Here’s an Interesting Job Posting: Head of Global Playlist Strategy

All of us have spent time putting together playlists and mixtapes for ourselves and others, something that can be a lot of fun. But what if you could make a living at that?

I did for a while–well, very part-time–as the head of curation for Songza Canada, a job that disappeared when the company was bought by Google and integrated into Google Play Music. I managed a team of about a dozen people who were assigned various playlist constructions, which were then pushed up the chain to folks in New York who would ultimately give them the thumbs up/down judgement.

It was fun, but it was an awful lot harder that you might realize.  The Songza brass had very high standards, so you really had to know your stuff when it came to choosing exactly the right songs for the right moment, mood and activity. And because each playlist had to be at least three-and-a-half hours long, it took some time to perfect even a single playlist.

Which brings me to this job posted at Music Business Worldwide:

Sony Music Entertainment is a global recorded music company with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars, as well as a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. Sony Music Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

ROLE OVERVIEW:

The music landscape is quickly transitioning to streaming consumption and consumers are changing their listening habits and gravitating towards creating their own playlists or listening to playlists created by others. Sony Music is looking for an individual to drive a targeted and forward-thinking playlist strategy. The Director, Global Playlisting Strategy is a newly created role that will sit in the Global Digital Partner Development team. The role will be responsible for driving strategy for playlisting across key streaming partners. The role will lead a rigorous analytical process to better understand playlisting performance and will collaborate with label management and territory sales and digital teams in order to drive a unified playlisting strategy for Sony Music. The role will manage a dedicated analyst.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Analyze and drive insight on playlisting behavior across key digital accounts.
• Establish metrics to measure performance of playlists and educate SME stakeholders on metrics in order to establish a more effective playlisting approach.
• Drive recommendations for approach to playlist resourcing in order to maximize revenue and return on investment.
• Present specific conclusions driven from playlist data to a wide range of SME stakeholders, including the executive team

If you read on, you’ll see that the posting also says “MBA preferred, not required.”

Sounds like a lot more complicated than making a mixtape. Any takers?