Archive for December, 2011

7digital To Expand North American Operations

Posted in API, B2B Services, B2C services on December 15th, 2011 by alexcorradi – Be the first to comment

7digital will be expanding its North American operation and opening US offices beginning January 2012 in response to its growing business.

Leading the stateside effort will be newly appointed President of 7digital North America, Vickie Nauman, who has been serving as Vice President since Q4 2009 when the company acquired its US and Canadian music rights. Nauman will oversee business development, strategy, partnerships, label relations, and marketing. As a partner-friendly company, 7digital seeks to expand its growing base of clients and strategic partners that currently includes T-Mobile USA, HP, RIM, Samsung, Songbird, AOL’s Winamp, and Fantrail. Through the use of 7digital’s platform, hundreds of worldwide clients have built music initiatives on 7digital’s API platform (Application Programming Interface), designed to simplify the integration of music into third party efforts.

“The last two years have been full of constant change in the digital landscape, and we’ve been steadily building our profile and partnerships in the US and Canada,” comments Ben Drury 7digital CEO and co-founder, “Vickie has led these efforts and will now lead an expanded presence with new staff and office. We look forward to being able to provide enhanced services to our customers and partners in 2012.”

Commenting on the North American business, Nauman says, “The US market has its own dynamics and needs, and as the digital music market evolves, it’s getting more difficult to find neutral, strategic partners, which is precisely the role we fulfill. We have now established a significant number of North American-based clients as well as a growing business selling 320K MP3s on 7digital.com. Everyone wants a best-in-class experience, a complete music catalog, and a mix of music ownership and cloud-based services, and we are uniquely positioned to deliver this globally.”

Nauman joined 7digital from Sonos, where she established global partnerships between wireless digital music system for the home with music companies Last.fm, Spotify, SiriusXM, RadioTime, Pandora, Rhapsody, Napster, and Deezer. Prior to Sonos, Nauman managed an international and media-focused consultancy CrossBorderWorks, created the online services for boutique Seattle radio station KEXP, served on the product team of MusicNet at RealNetworks, and earned a 2006 MBA through the London School of Economics, New York University, and HEC-Paris, in the collaborative executive program TRIUM.

All technology and platform operations will remain in the company’s London headquarters and a small team will manage all partnerships and business in the North American market. Nauman will remain based in Los Angeles, and the team will likely have presence on both the west and east coast as well as maintain its dedicated North American team in London.