Twitch has hired Spotify’s director of product management, Tracy Chan.
Chan has taken on the role of head of product and engineering for music at Twitch, which has become an increasingly important platform for livestreams during the Covid-19 lockdown.
At Spotify, Chan was primarily focused on leading product strategy and development for creator platforms and developing analytics tools for artists and labels, including Spotify for Artists and Spotify Analytics.
“I have spent my career building creator tools and I believe there is a massive opportunity to help artists connect with their fans through virtual performances and live streaming, which is what led me to Twitch,” said Chan. “Across the board, and especially at this moment in time, we are seeing disruption in the music industry as artists are having to find new ways to both make money and interact with fans. As Twitch looks to expand its offerings for music creators and within the music industry as a whole, I am confident that together with the team, we will be able to build the necessary tools to support artists now and as they continue to explore their new virtual stage.”
“The music category on Twitch has been growing organically for quite some time and we have some amazing artists and talent using the service to create and share live, interactive experiences with their fans,” said Michael Olson, SVP, head of music at Twitch. “At a fundamental level, Twitch was built for creators and we are investing more heavily in building unique product and monetization tools for our music creators. Tracy is joining our team at a critical moment as we continue to see growing interest from both new and established musical talent joining Twitch. His experience in developing video and music creator tools will be invaluable to our team as we pursue new ways to support artists and connect them to their fans around the world."
Chan’s startup CrowdAlbum, a social, photo, and video aggregator that created a visual history of musical events from around the world, was acquired by Spotify in 2016. Prior to founding CrowdAlbum, Chan was a product manager at YouTube, where he designed and launched YouTube Insight, the company’s analytics platform for Creators.
At Twitch, Chan is the newest addition to a growing music team under Olson. Chan will focus on evolving the Twitch experience specifically for live music and helping artists and fans better connect in real-time. Earlier this year, Athena Koumis, formerly of XITE and Spotify, also joined the team as the music partnerships manager.
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