SWITZERLAND (CelebrityAccess) – The CEO of music, tech, and artist company – Utopia Music, Markku Mäkeläinen has left the business, confirmed by Utopia on Tuesday (January 31). He has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since 2020.
Utopia Music is undergoing a management restructure as Utopia’s Founder Mattias Hjelmstedt is “taking on additional operational responsibilities to support the organization and the leadership team,” according to a media release, and will “assume leadership of Utopia until a new CEO has been appointed.”
MBW.com reports that Utopia has been split into two divisions: Music Services (including acquired businesses Sentric Music Group, Absolute Label Services, and Proper), and Royalty Platform, where Utopia’s in-house tech platform resides.
With that tech platform, which Utopia says monitors streams and airplay of music around the world, Utopia says it aims to be the “definitive partner for royalty processing and payments in the music industry”.
Roberto Neri, who is based in the UK and joined Utopia as its Chief Operations Officer (COO) in 2021, has been confirmed as the CEO of the Music Services division. In addition, the following changes have been made.
Tuva Palm has been appointed as an Executive Board Director to “support Mattias and the leadership team in product and tech matters while overseeing Utopia’s Communications and Public Relations strategy”. Palm joined Utopia in 2020.
Chief Architect Max Flach will lead the company’s tech organization moving forward, including Engineering, Data and IT. He was one of the original architects of Utopia Platform.
Tommy Fransson will lead Utopia’s Commercial department, including Sales, Product, Royalty Processing and Financial Services.
Greger Hagelin will lead Business Development at Utopia. He founded the international fashion brand WESC, expanding it into 35 countries. Hagelin was Utopia’s 3rd employee and has always done utmost for the company. He will be enabled to excel even further in this new organizational setup.
Tonio Bahner is the new Head of Corporate Services, responsible for HR, Legal and Compliance.
Hjelmstedt, Executive Chairman and Founder of Utopia Music, said: “The changes to our leadership team mark an exciting next step in Utopia’s journey. This group of highly talented people bring unparalleled experience building and scaling companies – many of them have worked alongside me and Thomas for years, helping to realize Utopia’s mission of Fair Pay for Every Play.”
“With continued strong support from our shareholders, Utopia is now optimizing for the future. We have a solid team. We are faster, leaner and hyper-focused on delivering value to our customers and partners. We owe it to the music industry to get this right.”
“I, together with Utopia’s Board, want to express our thanks and appreciation to Markku for the commitment, passion, and dedication he’s shown during his time at Utopia.”
