Alan Price is the new CEO of Vevo, the music video platform announced Wednesday morning. Price previously worked as the company’s CFO, and took on the role of interim CEO in addition to his existing duties when the company’s previous chief executive Erik Huggers stepped down at the end of last year.
There’s no word yet on who will become Vevo’s new CFO. Price had been working in that role since the company’s founding in 2009. Before that, he worked for more than a decade in various finance roles at Sony Music.
Universal Music and Sony Music, which both own significant stakes in Vevo, celebrated the appointment with a joint statement Wednesday morning:
“Alan Price is a seasoned music executive and proven leader who has played a key role in Vevo’s growth and development for almost a decade. His deep understanding of Vevo’s mission, and his long track record of success make him the ideal choice to lead the company forward as we continue to support and invest in providing fans with the best premium music video programming.”
Price’s appointment comes as Vevo has significantly scaled back its ambitions and returned to its original mission of distributing major-label video content on YouTube. Under its previous CEO, the company was looking to strike a path of its own by building a owned-and-operated business in addition to its distribution partnership with YouTube.
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To that end, Vevo built out a San Francisco-based developer team that worked on apps for mobile and TV-connected devices as well as Vevo’s web presence. Following the leadership transition last December, some product leaders also left the company, which followed up with layoffs. In May, Vevo announced that it was shutting down its apps and website to fully concentrate on YouTube and other distribution partnerships.
This changing approach is also reflected in the choice of the new CEO. Huggers was known as a product guy who previously worked on the BBC’s iPlayer as well as Intel’s ill-fated live TV service. Price on the other hand has been described by sources who know him as a numbers guy, who might be better suited to help Vevo’s owners to maximize the revenue they’re getting from their YouTube distribution partnership.
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