Following Live Nation’s recent acquisition of data kingpin BigChampagne, the company has announced the hiring of Ethan Kaplan to the position of VP Products. Kaplan was previously SVP of Emerging Technology at Warner Music Group.
In an article on Fastcompany.com, BigChampagne founder and newly minted GM of livenation.com Eric Garland said:
“We’re extending what we know about people, relevant experiences–in this case, live events–and proximity for things happening near by you, and we’re going to apply our real-time analytics engine to solving those fan problems,” Garland says. “Right now we’re on the hunt for superstar talent in the product areas, and my first superstar is Ethan Kaplan, who looks like a walking Eric Ries book in black rim glasses.”
What products the company may unroll in the future is still unclear, though BigChampagne’s popular Ultimate Chart will likely factor in somehow. Live Nation plans to take advantage of BigChampagne’s large stores of consumer data and connect fans to artists and events.
