Spotify Nabs Dealmaking Exec From 21st Century Fox

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Hypebot) – Spotify has been without a head of global business development for almost a year, following the departure of Gerrit Meir, who lasted just 12 months. The position has finally been filled by Jorge Espinel, who for 4 years has worked in digital strategy at 21st Century Fox and News Corp,

Espinel will lead the important charge to sign new partners to help grow Spotify's user base, according to AllThingsD. It's a role he'll find increasingly difficult, as competition grows and the industry waits to measure the impact of next month's iTunes Radio launch.

The latest stats from Spotify:

Paying subscribers: Over 6 million
Active users: Over 24 million
Ratio of paying subscribers to active free users: Over 20%
Revenue paid to rights holders since launch: $500m
Number of songs: Over 20 million*
Number of songs added per day: Over 20,000
Number of playlists: Over 1 billion created so far
Spotify is available in: 28 countries – USA, UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Iceland.