Global streaming music service Deezer has announced the appointment of Dr. Hans-Holger Albrecht as the company CEO. The hire culminates an eight-month leadership search that started when previous chief executive Axel Dauchez resigned in April to take the head spot at Publicis France.
Dr. Albrecht will assume Deezer’s top job on February 15, leaving his current position as President and CEO of Millicom International Cellular. Millicom is an international wireless company with 45-million customers.
“We will work towards continuing Deezer’s stellar trajectory in the context of a booming market, where streaming holds so much promise for the future of audio listening.” –Dr. Hans-Holger Albrecht, CEO, Deezer starting Feb. 15, 2015
The Brussels-born executive has worked in broadcasting, most notably in several leadership roles at Modern Times Group (MTG), a free- and pay-TV broadcaster also involved in radio and publishing. Dr. Albrecht was President and CEO of MTG from 2000 to 2012.
Didier Bench, Deezer Chairman, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Hans-Holger to Deezer. We’ve worked with him before and know he brings real expertise from the Telco, Entertainment and Services sectors in the workings of subscription models, video and Pay for TV, Radio and advertising.”
“It is with a tremendous sense of excitement that I take on the role of CEO of Deezer,” Albrecht said. “This is a company that has already built a substantial user base of 16 million people in more than 180 countries. It has come a long way already and become a thriving, pioneering company that is helping to redefine the way we all discover and enjoy music.”
Deezer has dipped its toe in the U.S. market this year, building partnerships with Sonos and Bose to deliver high-rez music streams through wireless speaker products.
Globally, Deezer serves a music library of 35-million songs to 16-million active users in a massive reach across 180 countries. In October, Deezer acquired podcast listening platform Stitcher.