• by Melynda Fuller , December 19, 2018

Following eight years with Wenner Media and 20 years in the publishing business, former Wenner CRO Michael Provus recently made the jump to music tech platform Music Audience Exchange (MAX) as its new CRO.

Provus told Publishers Daily he is excited to move to a company charting “the future of how branding music is going to work.”

After his time in the music space, Provus knew he didn’t want to leave that world. “Sometimes, people forget how powerful music is. Music has always been an untapped resource for revenue.”

MAX’s data-driven model attracted Provus to the company. “It’s what all clients want,” he added. MAX’s data model uses neural networks to match music tastes to demographic, geographic and behavioral attributes, among other traits.

Provus notes MAX puts the musicians at the forefront of promotional campaigns, asking those at the top how they’d like to connect with the platform’s audience. Publishers are usually at the mercy of the streaming services whose curators decide which artists make the most sense when it comes to promotion for the partner.

“There’s some data involved with that method,” said Provus, “but it isn’t as extensive as what we do.”

The MAX Platform has a database of more than 900 genres and 1.8 million artists. The platform also boasts a 14% engagement rate across social. The benchmark is 3%.

In his role as CRO at MAX, Provus will grow sales and operations teams, oversee brand marketing programs and work with large consumer brands and their agencies.

Regarding future work with publishers, Provus notes MAX currently buys space across websites, social media and other platforms to promote songs, artists and brand partnerships. “Future business models involving a publisher relationship could make a lot of sense.”