20% of workforce and artist roster to be cut as the group face digital music delivery head on.
British music group
EMI today announced a raft of changes to its worldwide company operations in response to the changing global music marketplace.
The group, which includes Capitol, Virgin and EMI records, will take the dramatic action of cutting 20% of its workforce and 20% of its artist roster, resulting in “niche and under-performing artists” losing out.
According to the official release, ‘the roster is being rebalanced to focus resources and efforts more effectively on the artists who have the greatest potential on both a global and local level.’
Staff cutbacks of 20% (1,500) will be enforce for its recorded music division staff and a major restructuring some of its record labels and artist roster, particularly in Continental Europe, will come into play.
A potential glimpse of the future of the industry can be had be EMI’s decision to cease self-manufacturing its CDs and DVDs in Europe and the United States (selling plants in The Netherlands to manufacturing company Mediamotion and closing facilities in Illinois, North America), while focusing resources on digital music delivery: ‘ As the traditional music retail environment becomes more concentrated and the digital channel expands, EMI is continuing to realign its selling resources to best meet the demands of its changing customer base’, the release reads.
Alain Levy, Chairman & CEO of EMI Music said: "The time is right to further reposition EMI Music. Exiting manufacturing in our two primary regions of Europe and the US will allow us to lower our costs while flexibly meeting our supply needs in the future. These additional steps will more closely align us with the evolution we are seeing in our markets.
“We believe that by concentrating our efforts on a tightened roster of artists we will increase our revenue-generating potential while reducing our costs, even as we continue to invest in artists worldwide and in developing our digital capabilities."
