VEVO Names Erik Huggers To CEO Position

Vevo employees will now report to a new head honcho. The online music video hub has hired Erik Huggers as new Chief Executive Officer, effective April 30, 2015.

Huggers will take over the duties of interim CEO Alan Price, who filled the position for a few months after the departure of former topper Rio Caraeff. As Vevo’s new chief, Huggers will be responsible for overseeing all of Vevo’s business ventures; pursuing new product, content, and branding initiatives; and growing upon the company’s pre-existing relationships with its audience and marketing partners.

“We are enormously excited about the future of Vevo under Erik’s leadership,” said Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, in a statement on behalf of the Vevo ownership group. “We are committed to continued support and investment in the long term success of the company. Vevo has developed into the world’s music video leader that reaches music fans on all devices. With a proven track record of innovation, Erik has the perfect skillset to grow the Vevo business.”

“I am truly grateful to Vevo’s owners for this incredible opportunity,” added Huggers. “The Vevo team has built the leading video service that has been embraced by passionate music fans around the world. I believe there is great potential in accelerating innovation to delight audiences with new product features and premium content. This is an exciting new chapter for myself and Vevo.”

Huggers comes to Vevo with plenty of previous leadership experience. He held the position of senior vice president of Verizon’s OnCue business, acquired from Intel. Prior to Verizon, Huggers worked on OnCue at Intel as president of the tech company’s media department. Additionally, Vevo’s new CEO has held online video leadership roles at BBC, Endemol Entertainment, and Microsoft.

Since the company’s inception, Vevo has seen 468 music videos from 170 different artists receive over 100 million views each. And as of January 2015, Vevo claimed over 10 billion monthly video views across all its platforms.