The Daily Swarm

Times of London: Rolling Stones get no satisfaction from EMI

The Rolling Stones have a five-year deal worth an estimated £14 million that expires in May. The band are aggressively canvassing alternatives, but The Times has learnt that EMI’s rival, Universal Music, moved into pole position after winning the rights on Tuesday to distribute a one-off live album. In March, The Stones will release a CD to accompany the Martin Scorsese film Shine a Light, in which they are filmed playing two live gigs at New York’s Beacon Theatre, with cameo apperances from Christine Aguilera and Jack White. It will be released by Universal’s Polydor label.

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The band’s anticipated defection is all the more painful because despite the age of the band members – they are all in their 60s – they remain money spinners, generating an estimated £3 million a year for EMI, making them one of its leading acts.

Unusually, the Stones also control the rights to their catalogue of albums from 1971’s Sticky Fingers, and their intention is to take the catalogue with them. The albums still sell well, with the most recent, A Bigger Bang selling over 2.4 million copies worldwide.

Should the Stones sign to Universal it would reunite their catalogue. Their 1960s albums were controlled by Decca, now part of Universal.

Telegraph: Guy Hands’ vision to fine tune EMI:

He told staff gathered at a London cinema: “In the past we have followed the industry model of signing up as many artists as possible, while taking huge bets on a few. This is not sustainable. We cannot provide meaningful support for that number and everyone suffers as a result.”

Mr Hands, whose Terra Firma private equity vehicle bought EMI for £3.2bn last year, told music managers yesterday that only 3pc of the company’s acts were profitable on today’s overheads. It is understood that hundreds could leave the roster.

He revealed the group had not made an overall profit from new releases, traditionally seen as the lifeblood of any record label, for seven years. “Some of our new music is profitable, but most is not, even before overheads. Over time as the consumer moves more to digital, unless more are willing to pay, all will become unprofitable.”

FT: No more multi-million advances from EMI:

More than 100 managers and a few artists such as Romeo Stodart, lead singer of The Magic Numbers, turned up for a lengthy afternoon briefing at which Mr Hands promised “a new partnership with artists, based on transparency and trust”.

However, he told them that there would be no more large advances. Artists would be paid enough upfront to produce their albums but most of the rewards would be based on how much they sell.

Forbes: Song Remains The Same At EMI

Despite Hands’ best efforts to put a positive spin on EMI‘s latest restructuring plan, there’s no escaping the grim nature of the news. The company expects to cut up to 2,000 jobs—about a third of its global workforce—during the next six months, with nearly all of the cuts coming in its recorded-music division.

To some degree, the workforce reduction will address long-standing problems with bloated overhead costs still common to all major labels. These are not lean, nimble competitors but large companies weighed down by bureaucratic, entrenched ways of doing business—not a winning combination when music sales are crumbling beneath their feet.

Telegraph: Banding together for EMI revolt:

The Verve are to join Robbie Williams and Coldplay in threatening to withhold their next album from EMI until they receive assurances about marketing and the company’s financial health.

Guy Hands, whose private equity vehicle Terra Firma bought EMI for £4bn last year, will face a grilling from managers representing the troubled record company’s top acts as he unveils his plans to staff and the industry today.

A delegation of managers led by Jazz Summers, who represents The Verve and Snow Patrol and is chair of the UK Music Managers Forum, will meet with Mr Hands this afternoon.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Summers said: “Why would we deliver a record when EMI is cutting back on the marketing and is in financial difficulty? I am going to tell Guy Hands I want assurances.”

He was angered by the suggestion that EMI wants to cut back on advances paid to artists. “He has got not a clue of what this business is about. You only have big advances because you are not getting any royalties.”