Based in New York, Parness will join Pandora in July, moving over from his role as Principal Content Acquisition Manager at Amazon – a role in which he led the company’s global music publishing initiatives and was instrumental in the launch of Prime Music.
Before Amazon, Parness served as Vice President of Music Licensing at Rhapsody – where he played a pivotal role in the acquisition of Napster and global expansion of the company.
In the latter half of 2015, Pandora made a number of strategic moves – including the acquisitions of Next Big Sound and Ticketfly (for $450m), plus the acquisition of key assets from Rdio (for $70m).
Particularly relevant to Parness will be the fact that 2015 also saw Pandora strike a series of direct music publishing deals with Sony/ATV, Warner/Chappell, SONGS Music Publishing and others – all seeting the groundwork for the launch of an on-demand streaming service in the US and beyond.
In a statement, Pandora said that would “play a pivotal role in continuing Pandora’s discussions and fostering ongoing relationships with songwriters and music publishers”.Music Business Worldwide
