Universal Music Group (UMG), the world’s leading music company, has promoted Simon Watt to Head of Technology. Rob Wells, President of Global Digital Business, made the announcement. The move is part of UMG’s continued expansion of its global digital operation.
Formerly, Mr. Watt served as Vice President of Technology for Universal Music Group International.
Based in Los Angeles, Mr. Watt will play a key role in assisting the ongoing globalization of UMG’s digital businesses and will continue to work closely major companies including Apple, Google, YouTube, Spotify and Microsoft.
“As the demand for digital music continues to grow, we are committed to working with those innovative companies in bringing new and dynamic services to fans everywhere,” Wells said in a statement. “And having a results-driven executive of Simon’s caliber and experience lead our technology group demonstrates that we’ve got the best talent in place to maximize many of these opportunities in the current marketplace.”
“This is an exciting time for music and technology and I am truly grateful to Rob for the opportunity to play an even larger role in shaping our digital business,” Watt added in his statement. “We have taken a more progressive approach to working with our technology partners, while at the same time, being very responsive to what our artists, consumers and retailers want. We are determined to help create, support and nurture the very best services in the world for fans and artists alike.”
Prior to joining Universal Music in 2004, Mr. Watt spent 11 years at electronics firm ARM, as Director of Research. He is the inventor of proprietary computing and microchip architecture and has 20 patents in his name, many of which are used in the ~5B ARM processors shipped annually.