For the second time this spring, scuffling record label EMI Group has dipped into the Bay Area technology talent pool to refresh its digital strategy. Cory Ondrejka, one of the co-creators of the Second Life virtual world, has been named senior vice president of digital strategy at EMI, and follows former Google chief information officer Douglas Merrill to the label.
While Merrill is a self-proclaimed music nut, Ondrejka confesses to being a somewhat more passive listener who's bought only five records this decade, including three albums by Toronto-based prog-rockers Rush. (Ondrejka credits a few friends with tipping him off whenever there's a new Rush album. Wonder if Merrill, who apologized for his part-Canadian, part-Arkansan accent at a Digital NARM music panel, is one of them.) And although Ondrejka explicitly states that he and Merrill share a common goal of improving the music customer's experience at EMI, both come from jobs where they figured out ways to make money by providing free services. (Registration for Second Life is free, although users typically can't get very far without ponying up for virtual land and other goods).
According to Ondrejka's CV, he left Second Life creator Linden Lab sometime in 2007, and has since worked as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Catamount Ventures, one of its investors. He was also a visiting professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication during the spring semester.
EMI, reportedly undermanned and struggling to complete deals, is in position to experiment in the digital sphere, and became the first of four major labels to insist that Apple's iTunes store carry its music without DRM last year. Ondrejka is already familiar with the idea that customers choose the easiest path to owning or hearing music; he writes that when he finally caved and bought the new R.E.M. album this year, he did it via Amazon.com because their service was "slightly easier [than iTunes'] and made it clear the download wasn't broken via DRM." -- Paul Bonanos
See Cory Ondrejka's June 9 blog post announcing his new job
See May 7 post on Douglas Merrill's Digital NARM appearance from Tech Confidential
See April 2 post EMI hiring Merrill from Tech Confidential
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