Apple Music Surpasses 40 Million Subscribers, Oliver Schusser Named New Head

Apple has today promoted Oliver Schusser to head of Apple Music Worldwide, while announcing that the music streaming service ha officially surpassed 40 million paid subscribers, Variety is reporting. 

Schusser, who has led efforts outside the U.S. related to the App Store, iTunes, iBooks, Podcasts and more, is now the vice president of Apple Music & International Content. He has previously held key positions at Bertelsmann, Universal, Napster and Vodafone.

Schusser will be reporting to Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, who had hired him at Apple nearly 14 years ago. In the U.K., Schusser played a key role in the acquisition of Shazam, which has yet to receive European regulatory approval. He will now relocate from London to California, splitting his time between Apple Park in Cupertino and Apple’s offices in Culver City.

Apple Music now counts more than 40 million paid subscribers in 115 countries. With some 8 million auditioning the service viafree trials, the service is gaining ground on its competitors — namely Spotify, which went public on April 3 — at a monthly growth rate of 5% (versus Spotify’s 2%), per a recent report in WSJ.

Following Oliver’s promotion, Apple marketing executive Tracey Hannelly will lead International, which services 155 markets.