Source:
LA TimesGuy Hands, who was installed as chief executive of the world's fourth-largest record company after it was bought last year by investment company Terra Firma, is expected to announce cuts of at least 1,500 employees today as part of a major restructuring, two EMI executives said.
EMI also will become the first major label to eliminate the large advances that customarily are paid in the industry to proven artists. For instance, British pop singer Robbie Williams reportedly got an advance worth $150 million when he signed with EMI in 2002. His future advances could be in jeopardy because of his disappointing sales.
EMI instead will pay retroactive compensation based on how well a recording sells, one of the executives said.
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Hands will decrease marketing spending but invest more in artist development, the two executives said. Striking deals with smaller bands that sell fewer albums could be more practical today, at a time when well established bands are less dependent on the marketing muscle of a major label.Read more:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-emi15jan15,1,3904464.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=2&cset=true
I'm sort of torn. On one hand, some of it is brilliant (less marketing reps, more A & R), but some of it may be just juggling, and a lot of the bands they'll be signing are either going to be corporate sell-outs from the word 'go,' or in debt up to their eyeballs.
I don't know that I would encourage any artist to sign with them, certainly not for anything resembling a long-term deal.