Creator-Focused Entrepreneur Camille Hearst Departs Patreon To Head Up ‘Spotify For Artists’

Camille Hearst, an entrepreneur whose digital creator-focused startup Kit was acquired by Patreon, has now landed at Spotify.

Hearst has been named head of Spotify For Artists — a platform and standalone app that enables artists to manage their presence on the platform, promote new releases, and which also furnishes statistics, insights, and other educational resources, per Variety. Musicians who are accepted into the Spotify For Artists program are also verified. Hearst, for her part, will oversee product, tech, design, and user research with respect to the tool, based in New York and reporting to Spotify’s VP and head of marketplace, Charlie Hellman.

Hearst most recently served as head of product and creator and GM of merch at Patreon. Patreon acquired Hearst’s Kit in 2018 — a platform that enables creators like Casey Neistat and MKBHD to curate their favorite products into easily shoppable lists for fans. Creators can then collect affiliate earnings on every purchase transacted. Patreon, which viewed its purchase of Kit as an acqui-hire to develop its own merch offering, subsequently sold Kit’s assets to Geniuslink, which creates trackable affiliate links for content creators. Hearst and the rest of her team remained at Patreon after the sale.

Prior to founding Kit, Hearst held marketing and product management roles at YouTube and iTunes.

“I’ve spent almost the entirety of my career working on helping artists and creators make a living from their craft,” Hearst shared on Twitter. “And now I get to continue that work at one of the companies best-positioned to make a serious dent in this space.”

In addition to providing promotional tools and metrics, Spotify For Artists most recently announced Artist Fundraising Pick, which helps musicians raise money for themselves, collaborators, or charities. The tool was launched to help beset revenues lost amid the coronavirus pandemic, and enables artists to add donation links on their profiles via the Cash App, GoFundMe, or PayPal, Variety reports.