Spotify’s vp and co-head of music Marian Dicus is leaving the company for a vp of marketing role at Netflix, Spotify and Netflix confirm to Billboard.
Dicus and Jeremy Erlich have led Spotify's music initiatives since September 2019, after being appointed to the roles in the wake of the departure of Nick Holmsten, Spotify's former global head of music. Spotify says Erlich will lead the music division solo going forward. Dicus will join Netflix in July and will report to CMO Bozoma Saint John.
“Marian is an exceptional marketer, with a diverse background of experiences from which she brings a unique and intuitive approach to strategic and creative marketing," Saint John says in a statement to Billboard.
Before her current role, Dicus was Spotify's global head of artist & label services for two years, and has been at Spotify since 2013, previously leading consumer and content marketing, a role she will return to at Netflix. Before joining Spotify, Dicus was a director of marketing at J.Crew, and spent nine years in marketing and operation roles at Condé Nast.
Spotify has seen considerable growth during Dicus' term co-leading music, increasing its user base from 248 million monthly active users in October 2019 to over 356 million monthly active users as of April 2021. It has also grown its paid subscribers -- which still brings in most of Spotify’s revenue -- from 113 million in 2019 to 158 million this year.
Dicus and Erlich had a major role in Spotify’s Stream On event back in February, where the company announced its upcoming Hi-Fi service and an expansion into 85 new countries. While podcasting has been an increasing focus at Spotify as it pivots to an “audio” company, music is still the breadwinner and will continue to be a major focus for Spotify and its investors for the foreseeable future.
Chris Brown has been ordered to pay close to $13 million in damages after a widely watched civil lawsuit tied to a brutal dog attack at his California residence. A Los Angeles jury ruled that the American singer and his company, Black Pyramid LLC, were negligent after his 200 pound Caucasian shepherd allegedly attacked his housekeeper, Maria Avila. According to Billboard, the decision concludes a hard fought two week trial centered on the devastating incident that took place in 2020.
The case focused on a terrifying incident at Brown's home in Tarzana, where the dog, Hades, reportedly mauled Avila as she was taking out the household trash. The attack left her with permanent facial injuries, serious nerve damage, and partial vision loss. During the trial, jurors heard testimony claiming Brown drove away from the property shortly after the attack instead of helping Avila or contacting emergency responders. Brown later admitted he left because his manager advised him to do so, explaining that he panicked after seeing the amount of blood and wanted to avoid attracting media attention.
Although Brown accepted a measure of responsibility before the trial began, his legal team challenged how severe Avila's injuries were and argued that she shared some of the blame. Brown said he had warned employees that the guard dogs were extremely dangerous, but both Avila and her sister rejected that claim, saying no such warning was ever communicated because of a language barrier. Avila also told the court that the lasting scars on her arm and the emotional trauma she continues to experience have made it impossible for her to return to work.
Billboard also reported that the jury awarded an additional $885,000 to Avila's sister, Patricia, who witnessed the attack, as well as $50,000 to Maria's husband, Oscar Olivo. Attorneys representing the family said they were grateful for the outcome, describing the verdict as long awaited justice after five years of legal proceedings. The ruling comes as Brown remains on a major North American tour and ahead of a separate criminal trial he is expected to face in the United Kingdom later this year over an alleged nightclub incident.
