Ex-Spotify Australia MD Kate Vale lands new North American gig

Kate Vale, who set up Spotify in Australia and New Zealand, been officially announced as managing director of the North American operations of Epidemic Sound.

The company licenses music for content creators. Vale remains based in Los Angeles.

“We’re thrilled Kate has joined the Epidemic team,” said co-founder and CEO of Epidemic, Oscar Höglund.

“We knew straight away she was the right person for the role given her track record of taking individual markets from zero to hundreds of employees, scaling companies into the thousands worldwide.

“We’re delighted to have her on board our journey to Soundtrack the World.”

Her LinkedIn page suggests she began working at the company a few months ago.

“Since joining, I’ve been incredibly impressed by the potential of Epidemic’s product, people and mission," added Vale. "It’s the perfect time for me to join the team and I’m excited to continue building out our presence in the US over the coming months and beyond.”

Vale joined Spotify in November 2011 and, as its first local managing director, launched its Australian and New Zealand operations as the streaming giant’s 14^th and 15^th markets.

In January 2015, Vale said Spotify was adding 60,000 Australian users per week and claimed a high conversion rate from freemium users (which she said at the time made up 70% in ANZ) to premium subscribers.

In 2016 she moved to Los Angeles as her husband Justin Viles wanted to expand his transaction marketing business Rokt into the US, continuing to run the ANZ operations from there.

She resigned in May 2017 looking for opportunities “outside the business.”

Before joining Spotify, Vale was Google’s first Australian employee and headed YouTube here in 2009 and 2010.

She grew its local team “from zero employees to well over 500 when I departed the company.”