Spotify lost a key European executive this week: Euro VP Chris Maples, who had long been the face of Spotify's efforts in Europe, has left the company. The departure was first reported by the British communications industry publication Campaign, and Maples' Linkedin profile now says that he is looking for his "next adventure." The company didn't immediately respond to a question about succession plans for Maples.
In other Spotify news, CEO Daniel Ek said during a public appearance at a Fortune magazine conference this week that the company isn't likely to go public any time soon. An IPO is "not really a focus" for Spotify, Ek said, according to Yahoo News, adding that he doesn't believe Wall Street's focus on quarterly results would be a good thing for the company.
So what is Spotify interested in? Russia, apparently. At the same conference, Ek argued that Russia's social network VKontakte is also the biggest music service in the country, meaning that people turn to it to listen to free and unlicensed music. "If we can turn those people into paying customers, the music industry would thrive,” Ek said, according to Billboard.
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