Spotify has promoted Joe Hadley to VP of Global Music Content and Partnerships.
The move hands Hadley leadership of Spotify‘s Music Editorial and Music Partnerships teams. It widens his remit across the company’s relationships with artists, labels, and the broader music industry.
Spotify says the new structure will preserve Editorial’s “distinct voice, expertise, and decision-making,” while creating “a more connected Music team.”
“Editorial is a key part of bringing an essential human touch to Spotify,” said Charlie Hellman, SVP and Global Head of Music at Spotify. “The team’s judgment and taste is what fans and artists rely on.
“Joe‘s capable leadership will keep artist advocacy at the center of our work and bring even more impact to the programming we do.”
Charlie Hellman, Spotify
“Joe‘s capable leadership will keep artist advocacy at the center of our work and bring even more impact to the programming we do.”
“Joe‘s capable leadership will keep artist advocacy at the center of our work and bring even more impact to the programming we do.”
Hadley‘s expanded role sits inside the Music organization Hellman leads.
J.J. Italiano has been named Head of Editorial as part of the same restructuring.
Italiano‘s role covers Global Curation, North American Editorial, and overall editorial strategy.
Italiano reports to Hadley.
In his previous role as Global Head of Music Partnerships & Audience, Hadley ran Spotify‘s global and North American partnership functions, spanning label, artist, songwriter, and publisher relationships, as well as audience and genre strategy.
Italiano steps up around three months after Sulinna Ong – previously Spotify‘s Global Head of Editorial & Curation, Music – exited the company to join U2’s management team.
Ong joined as a Management Partner alongside Irving and Jeffrey Azoff, having held Spotify‘s top editorial job since October 2021.
She was named a Billboard Women in Music Executive Honoree for four years running, from 2023 through 2026.
Where Ong‘s role had reported alongside Hadley‘s, Italiano‘s reports to him.
Hadley‘s promotion lands inside a Music organization that Spotify has been consolidating since 2024.
Global Head of Music Jeremy Erlich exited in October 2024, and his direct reports – Ong and Hadley among them – moved under David Kaefer, then the platform’s VP Music & Audiobook Business.
Hellman became SVP and Global Head of Music in October 2025, succeeding Kaefer, who left after seven years at the company.
Announcing that change in an internal memo obtained by MBW, Alex Norström – then Spotify‘s co-President and Chief Business Officer – wrote that “as we enter our next era of scale, we are centralizing all music functions under his leadership.”
Norström credited Kaefer in the same memo with leading “key music functions, including Editorial, Partnerships, and GTM.”
Norström became co-CEO alongside Gustav Söderström on January 1, 2026, when founder Daniel Ek moved to Executive Chairman.
The reshuffle also arrives as Spotify pushes its editorial team further into public view.
The company launched Playlist Notes and Editor Profiles on August 17, letting editors attach written context to tracks on playlists including Today’s Top Hits and RapCaviar, and giving the editors their own pages inside the app.
Hadley joined Spotify in March 2022 as Global Head of Artist Partnerships & Audience, arriving from CAA.
He had spent five years at The Windish Agency from 2011 before joining CAA in 2016, going on to become Global Co-Head of Hip-Hop & R&B.
He has described the artists he worked with at Windish as “very much left-of-center, but with a strong touring business.”
His clients at CAA included Beyoncé, A$AP Rocky, Jorja Smith, and Tems, and he also helped lead the agency’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work.
Spotify closed Q2 2026 with 777 million Monthly Active Users and 300 million Premium subscribers.Music Business Worldwide
