Rio Caraeff is the President and CEO of VEVO. His website is an online home to, and distributor of over 50,000 HD-quality music videos from over 11,000 of the most popular musicians around the globe. Those music videos are seen an aggregate of more than three billion times per month by over 250 million global viewers, all of whom spend at least an hour every thirty days watching VEVO programming on VEVO.com, on VEVO’s mobile site, and/or on one of the music video destination’s many distribution outlets.
All those stats in the paragraph above are takeaways from Caraeff and VEVO’s stellar presentation at the Digital Content NewFronts (which, among other highlights, featured a closing set by nine-time Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter John Legend). But one of the most interesting takeaways wasn’t about Caraeff’s company. It was about Caraeff.
The under-40-year-old, 20-or-so-year veteran of the music industry kicked off the event by giving the audience insight into why he’s so passionate about music. Many individuals can claim music and musicians had a profound impact on their upbringings, but few can say they were actually brought up by it and them.
Turns out Rio Caraeff is the son of famous rock and roll photographer, illustrator, and graphic designer Ed Caraeff, who got his start taking pictures of music legends one day while he was a high schooler with a camera at a concert where Jimi Hendrix got ahold of some lighter fluid.
So, while many persons have childhood memories of listening to the works of rock legends, Rio has childhood memories of them reading him bedtime stories. That seems to be why he’s devoted a large portion of his life to the music industry, and why he’s working so hard to bring more high-quality music and talented new musicians to the masses via VEVO. Music just isn’t a part of his life, it’s a part of him.
Check out the Tubefilter Calendar for a complete schedule of the Digital Content NewFronts, and be sure to consult Tubefilter’s Complete Guide to DCNF 2012 for all the latest news.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Photo Credit: One of the most iconic images of all time by Ed Caraeff.
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