MUMBAI: Kevin Brown has been announced as the new head of UK’s Official Charts. Head of Spotify’s European label relations, Brown, will continue his association with the streaming giant while replacing BMG’s Korda Marshall, who headed the Official Charts for three years.
Brown will contribute to the Official Charts assuming the role of a representative of the Entertainment Retailers Association, the trade body for the UK’s entertainment retailers and digital services, which owns the Official Charts Company.
Speaking about his new role, Brown commented, “The Official Charts Company is widely recognized across the music industry as best in class. I am delighted to take up the reins from Korda, and look forward to continuing to work with Martin and the board to ensure the UK charts reflect the rapidly evolving landscape of music and video consumption.”
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Marshall spoke highly of the new appointee and the new developments occurred in this calendar year and during her tenure. Marhsall said, “I am delighted to hand over to Kevin Brown, one of the most knowledgeable and assured executives in the digital music business. I am proud to have helped steer the Official Charts Company through a successful period during which it has blazed a trail for the inclusion of streaming data into both singles and albums charts and has laid the foundations for including digital data in the video charts. The fact that we have done so while delivering record-breaking profits back to our industry shareholders is a great testament to Martin Talbot and his team.”
Brown is known for his role in setting up the motion of viral playlist-oriented campaign for the then relatively unknown band- Hozier. Hozier’s single ‘Take me to Church’ has now notched over 466 million streams on Spotify.
He worked with several popular acts during his career. Lily Allen, Coldplay, Doves, Gorillaz, Whitney Houston, Interpol, Kylie Minogue, My Chemical Romance, Beth Orton, Pixies, Puff Daddy, Radiohead, Emeli Sande, Scissor Sisters, Sigur Ros, TLC and Robbie Williams are some of the acts Brown was associated with when he worked for artist management organisations. Before joining Spotify, Brown worked as an executive at EMI, BMG, 4AD and Polygram.
Chief executive of Official Charts, Martin Talbot spoke about the replacement, “I’m delighted to welcome Kevin as our new chairman and look forward to working with him over the coming years. He has a huge amount of experience, across many sectors of the music business – including retail, labels, management and, of course, with Spotify. I’m really looking forward to drawing on that breadth of experience as we steer the Official Charts through what is a fascinating and hugely exciting time for the entertainment sector.”
Brown is not the only new addition Official Charts have incorporated this year. Brown joins the company in the same year as they announced audio streaming data was included into the album charts.
