Universal Music Group names Ty Roberts Chief Technology Officer

PRESS RELEASE:

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, announced today that veteran digital media innovator and entrepreneur Ty Roberts, who co-founded Gracenote, the world’s leading provider of entertainment data, has been appointed to the newly created role of Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, effective April 25.

Roberts will oversee UMG’s technology strategy and direct new initiatives that leverage the company’s extensive digital assets, infrastructure and data resources to develop new creative and commercial opportunities for the company’s artists and labels. Roberts will be based in Santa Monica and report to Michael Nash, Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy.

“It speaks volumes about the rapid evolution of Universal Music Group that a technology leader of Ty Roberts’s stature is joining our team,” Nash said. “I have followed Ty’s career with great admiration for over two decades and could not be more excited to have him bring his track-record of trailblazing innovation and transformative vision about the power of data to UMG at this critical juncture.”

“The intersection of music and technology is an extremely exciting space, full of promise and opportunity for artists and labels to create thrilling new experiences for fans, both directly and with our digital and consumer electronics partners,” Roberts said. “My goal is to build upon Universal Music’s existing leadership in technology and digital and make sure we’re poised to take full advantage of the vast opportunities that are ahead of us. I’m so thankful to Lucian Grainge and Michael Nash for trusting me with this important responsibility.”

Among his many accomplishments, Roberts is widely recognized as one of the inventors of the Enhanced CD, an important predecessor to today’s interactive digital formats, and he’s credited with producing some of the industry’s first multimedia titles with artists including David Bowie, Brian Eno, Todd Rundgren and The Residents.

Roberts most recently served as Gracenote’s Chief Strategy Officer and General Manager of Music, with oversight of a global team responsible for planning, strategy, and delivery of next-generation music data and technology solutions to many of the largest players in the digital music business including Apple, Sony, Spotify, Amazon, Microsoft and many others.

In 1998, Roberts joined Gracenote, the result of a merger between CDDB and ION, a multimedia music label that was part of Bertelsmann Music Group. Roberts was a Co-Founder and CEO of ION, and become a Co-Founder and CTO of Gracenote after the merger. Over the course of his tenure at Gracenote, now a Tribune Media subsidiary, it became the leading entertainment data company in the world powering music and video services globally. During its growth, Roberts developed deep relationships and experience working with media companies, digital services, consumer electronics manufacturers and the automotive industry.

Before Gracenote, Roberts held a number of senior positions at established and start-up technology companies, including helping to develop QuickTime at Apple, where he wrote code and worked with recording artists and songwriters including Michael Penn, Juliana Hatfield and other artists to develop multimedia videos.

In 1988, Roberts co-founded Lightsource Computer Images, a company that produced multimedia and graphics editing software, with a team of executives he met while working at Pixar. Prior to Pixar, Roberts developed music applications including “Studio Session” and “Jam Session.” He also has experience developing computer and console games, as well as educational software.