Swedish Startup Staccs Hires Ex-Live Nation, FKP Scorpio, Universal Music Pros

The new team (from left): Jonas Thulin, Alviva Stolpe, Rickard Nilsson, Sofia Stefanovic, Kristofer Åkesson, Kristina Tunkrans Lidehorn
Dan Lepp – The new team (from left): Jonas Thulin, Alviva Stolpe, Rickard Nilsson, Sofia Stefanovic, Kristofer Åkesson, Kristina Tunkrans Lidehorn
The company is “on a mission to build the MTV of the 2020s.”

Swedish tech startup Staccs, which describes itself as “a premium streaming service for concert video and music documentaries” has made a number of key hires to its executive structure.

The new hires include Kristofer Åkesson, Jonas Thulin, Rickard Nilsson, Kristina Tunkrans Lidehorn, Alviva Stolpe and Sofia Stefanovic. Their “unrivalled industry expertise and experience” will help the company in building “the greatest concert catalogue in history,” according to the hiring announcement.
Kristofer Åkesson joins as Head of Staccs Originals, the company’s newly launched production suite designed to create own original content. Åkesson used to work as Marketing and Communications Director for Live Nation Sweden, and also served at influencer marketing company Society icon as COO.
The first content produced in house by Staccs Originals – stripped back and exclusive live sessions, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, documentaries and more – is expected in the first quarter of 2022.
Jonas Thulin joins Staccs as Head of Business Development & Partnership Relations. The former Universal Music and United Stage exec will be responsible for securing new partnerships with repertoire owners, labels, artists and more, as well as help develop the company’s brand positioning in the market. 
Newly appointed as Head of Artist Relations is Rickard Nilsson. He joins from concert and festival promoter giant FKP Scorpio. At Staccs, Nilsson will develop relationships with talent and be central to the coordination between all stakeholders. 
In addition, Kristina Tunkrans Lidehorn will join the executive board in an advisory role. The former Chief of Music at Epidemic Sound, CEO of music publisher PRDM, and General Counsel at Swedish TV Network TV4, will bring a wealth of expertise and know-how with her. 
Other key appointments include Alviva Stolpe as CFO, who is leaving her role as CFO at medtech company Coala. She will be responsible for managing all the financial actions of the startup. Last but not least, Sofia Stefanovic joins as PR & Marketing Coordinator, working closely with the team on an integrated PR and communications strategy.
Staccs, which chose a subscription model to finance itself and pay rightsholders, is currently only available in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Latvia, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The company’s execs were unable to provide subscriber numbers, but its CEO Anders Tullgren told Pollstar, he was “really pleased with the initial subscriber uptake locally and the strong interest shown in our service. There is clearly a consumer appetite for this kind of content, and we are really excited about our future growth plans to expand the service availability beyond the Nordic and Baltic regions.”
When Staccs officially launched in April of 2021, its goal was to open up “new, untapped commercial opportunities for the music industry with its user-centric business model – offering artists and rights holders a new revenue stream to market classic video content.”
It was too early to share concrete figures at press time, but Åkesson, the new Head of Staccs Originals, told Pollstar: “Our proposition to the industry is that we are creating new commercial opportunities to market not only classic video content but also to consider our platform as an integral part of the music ecosystem for future campaigns.
“We have been extremely pleased to secure a number of content agreements this year with both big and small repertoire owners, which we have been working hard to achieve. These agreements are a testament to the confidence shown by the industry in recognising us as a strategic new revenue stream to commercialise their content. This is just the beginning.” He added that artists will be able to commercialize the content created through Staccs Originals via the Staccs platform. 
Tullgren commented, “original productions around concerts and new music TV formats, is something long-awaited by all. There are still large elements of the music industry that are not digitised and therefore not monetised in a way that enables rights holders and artists to generate sufficient revenue from recorded video content – our product fulfils this potential. These strategic hires reflect a game-changing moment for Staccs.”
Added Åkesson, “There is an opportunity beyond live-streamed concerts and therefore it was an easy decision to join Staccs. 15 years ago live music DVDs accounted for 8 per cent of the entire music industry’s total physical sales – this is something that no longer exists as a result of digitalisation, however there is still an appetite for this. We are on a mission to build the MTV of the 2020s.”