Former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta is now assuming CEO stripes at Playlist Inc., the controversial playlist creation and playback service. The company officially announced the development on Tuesday. Playlist (playlist.com), also referred to as Project Playlist, pulls content hosted across the web, and deftly assembles on-demand playlists for users. Just like Seeqpod, the clever idea has gone en fuego, though it also attracted a major label lawsuit in April of this year.
The lawsuit complicates the equation for investors, though the company is still attracting fresh funding. Playlist indicated that Pilot Group had now invested in the company, and that Pilot founder Bob Pittman would be joining the board immediately. The Wall Street Journal estimated a round within the range of $18-20 million, kindling for endless lawyer fees and litigation.
Van Natta reportedly turned down an offer to head MySpace Music, partly because of a desire to command a standalone company. “Project Playlist’s unprecedented growth proves that consumers are looking for new ways to discover, share, and buy music on the web,” Van Natta said.
