Last week, the Financial Times exclusively reported the sudden departure of key Apple Music executive Ian Rogers, but its sources couldn’t say where he was headed. Now we know: According to sources speaking with Re/code, Rogers will move to Paris to take up a new role at a French luxury company.
Ian Rogers will serve as the chief digital officer of LVHM, which is the holding company behind iconic luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Bulgari.
Apple has some connections with LVMH, as it has recruited people from there. You may recall that Apple poached the sales director for watch brand TAG Heuer last year.
However, this is quite an interesting change, because Rogers has spent his entire life working with digital music. He started by helping the Beastie Boys to get online, then ran Yahoo Music for some while, only to become Beats Music’s CEO before Apple acquired it in 2014. After the acquisition, he joined Apple and played a key role in orchestrating Apple Music, focusing particularly on Beats 1 online radio.
