Apple Music has named Ole Obermann and Rachel Newman as the company’s new co-heads, a source close to the situation confirms to Variety. The news was first reported by Music Business Worldwide.
Obermann joins Apple Music after announcing his exit as global head of music business development at ByteDance, where he started as vice president and global head of music at TikTok. Obermann joined TikTok in 2019 from his previous post at Warner Music as chief digital officer, where he led the ship on major digital partnerships, helping expand commercial activities, and overseeing the creation of WMG Boost, the group’s seed-stage investment fund. Prior to Warner, Obermann spent a decade at Sony Music.
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Obermann will work with Newman, who has been working under the Apple Music umbrella for more than 16 years. She was most recently a global head of content and editorial. Newman’s career at Apple started when she was a manager for iTunes in Australia and New Zealand’s music division before becoming the head of global content strategy.
Meanwhile, Obermann guided TikTok through some of the company’s most contentious face-offs, most prominently their tense 2024 negotiation with Universal Music Group (which ended with a licensing agreement), and their dispute with Merlin, a digital rights agency representing independent labels.
Outside of its dominance as a DSP, Apple Music has been a leading sponsor and partner for the Super Bowl Halftime Show since 2022. This year’s show featured Kendrick Lamar, who showed out during his performance by enlisting SZA, Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams and Mustard as guests.
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