Nina Rabe-Cairns leaves Spotify for Universal-owned Ingrooves

After becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Music Group in 2019, global distributor Ingrooves are preparing to double-down, Down Under.

The artist and label services business, founded in 2002, has appointed Nina Rabe-Cairns as country manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Rabe-Cairns arrives at Ingrooves after a good run at Spotify, where she was first a senior editor of its playlists and then manager of market strategy and operations.

She’s also the second senior Spotify staffer to depart Daniel Ek’s kingdom for a label executive role this year. As first reported by TMN last week, Sophie Paterson also left for a gig at Sony Music.

Ingrooves has been proactively growing its global footprint after opening offices in Brazil, Japan and South Korea and increasing its presence in the Nordics earlier this year.

Ingrooves CEO, Bob Roback, said hiring Rabe-Cairns is all part of a bigger, global plan.

“Nina brings with her a wealth of expertise and deep relationships throughout this important music market that will be crucial to our ongoing expansion in the region,” said Roback.

A former journalist and news presenter, Rabe-Cairns spent two years in marketing and content at Viacom, working across Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central before joining Spotify.

“I know from working directly with them over the past few years that Ingrooves’ platform and capabilities are unparalleled in the music business,” said Rabe-Cairns.

The digital distro and services sector is becoming a competitive and crowded arena of late, with local teams installed by AWAL, Ditto, Believe and Sony-owned The Orchard over recent years.

Universal had been a client, partner and minority investor in Ingrooves since 2006, before swallowing it up completely some three years later.

Roback said the takeover by UMG last February represented the very best possible outcome for the business and its artist and label partners.

“With UMG, we are gaining the resources, global reach and technology to take those efforts to another level,” he said at the time.