EMI firings

[jlhoots]

Major executives fired at EMI.

? 100's to lose jobs.

What will this do to Blue Note, etc.??

[robviti]

Revamping of EMI Begins With Management Shake-Up

By JEFF LEEDS

NewYorkTimes.com

Published: January 12, 2007

In an unexpected shake-up, the British music giant EMI Group has fired its chief of recorded music, Alain Levy, ahead of a broad reorganization aimed at reviving the flagging company, according to executives briefed on the plan.

The sudden move, expected to be announced today, follows a series of setbacks at EMI, including a string of failed merger negotiations with a rival, the Warner Music Group, and the poor sales performance of the pop star Janet Jackson.

The exits of Mr. Levy and his longtime deputy, David Munns, are expected to be accompanied by a profit warning that will underscore the company’s financial woes, according to the executives, who declined to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

EMI’s chairman, Eric L. Nicoli, is also expected to orchestrate a wider revamping that will result in significant layoffs, they said.

An EMI spokeswoman declined to comment. Mr. Levy could not be reached.

The ouster of Mr. Levy comes about five years after he was recruited to bolster the performance of the company, which ranks last in sales in the United States among the four major music conglomerates. EMI’s share of total sales in the American market dipped last year to 10.2 percent, from about 10.4 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While artists like Norah Jones and Coldplay have sold well on Mr. Levy’s watch, a handful of important management decisions did not turn out as planned.

Mr. Levy’s first choice to run EMI’s Virgin Records label, Matt Serletic, failed to turn that unit around after several costly years. (Mr. Serletic was ousted in October 2005.)

More recently Mr. Levy and Mr. Munns brought in the producer Jermaine Dupri to lead Virgin’s black music unit and oversee the return of his girlfriend, Ms. Jackson.

But her album “20 Y.O.” has failed to hold up on the music charts and so far has sold just more than 600,000 copies domestically. It is one of the worst sales performances of her career.

The ouster of the two executives comes as pressure has been mounting on Mr. Nicoli to deliver on his effort to line up with Warner Music or find another route to improve EMI’s performance amid stagnant music sales. Most recently Mr. Nicoli had been in talks about a sale of the company to private equity investors.

It was not clear last night whom EMI would appoint to replace Mr. Levy. There is speculation that Mr. Nicoli might turn to Roger Ames, a former chairman of Warner Music who lately has been a consultant to EMI. Mr. Ames could not be reached.

Any new manager of EMI’s labels will have to confront a music marketplace that is straining to adapt to the digital era. Album sales continue to slide, and analysts say it will be years before sales of digital music and mobile ring tones make up for the lost revenue.

Edited January 12, 2007 by jazzshrink

[GA Russell]

The talk of Janet Jackson suggests to me that the companies are putting too many eggs in too few baskets. One disappointing album shouldn't get senior execs fired.

[brownie]

Things went from bad to worse for EMI right after they put down the old BNBB

Edited January 13, 2007 by brownie

[Dan Gould]

The talk of Janet Jackson suggests to me that the companies are putting too many eggs in too few baskets. One disappointing album shouldn't get senior execs fired.

I think it does in this environment.

But this has nothing to do with Blue Note. The revenue from those 600,000 sales of Janet's CD dwarfs what BN produces in a year.

[JSngry]

Didn't EMI have a similar "fiasco" (and that "only" 600,000 sales should be considered "poor sales" should say something both about the scale of - perhaps unrealistic, what with downloading now destroying mothers and children like William Calley at My Lai - expectations of this biz at this level) a few years ago with Mariah Carrey? Didn't they famously drop her and didn't heads famously roll? And didn't she come back on a different label and have a big smash hit record?

[jazzbo]

Obviously, she knew how to walk the dog.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

EMI has always been a poor multi-national, in my view. I remember back in the '60s the guy running Columbia - I forget his name but he was Vera Zorina's husband - used to say that EMI used to talk about themselves being the biggest record company in the world, simply because they had a pressing plant in India (that was a frequent point made in EMI's trade ads).

And they've never gotten away from this global outlook. EMI is still the biggest record company in Mali! Oh WOW! Now, if you like authentic Malian music, then that's fine - but you can't get ANY of that stuff outside Mali! (Or Paris.) And I dare say that Toumani Diabate and Ali Farka Toure outsell between them (perhaps even each) the whole of EMI's domestic Malian sales; certainly in terms of profitability. But they don't record for EMI.

MG

Edited January 13, 2007 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[rostasi]

Should be interesting (or not)

to see where a guy who spent 20 years

in the biscuit business will take this company.

His claim to fame is his "invention" of this:

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Should be interesting (or not)

to see where a guy who spent 20 years

in the biscuit business will take this company.

His claim to fame is his "invention" of this:

Yorkies are GREAT! (I don't eat them any more because of the effect on waistline.)

OK, this guy MUST have something going for him.

MG

[rostasi]

I'm a Penguin guy myself.