Fredrik Nystrom from PlusFourSix becomes General Manager for WiMP Sweden
Music Service WiMP has hired entrepreneur Fredrik Nystrom, from digital entertainment company PlusFourSix, as the new General Manager for WiMP in Sweden. Nystrom has over twelve years of experience in the music and mobile industries and is now taking over responsibility for the Swedish expansion of WiMP. He begins his new role on the 16th of January.
Nystrom began working with music and mobile phones in 2000, when he was a sales manager in the mobile entertainment company Mobile Hits, which was later acquired by Aspiro in 2003. Nystrom then started up PlusFourSix with two friends, where he held a number of positions including CEO, VP sales and Marketing, Creative Director and EVP Strategic partnerships. Nystrom also co-founded the leading digital music distribution company, X5 Music, which recently was recognized for having the second most releases on the Billboard Top 50 classical albums in the U.S. last year (after Universal Music). In 2008, Nystrom also started the Global Media Bank for content operations, among others serving Sony Ericsson, Spotify and Kiwi.
"Fredrik Nystrom is a person we have long known through the industry and who is considered talented and respected both in Sweden and internationally. We are therefore delighted that he now takes the role as General Manager for WiMP Sweden", says Aspiro's CEO Gunnar Sellæg.
As General Manager for WiMP Sweden, Nystrom's responsibility will be to grow WiMP in Sweden through own channels and for new and existing partnerships.
"I see it as an extreme challenge that I feel ready for. I'm incredibly happy and excited to have the opportunity to realize the potential within WiMP and increase the number of users in Sweden. In addition, I look forward to working with a nice bunch of people and take part of a team that is expanding globally. In my role, I'm going to build our position in the Swedish market, accelerate existing partnerships and find new ones", says Nystrom.
Former Head of WiMP Sweden Fredrik Zmuda, who was hired in March 2011, passes into the role as Managing Editor of the Swedish WiMP. Zmuda was hired based on his experience in the music industry and his passion to inspire people to discover music in WiMP, and has the primary responsibility to shoulder WiMP's editorial profile and cooperation with music companies.
"My role will be the same as before, except that Fredrik Nystrom now takes over responsibility for commercial partners, which feels really good. My core is in the music and I will continue to ensure that WiMP has the best content, and that every day it is fun for users to discover music. We constantly work to elevate our editorial content to the next level", says Fredrik Zmuda.
WiMP is growing rapidly and is currently live in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and also in Portugal (but there under a different brand name). The service is planned to launch in, among other territories, Germany, Ireland and Benelux. WiMP's focus is to help users find music in the huge library with millions of songs. In July 2011, WiMP was elected the world's best music service at the Meffy Awards in London.
For more information, please contact: Kristin Castillo Eldnes, Head of Corporate communication and IR, Tel: +47 908 07 389, kristin.eldnes@aspiro.com or Gunnar Sellæg, CEO, +47 901 81 528, gunnar.selleg@aspiro.com
About Aspiro
Aspiro has unique positioning as the world’s only provider of complete TV and music streaming services for partners that want to put their own branding on the service. Aspiro also provides the music streaming service WiMP directly to consumers on selected markets. Aspiro has over ten years’ experience in mobile technology and retail in northern Europe, and delivers services to partners worldwide like Deutsche Telekom, Telenor, 3, TeliaSonera, the BBC, Entel and Canal Digital. Aspiro is listed on Nasdaq OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm.
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