Two Google executives, one former and one current, are getting (very) close to Spotify, according to a report from Re/code this afternoon.
Omid Kordestani, Google’s current interim chief business officer, will be joining Spotify’s board, according to Re/code’s sources. Shishir Mehrota, a VP of product at YouTube and VP of video at Google, will also reportedly be taking on an advisory role for the streaming service.
The move is surprising in that Google, via YouTube, has been prepping a music streaming service, planned for launch sometime this year. Indications are that Spotify would be a principal competitor to that new business. However, depending on the nature of YouTube’s forthcoming music service, it may be that the two companies won’t be in direct competition with each other — if YouTube’s service is principally focused on music videos, for instance.
Spotify refused to comment on the report. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
