Twitch Head of Music Tracy Chan exits, joins SoundCloud to lead platform’s global Creator business – Music Business Worldwide

SoundCloud has appointed music industry veteran Tracy Chan as Senior Vice President of Creator.

Chan’s appointment at SoundCloud means that he’s exiting his role at Twitch as Head of Music. Chan joined the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform in 2020 from Spotify, where he was Director of Product Management.

In a media statement announcing the news, SoundCloud President Eliah Seton calls Chan’s appointment, “a game-changing addition to [the] leadership team at SoundCloud”.

In his new role, SoundCloud says that Chan will oversee the platform’s Creator ecosystem globally, including tools, services, products and offerings.

Reporting directly to SoundCloud President, Eliah Seton, and serving on the company’s executive leadership team, SoundCloud says that Chan will be responsible for “evolving a feature-rich Creator product for independent artists as they take their careers to the next level on and off SoundCloud”.

Under Chan’s leadership at Twitch, the platform struck partnerships with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, indie label agency Merlin, the National Music Publishers Association and more.

Chan joined Twitch from Spotify where he was the Director of Product Management, leading product strategy and development for Creator platforms and building analytics tools for artists and labels, including Spotify for Artists and Spotify Analytics.

Chan’s startup CrowdAlbum, a social, photo, and video aggregator that created a “visual history” of musical events from around the world, was acquired by Spotify in 2016.

Prior to founding CrowdAlbum, Chan was a product manager at YouTube, where he designed and launched YouTube Insight, the company’s flagship analytics platform for Creators

Chan’s appointment at SoundCloud comes at an interesting time for the platform.

In February, MBW told you all about how SoundCloud is becoming more of an artist services business.

In the press release announcing Chan’s hire, SoundCloud claims to be, “the only artist services company and direct-to-consumer music-streaming service for fans, holding a direct relationship with artists and listeners, strategically positioning itself to create new opportunities directly with independent artists”.

SoundCloud also recently launched a new top-tier of artist service offerings, known as its “roster” which sees particularly successful independent artists – including Lil Pump and Tekno – ‘sign’ direct to SoundCloud.

These deals see the company pay advances and invest in artist marketing etc. (just as a traditional record label might).

In February, SoundCloud added a new element to its artist services business via a joint venture with Solid Foundation, the management and creative services arm of QC Media Holdings, which says it will work collaboratively with SoundCloud to identify, invest in, and foster the careers of artists bubbling up on the platform.

“This is a game-changing addition to our leadership team at SoundCloud. No one has built, launched and scaled more value-added products and services for creators than Tracy.”

Eliah Seton 

Eliah Seton said: “This is a game-changing addition to our leadership team at SoundCloud. No one has built, launched and scaled more value-added products and services for creators than Tracy

“Tracy has successfully built and established creator products for some of the biggest entertainment and tech companies in the world and we’re extremely excited to have him bring his talents to SoundCloud.”

“My previous experiences focused on helping artists thrive in the existing music economy. Now, at SoundCloud, my mission is building the new music economy to help artists thrive.”

Tracy Chan

Chan added: “It’s a momentous time to join SoundCloud; a pioneering company that has continuously innovated and deepened its commitment to providing the best-in-class services and offerings that advance the careers of artists around the world.

“My previous experiences focused on helping artists thrive in the existing music economy. Now, at SoundCloud, my mission is building the new music economy to help artists thrive.”

 Music Business Worldwide