Play MPE is proud to announce the expansion of its tech team, including Sergei Berenson, the company’s new Director of Engineering, and Vikas Rajput, Senior Product Manager. 

“We are committed to super-serving our customers. Having a strong tech foundation is essential to achieving that,” explains Play MPE CEO Fred Vandenberg. “We’re recruiting creative and bright technological talents to continue to push our products to the next level.”

In an industry where technology and user experience are critical ,“We want to make content discovery and curation workflow feel effortless,” Vandenberg notes. 

The expanded tech team also includes three developers with extensive software development and testing experience, software developer Nasrin Shirali, frontend developer Rimika Datta, and Ashutosh Pandey, backend developer who brings machine learning expertise to the team. They will be led by Berenson, whose experience in leading development teams at technology companies like Autodesk, POF and Koho, a successful Fintech company based in Toronto, will further support the company’s growth. 

“My ability to strategize a technological vision and implement complex solutions to advanced products will move the company towards its growth plans,” says Berenson. “I am looking forward to delivering quality products that set Play MPE apart from their competitors and establishes the company as the leading music collaboration platform.”

The expansion of Play MPE’s team also includes new Senior Product Manager, Vikas Rajput. Over the last fifteen years Rajput has headed a variety of entertainment and SaaS projects, including work on digital production and effects for international blockbusters. 

“By joining the Play MPE team, I intend to shape our existing platform to provide features like no other existing solution provider,” enthuses Rajput. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to help take the company to the next phase and be a part of an already proven business.

Vancouver-based Play MPE is announcing that Faina Shpund is joining the forward-thinking music promotion and distribution platform as Director of Product Management.

Shpund comes to Play MPE from Potent Systems, where she led the team to develop  iOS apps. A graduate of Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business in Management of Technology, Faina brings years of project management experience to Play MPE from notable companies such as Electronic Arts.

Shpund will lead product initiatives to provide new solutions to Play MPE’s network. Her knowledge will prove invaluable in continuing to increase the company's global presence through the continual development of innovative product solutions to address digital delivery challenges faced by the industry.

Shpund is part of a team expansion that includes several other notable hires. David Gurtina - who played in an alt rock band for 12 years, got a degree in audio engineering, and honed his sales skills at luxury brands - is Play MPE’s first Inside Sales Representative, a newly-created role to meet the company’s increased business. Sean Cockle (Junior Music Distribution & Support Coordinator, another new position) and Stella Peng (Junior Accountant) have also recently joined the fast-growing company.

"It's an exciting opportunity to join the team as the company furthers its expansion into new territories," shares Shpund. "Play MPE has established themselves as the industry-leading music promotion and delivery service. As the Director of Product Management I have a vested interest in offering greater value to our customers by bringing to market features that will continue to improve the efficacy and efficiency of promotional content reaching global recipients."

About Play MPE

Developed by Destiny Media Technologies Inc., Play MPE® connects content from the world's largest major and independent labels, artists, promoters and managers to thousands of music's top tastemakers and curators.

Play MPE, the leading music promotion and delivery service, has launched the latest version of its full-service mobile app. The app, available now for iOS and Android, gives promotional professionals and other key tastemakers access to releases from the music industry’s largest major record labels as well as countless independent labels and artists. It’s a crucial revolution in the way promotional content can be discovered easily.

“Play MPE has become synonymous with providing tastemakers with the means to discover new, interesting music from around the world,” explains Play MPE’s Fred Vandenberg. “Our position in our industry is unique, in that we have remained focused on furthering our product, adding new features that improve efficiencies. We are shaping how our customers think of digital distribution.”

Extending its successful web-based service, Play MPE’s app will bring all the functionality radio and other music professions need to do their jobs, right to their smartphones. Features include:

Google Chromecast / Airplay capabilities: Play MPE can stream tracks onto large screens during meetings or other group discussions of content

Fast streaming: Play MPE has optimized streaming speeds for a frictionless listening experience

Format-based search: Search customized for the way radio programmers and station managers think about music

Collections: Flag favorites, create custom playlists, and create custom libraries of tracks in the app

Easy access to promo-material links: Artist information, from tour dates to album art, linked directly in the app

Streamlined user experience may seem like a must for digital platforms, but it’s been sorely neglected in the world of radio and music promotion. Play MPE insists that building a better product for its trusted network of users can only lead to better results for labels, artists, and music professionals. That’s why labels like Universal are long-time customers of the service.

“Play MPE first led the change for the industry to move from physical to digital,” Vandenberg explains. “We’ve built and brought to market a mobile app that continues to evolve what currently exists.”

About Play MPE

Developed by Destiny Media Technologies Inc., Play MPE® connects content from the world's largest major and independent labels, artists, promoters and managers to thousands of music's top tastemakers and curators.

Music promotion in the digital era is about reaching the right people, not scattering music into the unknown. It sounds simple, but it’s proven truly challenging. Enter Play MPE, the first digital promotional distribution platform. The Vancouver-based company saw firsthand how hard and rewarding the transition from physical to digital could be, pivoting from security features crucial to the post-Napster world, to creating a quality user experience for music’s key tastemakers.

Play MPE first broke into digital promotion thanks to its proprietary, patented digital locking technology.  Music within the Play MPE network could be locked to a particular device. Because of this security feature, Universal Music (USA) was an early adopter. (The “MPE” refers to the file extension that stands for “music protected by encryption.”).

The challenge for the industry in these early days was replacing the old way of promoting music via CDs. This transition is still underway today. “Though Play MPE provided a much more cost effective, faster and more secure way of promotional distribution, changing the way the employees at record labels promoted their music had to overcome a fear of change,” Play MPE CEO Fred Vandenberg recounts. “That fear was grounded in the perception that digital promotion would impact the likelihood of success of a promotion.”

The contact network Play MPE built around its product helped address these fears and shepherd in a new approach, one that saved money but still got music to the right ears.  

As Play MPE promotion caught root, it evolved as the needs of the network evolved. Now security is handled by Play MPE’s propriety watermarking technology, which gives a unique watermark to everyone using the system. Other features were added to the system to make promotions more effective. “Global labels like Universal, Warner and Sony share information to territory labels or integrate with secure archives. Many smaller labels have challenges investing sufficient time to maintain an adequate contact network,” Vandenberg notes. “These labels take advantage of Play MPE’s network of engaged and targeted recipients.”

Play MPE has built a network of key professionals, from radio programmers to tastemakers actively reviewing new music. Knowing who to send to and ensuring they are engaged is the key to Play MPE’s success. Maintaining that network of engagement is a constant evolution of saving recipients’ time – providing easy-to-use players, multiple languages, integration with radio automation software or reporting networks, and compelling promotional content.

“We are rolling out the next version of our mobile app, a valuable feature for busy programmers needing to access Play MPE content," says Vandenberg. "These apps are designed to increase ease of use and provide for future enhancements for data reporting, interaction and feedback as the industry moves to more data driven decision making.”

The market is remarkably fragmented by format and geography, but Play MPE has first to market advantage and is making inroads into a growing number of genres and territories. Building on its robust use in formats like Country, Christian, and AAA, and in places like the US, Australia, and Scandinavia, where Play MPE dominates, the service is reaching out to professionals in Urban, Dance, R&B, Rhythmic, Jazz and Top 40, as well as to new users in other geographical markets. 

“The needs of our users are many and diverse and Play MPE will continue to evolve and lead the industry in this ever-changing digital landscape,” Vandenberg says. “As we expand, we will continue to add greater efficiencies, new reporting, more data and more engagement.” But as Play MPE refines and grows, one thing will remain central: the network.