Bill Carr
VP of digital, music and video, Amazon
After overseeing years of growth, Amazon’s music guru looks for new opportunities
In the last five years, Amazon has doubled its music retail market share to more than 8%. Most of that growth has come from downloads, but as stores close or reduce space devoted to physical product, Amazon remains a place where CD shoppers can find both current titles and deep catalog.
But with the industry facing its first downturn in digital sales, Bill Carr, who heads up Amazon’s music and video efforts, says the company will look for “new ways to build the customer experience and re-ignite growth.” Industry label sources speculate that Amazon will launch an interactive service tied to its Prime service, or get into the Web radio space alongside Pandora and iTunes Radio. Amazon could also look to expand its Cloud Player offerings, as it did with a BMW deal.
Whatever Amazon does, Carr says it will be customer-driven. “It is up to us to do the hard work that delivers what they want.”