“Today I truly understand what ‘mixed emotions’ means,” Gutierrez tweeted after the hiring announcement. “But I’m really excited to join the Spotify team!”
The former Microsoft lawyer joins at a challenging time for Spotify. The company became the subject of a highly-publicized lawsuit over royalty payments in December, and that topic is unlikely to fade from the streaming music discussion any time soon. However, Gutierrez did work on patent licensing pushes at the tech company; perhaps that experience will translate into mechanical and performance licensing as well.