A few days ago, MBW noted that the music business needs to wake up to tech company Utopia Music.
We also reported that the Switzerland-headquartered firm has raised millions in investor capital to date.
Well, senior music industry whisperers are now telling us that Utopia has actually raised tens of millions, and there’s likely more to come.
Plus, following the firm’s high-profile appointment of Downtown‘s former EVP of Business Development, Roberto Neri, as Chief Operating Officer, today brings even more big news from the company.
Utopia has hired Amazon executive Paul Gathercole as Chief Data Officer.
Based in London, Gathercole will report directly to Utopia CEO Markku Mäkeläinen.
At Amazon, he led the EU Commercial Insights function, before founding the team responsible for Prime Video’s global metric governance and data layer.
Prior to Amazon, Gathercole spent time at Universal Music Group where he built the Global Data Science team.
According to a media statement announcing his appointment, his “speciality is smart data interpretation and turning data into valuable insights”.
Utopia, which employs more than 100 people across offices located in Zug, London, Helsinki and Stockholm, says it’s on a mission to revolutionize the monitoring of music consumption – and consequent royalty payments to rights-holders – worldwide.
Furthermore, in a press release, the company claims to be building a technology platform that “brings a completely new approach to serving all music industry needs and to enable accounting, transparency and efficiency, repairing the fragmented industry along the way”.
“Utopia Music’s purpose of securing Fair Pay For Every Play aligns with my goals in the best possible way.”
Paul Gathercole
Gathercole said: “I am excited to get to work solving the biggest problems in the music industry together with the team at Utopia. As a musician myself, I am happy to join a company that is fully behind the idea of Creator Rights.
“Utopia Music’s purpose of securing Fair Pay For Every Play aligns with my goals in the best possible way. I look forward to joining the incredible team with other notable music and technology professionals.”
“Paul will help greatly with our mission to enable Creator Rights throughout the Utopia platform and solutions.”
Markku Mäkeläinen, Utopia
Utopia CEO Markku Mäkeläinen added: “Paul will help greatly with our mission to enable Creator Rights throughout the Utopia platform and solutions, and we are thrilled to strengthen the already strong line-up of music Industry professionals within the Utopia Family.
“Their combined expertise and insights into the industry will help us exponentially accelerate the quality and growth of our data and products.”
Music Business Worldwide
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