About

In 2018, Antonious Porch joined Berlin-based digital company SoundCloud, which is the world’s largest music and audio platform as its general counsel. Prior to joining SoundCloud, he served as general counsel for more than two years at Shazam – one of the world’s most popular apps with over 140 million monthly active users in over 100 countries. As general counsel of Shazam, he led the successful acquisition of the company by Apple, highlighting that he ‘learned the importance of being able to tell a story about a company that covers the nuts and bolts of its IP portfolio, compliance practices and risk management strategies that reflects its values – and not just its enterprise value’. Additionally, he oversaw the business and legal affairs department in London and New York that supported Shazam’s engineering, product, music, advertising sales, business development, HR and finance teams in key areas including IP, privacy, employment, real estate, litigation and dispute resolution. Prior to Shazam, he left global entertainment company Viacom in 2015 after spending over a decade there primarily working at Nickelodeon, where he was its senior vice president and deputy general counsel. In that role, he oversaw business and legal affairs for the US digital media, ad sales and marketing businesses of Nickelodeon, as well as the US and international consumer products and home entertainment businesses. In 2013, he led the launch of the Emmy Award-winning “Nick App,” a branded experience that allowed children to interact with Nickelodeon content in unprecedented ways, including full episodes of Nickelodeon TV shows, original short-form videos, music and video games. He highlights that, ‘working on this project with the product, engineering and sales teams, I learned the importance of being innovative and creative, pivoting from merely asking questions to offering answers and solutions, all while demonstrating flexibility in balancing protection of the company’s IP and its users with being commercially sensible’. Later, as Viacom’s vice president, senior counsel of technology and kids compliance, he provided strategic direction and counsel to Viacom and Paramount Pictures on cybersecurity, information technology and privacy. At SoundCloud, Porch has continued to apply his expertise leading on the recently completed US advertising deal between Soundcloud and Pandora, allowing Pandora to sell combined advertising inventory reaching 100 million listeners in the US. He also highlights that he has ‘long worked hard to be a leader on diversity and global inclusion, serving as executive champion of Viacom’s LGBT employee resource group and now as executive champion of Clouds of Color, the employee resource group for people of colour at SoundCloud and our allies. I think that everyone, especially allies, should remain visible, vocal and invested in ensuring that their organisations recruit, retain and promote people who reflect the world in which we live’.