Clive Gardiner

Current

• SVP of Digital Music at We7
• VP of Digital Music at We7

Education

• Henley Business School
• University of Westminster

Recommended

10 people have recommended Clive

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Entertainment

Websites

• My Company

Clive Gardiner’s Summary

According to Hitwise (Sep 2009), we7 is now the #1 most accessed UK music website according to page views and the #5 according to visits (overtaking NME). we7 has grown more than 2000% since its UK launch in November 2008.

Clive Gardiner puts the musical heart and soul into we7, drawing upon more than 20 years experience in building ‘best-of-class’ propositions in digital, entertainment media and fmcg.

Adept at balancing commercial and creative considerations, and with specialist knowledge in management, marketing and business development, Clive is responsible for we7’s music strategy, industry reputation and customer face including licensing, label relations, music programming and all on-site promotions including editorial. Acknowledged as a leading figure and pioneer in digital music, Clive has built expert knowledge of all aspects of the music and entertainment media industry with significant hands-on international exposure.

Starting as a musician, music programmer and video producer, Clive has since built broad, cross-functional senior executive experience gained from regional product management and business development roles in Europe (at Pioneer) and Asia (for BMG), 3 Managing Director positions at BMG and Cafedirect and 6 years at Board level. Clive has consistently defined and executed strategy which has delivered exceptional results in multinationals, SMEs, startups, turnarounds and a plc. Achievements at BMG included breaking all-time music industry national sales records,and defining a branding template which was used internationally to break new artists into Asia.

In 2005 Clive took a career break to achieve an Executive MBA at Henley Business School. Afterwards he joined fmcg brand Cafedirect plc - one of the UK's most ethical companies - as UK MD, where he transformed financial performance in 12 months through new corporate positioning, change management and a total product range rebrand.

Clive Gardiner’s Experience

• SVP of Digital Music

  We7

  (Privately Held; Music industry)

  March 2009 — Present (9 months)

  Clive has two main areas of responsibility at we7 :-
  
  Firstly he defines we7's music & content strategy, business affairs and licensing. He has closed more than 50 licensing deals in the UK, Europe and the US, building the catalogue from 30 songs to more than 4 million songs from repertoire owners of all sizes and in various territories, including the first deals with all 4 UK majors which included both ad-funded streaming and DRM-free mp3 downloads, as well as paid-for subscriptions.
  
  Secondly, he manages and runs all we7's onsite marketing, promotions and music programming. Clive has driven the continual evolution of we7's homepage which is now best-in-class and has opportunities to promote more than 150 music titles, charts and playlists every week. Also, he has successfully won widespread label support for "we7 listening parties" where music is heard before its official release date. After more than 50 such events in recent months from all types of artists and labels, we7 listening parties are proving increasingly popular and a major driver of we7's user growth and loyalty, including major artists such as Muse, Green Day, Depeche Mode and Jarvis Cocker and media partners such as NME.COM, the Guardian, the Sun and GQ who make the music available on their websites via we7 widgets.
  
  we7's traffic has grown phenomenally (>1400%) since we7's UK launch in November 2008, with hit songs on we7 attracting up to 10 times more plays than on any other UK paid streaming service. With 1 million unique visitors every month to we7's website and another 1 million unique users every month accessing music on other websites through we7's widgets, we7 has rapidly risen through the ranks of UK music websites and now generates more page views than any other UK music service (Hitwise, July 2009).
  
  we7 won Best Digital Music Service at the BT Digital Music Awards 2008.

• VP of Digital Music

  We7

  (Privately Held; Music industry)

  June 2007 — Present (2 years 6 months)

  See above. Promoted in March 2009.

Clive Gardiner’s Education

• Henley Business School

  Executive Fulltime MBA , Leadership, Branding, Advertising, International Business , 2004 — 2006

  Activities and Societies:

  Scholarship Winner
  Member of Academic Board
  Voted Class Representative

• University of Westminster

  B.A.(Hons) , Applied Communications : Photography, Film & Television , 1981 — 1984

Additional Information

Clive Gardiner’s Websites:

• My Company