Music industry insiders like Dr. Dre and Trent Reznor call him simply “The Swede.” Now the ultimate music tech veteran, Fredric Vinna, has left Spotify to join the team remaking Apple Music, and Apple is the place that most music tech observers believe he should have been all along.
____________________________________
Fredric Vinna was one of the co-creators of early music streaming service MOG. Beats bought MOG to build its own streaming service which eventually sold to Apple as part of a $3 billion deal. Somewhere along the way, Vinna exited to work with his Swedish countrymen at Spotify. Now comes word that he was wooed by Apple to join Reznor and the team relaunching Apple Music. Fire up Google translate to try to read more of a revealing interview with Vonna in Di Weekend.
Hat tip to Music Ally for unearthing the piece and this gem of a quote: “It was like we were going to build a Ferrari but had people who could build a go-kart,” says Vinna amid an anecdote about MOG boss David Hyman getting fired by Jimmy Iovine during a private-jet flight.