SPOTIFY WAVES THE ITALIANO FLAG

J.J. Italiano is returning to Spotify, this time in the role of Head of Global Hits after recent stints with YouTube and Sony Music. He starts 5/30.

Italiano will lead the Global Hits team, which includes Editorial Lead Becky Bass and Senior Editor Andrea Gavrilovic. He will report to Sulinna Ong, the recently named Global Head of Editorial, who is moving stateside to work out of Spotify’s new Los Angeles office.

Italiano was Spotify’s Head of Music Culture and Editorial for North America from January 2017 to September 2019. He then spent six months consulting for Sony Music before taking his most recent job, Head of Music Programming–North America at YouTube. He got his start in the streaming business at YMU in 2016.

Daniel Ek secured Italiano’s services by leaving a pristine rendition of Dean Martin’s “Return to Me (Ritorna-Me)” on his voice mail.