ROBIN BECHTEL is a pioneer of the digital revolution, beginning in the early 90s with her role in the development of the World Wide Web. She created some of the web’s earliest features, helping to make the web what it is today and showing people what it could be. Her legacy is helping onboard people onto the internet, while proving its importance at a time when many dismissed it as a fad.

"Bechtel saw through all the nerdy chatter and talk of Internet protocols and saw the human element behind it all. She realized (The World Wide Web’s) raw potential and saw it as a place for genuine connection and discussion.” – THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Over the next two decades, as SVP at Capitol Records and Warner Bros. Records, Robin continued to pioneer every milestone in digital history, shaping technology as we know it today.

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In 1993, Robin started the music industry’s first New Media Department, introducing the internet to the music business. This was at Capitol Records in Hollywood.

She then went on to make music history.

FIRST BAND WEBSITE
In 1994, when the Internet was virtually unknown, Robin created the internet's first website for a band. (Megadeth) It was among the first websites ever written about in the press and its ultimate legacy was onboarding people onto the internet.

  • The music industry’s first runaway hit on the web – Interactive Age

  • One of the first web chats – WIRED

  • One of the first web communities – LA Times

SOLD THE FIRST DIGITAL SONG
In 1997, Robin sold the first digital song (Duran Duran) which Billboard called "one of the most significant milestones in the history of the music industry."

STREAMED FIRST ALBUM

During intense Napster controversy, when the music industry was still resisting putting music online, Robin proved them wrong by streaming the first album ever on the internet (Radiohead’s Kid A). When the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Sales Chart, it proved that streaming music online drove CD sales, changing the industry’s stance on digital distribution.

  • A truly radical experiment in 2000 – Grantland

  • The first major rock album to be experienced via the Internet – Grantland

MP3’S AND RINGTONES

At the height of debates around the MP3 format due to piracy, Robin made music history twice with Madonna:

  • Sold the first MP3 at a record label, breaking a Billboard record

  • Released Madonna’s song as a ringtone before it was on the radio

HOLLYWOOD + SILICON VALLEY

Called “a pioneering matchmaker between Hollywood and Silicon Valley”, by San Jose Mercury News, Robin is credited for discovering many startups including MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Spotify. Robin’s tech and entertainment partnerships include: spearheading YouTube’s first deal in entertainment, launching iTunes with Apple, partnering Madonna with Steve Jobs and creating Twitter’s first celebrity account (Tom Petty, Superbowl).

ANGEL INVESTOR

Robin is an angel investor. Her portfolio companies include Uber, Everlane and Philz Coffee. She also helped these startups raise funding and partnered them with celebrity investors which garnered tech and entertainment press for the startups.