the chief content officer role. With Spotify’s IPO close at hand, Blom’s departure could create concerns for potential investors.

Coincidentally, just last night news broke that Apple Music will be losing its co-founder and industry insider Jimmy Iovine, although not until later this year in August.

Spotify announced yesterday that it has reached 70 million paid subscribers, up from 60 million over the summer. Last we heard, Apple Music was at 30M. Although there is some positive momentum around Spotify’s IPO and its new milestone of 70M paying customers, it is also facing some uncertainty.

With today’s content chief loss and a $1.6 billion lawsuit filed against the music streaming service, the road ahead won’t be all smooth sailing.


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Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.