Apple Music Executive Ian Rogers To Exit

Music tech is experiencing a brain drain. What began as a trickle is starting to feel like a flood. Today came the news that music tech pioneer Ian Rogers, a key executive at Apple Music who also helped found Yahoo Music, Beats Music and Topspin, is exiting the music industry.

Ian Rogers is exiting Apple Music for an unnamed non-music company in Europe.  Rogers helped transition Beats 1 into Apple Music and was a key player in the launch of the service's most popular component, Beats 1 radio.

First reported by the Financial Times and confirmed by Apple without comment, Rogers was both a digital music pioneer and, with Topspin, a strong early advocate of direct to fan commerce.

Rogers is also a passionate music fan with eclectic taste. Playing in bands in high school, DJing at his college station and handling digital for the Beastie Boys long before most computers were connected to the net, its hard to imagine Rogers not working in the music industry.

He also seemed excited to be a part of Apple Music.  On launch day Rogers wrote on his personal blog:

"Seeing Apple Music on stage at WWDC this month […] it was hard not to feel like the last 20+ years was leading to this day."

If, in fact, Rogers is exiting the music industry, it is a significant loss.