BACKSTAGE PASS / Digital Power Players 2017
them the ability to add a broadcast song to their
online music collection. “What we’ve built takes
convenience to a whole new level,” says Davis,
whose contract to head iHeartRadio and iHeart
Media Networks Group was extended last month for
four more years. With 100 million registered users
of the apps, “we’re targeting the mass market,” he
says, “just like our broadcast radio stations do.”CHRIS PHILLIPS, 42
Chief product officer/executive vp engineering,
Pandora
“You open up the product, and it knows
you,” says Phillips of Pandora Premium,
the company’s entry into on-demand
listening. The service, which launched
in April, combines active playlist-
building with suggestions drawn from Pandora’s data
on a listener’s music preferences. Phillips, who came
to Pandora in 2014 from Amazon Music, also helped
introduce Pandora’s artist marketing platform, which
has generated more than 1 billion artist-fan
impressions; “intelligent ad insertion” to better time
ad placements in a music stream; and integration
with voice-activated speakers. Pandora Premium,
adds Phillips, has “a really hyper-engaged audience.
They’re in love with the product.”SOCIAL MEDIA
ALEX HOFMANN, 36
President, North America, musical.ly
Less than three years ago, Hofmann
was planning an extended road trip in a
vintage Volkswagen RV when his
friend, musical.ly co-founder Alex Zhu,
asked him to join his startup, where
fans create and share short music videos. With
Hofmann leading its U.S. business, musical.ly has
more than doubled its consumer base in the past
year to a reported 215 million users. It has launched a
livestreaming product, live.ly, and partnered with
Apple Music. Hofmann’s biggest challenge? “One
size does not fit all,” he says. “We’re constantly
improving our algorithms to provide each person
with a unique experience.” Meanwhile, he admits,
“My camper van has been collecting dust.”TAMARA HRIVNAK, 40
Head of music business development and
partnerships, Facebook
JONATHAN HULL, 38
Head of music partnerships, Facebook
Among Facebook’s
2 billion active users
worldwide, 860 million —
or 43 percent — connect
to at least one music
page on the platform. Hrivnak, a music attorney and
former director of music partnerships for YouTube, is
driving the social network’s emerging music strategy,
with “the ability to create commercial partnerships
that haven’t existed before.” The philanthropic
potential for such partnerships became clear on
June 4 when Ariana Grande streamed her One Love
Manchester benefit concert on Facebook Live. Using
Facebook’s donate button, which Hull helped
develop during a company hack-a-thon, the event
raised $450,000 from 22,000 people to aid victims of
the Manchester Arena terrorist attack the previous
month. For Hull, it was the perfect example of how
Facebook itself has evolved from “connecting you
with people you know [to] helping to connect people
around things they’re passionate about.”VIDEO
LYOR COHEN, 57
Global head of music, YouTube
When Cohen left his successful
boutique record label 300
Entertainment to join Google-owned
YouTube last September, it caught
many by surprise: The video service has
weathered industry criticism of its payment rates to
artists and copyright infringement by its users. But in
December, YouTube announced it paid out $1 billion
to the music industry in 2016 from its ad revenue. “My
biggest challenge is for the industry to understand
how significant advertising [revenue] could play next
to subscription revenue,” says the Los Angeles native
who lives in New York. Yet he’s also rooting for the
expected merger of subscription services Google Play
and YouTube Red (“It’ll be killer”). In addition, Cohen
guided YouTube’s data-sharing agreement in June
with ASCAP, which is expected to boost payments to
the members of the performing-rights group.ERIK HUGGERS, 44
President/CEO, VEVO
Huggers, who has led VEVO since 2015,
scored multiple wins for the video
streaming service this past year. Apps
for VEVO were relaunched, and views
have hit 24 billion monthly, up from
17 billion in 2016. More critically, revenue is on track to
grow 30 percent year over year. “We’ve gone through a
tremendous transformation,” says the Dutch native
and father of two. His outlook for VEVO and the music
industry overall is rosy: “We don’t see the growth
slowing down,” he says. “The fact that more people
than ever are paying for access to music ... is
phenomenally positive. Our boat rises on that tide.”
DISTRIBUTORSAMY DIETZ, 47
Executive vp/GM, INgrooves
BOB ROBACK, 50
CEO, INgrooves Music Group
With annual revenue
that Billboard estimates
at $125 million,
INgrooves is the third-
largest U.S. distributor ofNO. STREAMING SONG OF THE YEAR
“Bad and
Boujee”
Migos featuring
Lil Uzi Vert
705.9 million
streams in 2017
Source: Nielsen MusicMigos’ Quavo (left) and
Lil Uzi Vert performed
at the album-release
show for Migos’ Culture
in Atlanta in January.Cohen (second from right) in New York in 2016 with
(from left) Young Thug, Fetty Wap and Johnny.Facebook’s Hull helped develop a donate button that let the social media site raise $450,000 during Grande’s
One Love Manchester concert in June, a benefit for victims of the Manchester Arena terrorism attack.60 BILLBOARD | SEPTEMBER 2, 2017
YOUNG THUG: JOHNNY NUNEZ/WIREIMAGE. PHILLIPS: COURTESY OF PANDORA. HOFFMAN: ERIC RAY DAVIDSON. HRIVNAK: ANDRIO LO. HULL: STEVE MALLER/FACEBOOK. GRANDE: DAVE HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES. COHEN: NOA GRIFFEL. QUAVO: PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY IMAGES. HUGGERS: COURTESY OF VEVO. DIETZ: NABOR GODOY. ROBACK: COURTESY OF INGROOVES.