Spotify takes another step beyond music with hire of ex-CBS News President

Spotify has made another major move as part of its wider podcast and non-music audio content push, with the appointment of two key executives.

Firstly, former CBS News President David Rhodes (pictured) has been hired as an original news content consultant, and secondly, former Facebook exec Amy Hudson has been appointed as Sports Lead, Podcasts.

The appointments were first reported by The Information on Friday (September 6), citing people familiar with the situation

Rhodes was appointed President of CBS News in 2011 and exited his role in January 2019. He also previously worked at Bloomberg between 2008 and 2011 and at Fox News from 1996 until 2008.

Hudson joined Spotify as Sports Lead, Podcasts in July according to the exec’s LinkIn profile. She was previously Sports Media Partnerships, North America at Facebook.

MBW spotted that Spotify was advertising for the role back in February.

The Swedish company originally hinted at it’s original news content plans after it posted an ad for a New York-based News & Documentary Podcast Producer.

Spotify also launched a personalized playlist for the car in June that combines music and news.

SPOT boss Daniel Ek set out the company’s ‘Audio First’ content strategy in February and subsequently acquired thee podcast companies, Anchor and Gimlet Media for $343 million combined and also Parcast, a company that specializes in true-crime programs.Music Business Worldwide

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