Alex White, co-founder and CEO of the widely-used music analytics program Next Big Sound, will serve as the program’s Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Spring 2016 semester.
Larry Miller, director of the Music Business Program at NYU Steinhardt, today announced that Alex White, co-founder and CEO of the widely-used music analytics program Next Big Sound, will serve as the program’s Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Spring 2016 semester. White, who sold his company to radio streaming service Pandora (NASDAQ: P) earlier this year, will engage in teaching, and mentoring activities in the graduate course on music analytics and data science at NYU Steinhardt.
“Technology has revolutionized how we access music, yet the industry is still struggling with how to accurately measure, monitor, and monetize music consumption, creating all sorts of opportunities for industry-disrupting applications and business models in the coming years,” said Miller. “At age 29, Alex has not only established himself as one of the leading pioneers in next wave data analytics but he’s also proven he can create and grow a successful enterprise in this rapidly-changing industry. And as somebody who started his business while still in college, there’s no doubt his insight and experiences will serve as both a huge inspiration and a critical resource for our students.”
“I’ve been a friend of the Steinhardt Music Business Program for several years and I’ve been impressed with its practical approach as well as the caliber of its students, so I look forward to getting more involved with the community and learning from the students as we all navigate the ever-changing music industry,” said White, who will co-teach a class entitled Data Analysis in the Music Industry in the spring semester.
White co-founded Next Big Sound with David Hoffman and Samir Rayani in 2008 while in his last semester at Northwestern University. The program quickly gained traction and now powers the Social 50 and the Next Big Sound charts in Billboard. In 2015, the company was acquired by Pandora Media, the world’s largest radio streaming company with more than 80 million active users, $1billion in annual revenue, and a market capitalization of $2.8 billion.
As the Head of Next Big Sound at Pandora, Alex White oversees a NYC-based team of two dozen data engineers, designers, product managers, and data scientists focused on prediction research and cross-platform performance measurement. The team’s mission to make all the data that’s available about every artist in the world useful to music makers and Pandora’s brand clients.
White and his co-founders have been featured in Fast Company as the #1 most innovative company in the music industry, 2015;, the Forbes 30 under 30 in the music category three times; Billboard’s 10 Best Music Companies; Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s 25 Under 25; and Entrepreneur Magazine’s 30 under 30 list. White sits on the NY Board of Little Kids Rock.
About the NYU Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions
Steinhardt’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, established in 1925, instructs over 1,600 students majoring in music and performing arts programs. Music and Performing Arts Professions serves as NYU’s “school” of music and is a major research and practice center in music technology, music business, music composition, film scoring, songwriting, music performance practices, performing arts therapies, and the performing arts-in-education (music, dance, and drama).