Luke will lead programming for Pandora and editorial content on the Pandora and SiriusXM digital platforms
NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SiriusXM announced today that Alex Luke, a veteran music and media executive, has been named Senior Vice President, Digital Content for both SiriusXM and Pandora, which has a combined reach of more than 100 million listeners. In this new position, Luke will lead programming for Pandora and editorial content on the Pandora and SiriusXM digital platforms.
Luke has managed programming, editorial and artist relations across his career at Napster, Apple and most recently Amazon, where he was Global Head of Programming and Content Strategy at Amazon Music. In his newly created position at SiriusXM, he will report directly to Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM's President and Chief Content Officer.
"Alex is an expert in shaping the digital content experience for listeners, and we are excited to have him join us as we continue to advance and evolve how we create and present content for our listeners across our digital platforms," said Greenstein. "It is vital we ensure that the great content we produce today, as well as what we create in the future,is done in the most attractive and consumer-friendly manner so that it drives growth in usage across our digital platforms."
Alex's career in the music business began in terrestrial radio as an on-air talent in Dallas. He later programmed stations in St. Louis and Chicago and served as EVP of A&R at EMI Music, where he signed Capital Cities to Capitol Records, and worked with numerous artists including Katy Perry, David Guetta, and Beastie Boys, among others.
His digital programming experience spans two decades and includes stints as VP of Music Programming and Label Relations at Napster, Director of Music Programming and Label Relations globally at Apple, and most recently Global Head of Programming and Content Strategy at Amazon Music. In all three roles, he oversaw playlist and station programming, customer-facing editorial and original content initiatives.
In his new role at SiriusXM, Luke will also manage the Pandora Content Team. The team, created by Scott Greenstein shortly after the acquisition of Pandora earlier this year, focuses on applying SiriusXM's critically acclaimed and proven model of curation and exclusive programming to the Pandora platform. The team develops original content in music, sports, and talk content ranging across comedy, politics, and entertainment for Pandora listeners, including a selection of SiriusXM content, as well as creating original Pandora content for the SiriusXM audience.
About SiriusXM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the world's largest audio entertainment company, and the premier programmer and platform for subscription- and advertising-supported audio products. With the recent addition of Pandora, the largest streaming music provider in the U.S., SiriusXM reaches more than 100 million people with its audio products. For more about the new SiriusXM, please go to: SiriusXM.com.
SiriusXM Radio has closed its $3.5 billion purchase of Pandora, creating a digital audio colossus that reaches 100 million listeners in North America with $7 billion in 2018 pro-forma revenue. SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer now leads the combined company, with all Pandora business units reporting directly to him. Roger Lynch, the Sling TV founder and CEO who joined Pandora as CEO 16 months ago, is exiting the company.
In addition to Lynch, three other C-suite execs are leaving Pandora now that the deal has closed: general counsel Steve Bene, CFO Naveen Chopra and chief human resources officer Kristen Robinson.
Pandora’s stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange with each share converted into 1.44 new shares of SiriusXM stock. The satellite broadcaster’s stock will continue to trade under the “SIRI” ticker on the Nasdaq Global Select exchange.
The closing came three days after Pandora stockholders voted to approve the acquisition. The Department of Justice gave its greenlight to the deal Dec. 21.
“This is a tremendous outcome for two organizations with complementary platforms and large audiences, and we could not be more excited to be moving forward as one company,” Meyer said in a statement. “With SiriusXM's subscription-based national service of curated and exclusive content and programming, and Pandora, the largest U.S. streaming music provider with its highly personalized free ad-supported service, under one roof, SiriusXM now reaches more than 100 million people across its audio products.”
The two companies bring complementary business models. SiriusXM derives the vast majority of its revenue from paid subscriptions while Pandora relies mostly on ad dollars from its free streaming service, although it has made progress in building subscription products.
While Meyer said each company’s main products “are not changing,” he also noted that the two companies plan to develop “new unique audio packages that combine our strengths and offer an even wider range of content to our listeners.” In addition, the satcaster says it will bring a more “disciplined and focused approach” to Pandora, which has suffered from decreasing active users and listener hours for some time. Extensive cross-promotion of the two services is planned as the satcaster looks to woo some of Pandora’s 75 million listeners with various paid subscription tiers and to reverse Pandora’s audience declines. The company also sees opportunities by pairing SiriusXM's programming with Pandora's listener personalization technology to deliver audio experiences more tailored to the tastes of each listener.
Source: SiriusXM
SiriusXM Media Contact:
Patrick Reilly
Phone: 212.901.6646
Patrick.Reilly@siriusxm.com
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SOURCE Sirius XM Holdings Inc.
/Web site: http://www.siriusxm.com
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November 05, 2019 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT)
