San Francisco, CA

Spotify’s ubiquity in the streaming marketplace has unfortunately been dwarfed by their lack of public mascot such as Jay Z (and nearly every other high-profile artist) on TIDAL and Apple Music’s infinite reach for musicians who also double as celebrities.

That changed yesterday, June 6, when the news leaked that music manager tour de force Troy Carter was brought on to serve as the “global head of creator services.” According to Recode, he will directly report to Spotify chief content and strategy officer, Stefan Blom.

As a hungry music industry maven, Carter, 43, used his Philly roots and savvy to help jumpstart the careers of future platinum plaque earners, Eve, Floetry and Nelly. His big break — and claim to fame — arrived when he began to manage the career of a then unknown Lady Gaga and 10 million copies later (on the single “Just Dance” alone), he immediately became a name to know for every record label.

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Carter confidently embraced his new position (after he told Recode the leak was “premature”), writing on Facebook “I’m a firm believer that Spotify is the future for music. In my new role as Global Head of Creator Services, my job is just a natural continuation of what I’ve always done — protect the voice of artists. Always have and always will.”

He continued, “Through Atom Factory, my team will stay in place to run our tech, culture and hustle outlet SMASHD.co as well as launch a brand innovation agency. And through Smashd Labs and Cross Culture VC, I’ll still continue investing in great founders that have the ability to deliver next wave disruption to culture.”

Carter has worked with the likes of John Legend, Priyanka Chopra, Meghan Trainor and even guest starred as a Shark on Shark Tank last year.

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He previously worked as a Spotify proxy and his new role will be to primary handle artist/company relationships.