Musixmatch Appoints Rio Caraeff as Chief Business Officer

Industry Veteran Brings Nearly Three Decades of Leadership and Experience
Across the Music and Technology Landscape

November 30, 2023 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

BOLOGNA, Italy–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Musixmatch, a leading global music data platform, today announced the appointment of Rio Caraeff as Chief Business Officer. In this role, Caraeff will oversee all commercial activity across Musixmatch’s businesses globally, helping to define and execute the company’s strategic growth plans. He will also be responsible for managing and strengthening relationships with Musixmatch’s clients, partners, IP owners, and other stakeholders.

“Throughout my life, my focus has always been on supporting artists & creators and that ethos entirely aligns with Musixmatch’s mission”Post this

“With nearly three decades of experience working at the intersection of music, media, and technology, Rio brings to Musixmatch the knowledge and relationships to help accelerate our growth,” said Max Ciociola, Musixmatch Founder and CEO. “Rio is deeply passionate about the entire music ecosystem and his energy and excitement about his work has enabled his success at some of the most innovative and influential companies in our industry. I’m thrilled to welcome Rio to the Musixmatch team and look forward to partnering closely as we continue to empower songwriters and artists, while creating a more engaging and personalized listening experience for fans.”

As the CEO of Vevo, Caraeff helped to grow the company into one of the world’s largest all-premium music video and entertainment platforms. He has also served as Chief Commercial Officer at Syng, an early-stage spatial audio company that creates hardware and software products, and Chief Content Officer for Magic Leap. Prior to Co-Founding Vevo in 2009, Caraeff spent more than 20 years in technology, strategy, and new business development across all areas of entertainment for companies including Universal Music Group, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Digital Media Ventures, and Capitol Records Group.

“Throughout my life, my focus has always been on supporting artists & creators and that ethos entirely aligns with Musixmatch’s mission,” said Rio Caraeff. “Through the power of its global community, talented team, and state-of-the-art technology, Musixmatch has created one of the largest music datasets in the world. I couldn’t be more excited to join and build as there has never been a more vital time than now to create opportunities for artists and further our commitment in support of creators.”

Caraeff joins the Musixmatch team at a time of considerable momentum. With support from TPG and following a significant investment from TPG Growth, the firm’s middle market and growth equity platform, Musixmatch has grown in new geographies, launched Musixmatch Pro, a direct-to-artist SaaS product, and onboarded more than one million artists.

“Rio’s strong leadership track record and deep business-building expertise at both start-ups and some of the largest players in the music space will position him for success as he takes on the CBO role,” said Jacqui Hawwa, a Business Unit Partner at TPG Growth. “We are pleased to continue our partnership with Max, Rio, and the impressive team at Musixmatch as we advance our shared goals for the company.”

About Musixmatch

Founded in 2010 in Bologna by four computer science engineers and backed by TPG, Micheli Associati, P101 Venture, United Venture, and Piton Capital, Musixmatch features one of the world’s largest lyrics metadata collections, enhanced by additional metadata across 80+ languages. Today, Musixmatch has more than 140 employees across Italy and Europe.

About TPG

TPG is a leading global alternative asset management firm, founded in San Francisco in 1992, with $212 billion¹ of assets under management and investment and operational teams around the world. TPG invests across a broadly diversified set of strategies, including private equity, impact, credit, real estate, and market solutions, and our unique strategy is driven by collaboration, innovation, and inclusion. Our teams combine deep product and sector experience with broad capabilities and expertise to develop differentiated insights and add value for our fund investors, portfolio companies, management teams, and communities.

[1] As of September 30, 2023, including AUM attributable to TPG Angelo Gordon on a pro forma basis.