Q&A: President Of Digital Business For EMI, Douglas Merrill

The appointment of former Google chief information officer Douglas Merrill to president of EMI's digital business is certainly one of the more innovative executive moves made by a major label in recent memory. Billboard had the opportunity to speak with Merrill the day his appointment was announced. (Billboard, Silicon Alley Insider, Paidcontent)

EMI Music appoints top Google executive Douglas Merrill to drive digital growth

EMI Music has appointed Google’s chief information officer and one of its most senior global executives, Douglas Merrill, to lead its growing digital music business. As President, Digital Business, EMI Music, Merrill will head a new global function which brings together for the first time leadership responsibility for all of the company’s digital strategy, innovation, business development, supply chain and global technology activities. (PR, Financial Times)

Rival labels look to give Stones shelter

While the Rolling Stones focus on the imminent release of their latest album, Shine A Light, record companies are vying to sign the band to a long-term deal in a contest that highlights the ways in which the music industry is changing. Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music have already begun courting the Stones in an effort to wrest them away from their long-time label, EMI. The band’s contract expires in June, and they are expected to finalise their plans within months. Some people close to the discussions have speculated the band could keep the albums and touring rights separate in their next deal rather than signing an all-encompassing pact like Madonna. (Financial Times)

EMI Aims To Join Nokia's Music Offering

EMI said on Wednesday it was in talks with mobile handset maker Nokia to offer its songs as part of Nokia's new "Comes with Music" offering. Nokia is set to start selling phones under its "Comes With Music" brand in the second half of 2008, offering unlimited access to millions of songs. The world's largest music label, Universal, signed up for the program last December. (Reuters, Billboard)

EMI vs Google, AOL, Microsoft (The Entire Internet)

At the core of the disagreement between EMI and MP3tunes is the fact that MP3tunes stores MP3 files at the request of the user. EMI says this is a copyright infringement, but MP3tunes is not the first to offer such storage services. The actions EMI is complaining about are also performed by hundreds if not thousands of other Internet companies including all the giants like Google, AOL, and Microsoft. If MP3tunes loses our case then it sets a dangerous precedent for others; (Michael Robertson's Minute)

EMI Boss Puts Jobs 'Under Official Scrutiny'

Every employee in EMI’s UK recorded-music division has been told that their job is “officially under scrutiny” by the label’s new owner Guy Hands. It’s understood that Hands, who owns the private equity company Terra Firma which purchased EMI last August, addressed each member of staff in a personal letter. According to the Times, staff in marketing, sales and distribution will face the biggest job cuts. (Gigwise)

EMI favourite to buy Chrysalis as Warner drops out of race

EMI last night edged closer to winning the auction for Chrysalis, one of Britain’s last big independent music groups, as it emerged that rival Warner Music had been sidelined. EMI’s bid for Chrysalis, first revealed by The Times, surprised the industry, as it came at a time of a restructuring and cost cuts. The auction is expected to see Chrysalis, including the independent Bug Music label, valued at about £170 million. (Times Online)

EMI considers expanding its library with £100m buyout of Boosey & Hawkes

EMI, the record group owned by Guy Hands' private equity firm Terra Firma, is eyeing up a £100m bid for classical sheet music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. A source close to EMI said that Boosey would appeal to the group as it would bolster its successful music publishing arm. Boosey owns rights to a who's who of 20th-century composers, including Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, and signed jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in January. (
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Coldplay said to be releasing on EMI

Rock band Coldplay will release its new album through EMI Group this summer, the band's manager was quoted as saying on Thursday, a month after he threatened to withhold the record in protest of major cost-cutting by the beleaguered London label's new owners. The album will be a key test for private-equity investor Guy Hands, who led a 3.2 billion pound buyout of EMI last year. (Reuters)

Chrysalis auction narrowed down to last four

Four bidders will enter the final phase of an auction for Chrysalis’s music publishing catalogue, according to people familiar with the process. The company is valued by analysts at between £160m and £170m ($310m-$330m). The bidders for Chrysalis Music – a catalogue that contains David Bowie and Ray LaMontagne – include EMI, Warner Chappell and Bug Music, a US minor label supported by Spectrum Equity Investors. (Financial Times)

Guy Hands to open EMI back catalogue

Guy Hands is throwing 300,000 of EMI's music tracks open to advertisers, TV producers and computer games makers in a bid to cash in on its vast back catalogue. EMI has struck a deal with London-based Ricall, which is poised to launch several EMI websites around the world allowing music-hunters to license its music much more easily. EMI Music's synch revenues have increased by about 30pc in both the US and UK over the last four years. Ricall estimates that the synchronised licensing market could quadruple to $10bn (£5bn) in three years. (The Telegraph, Billboard)

Radiohead 'in fresh row with EMI'

Radiohead have apparently begun another dispute with their old record label over a planned greatest hits album. EMI is now planning to release a greatest hits collection to coincide with their spring tour of the US, according to the band. Phil Selway, the band's drummer, said the label owned the rights to do so. After they quit and released In Rainbows independently EMI published its own Radiohead box set. (Digital Spy)

Chrysalis sets premium benchmark for bidders

A deadline for second-round bids on the music publishing arm of Chrysalis closed last night with EMI, Warner Chappell and Sony ATV among those involved, and the price said to be about £170m. Analysts said Chrysalis was demanding a premium price for a catalogue including artists such as David Bowie, Blondie and Gnarls Barkley. It is understood that Chris Wright, chairman, founder and largest shareholder in Chrysalis, and the company's managers were "underwhelmed" by offers in the first round of bidding about Christmas time. (Financial Times)

Guy Hands joins music industry rivals in bid battle for Chrysalis

Guy Hands, the chairman of EMI, is planning to make a second-round bid for Chrysalis by today's deadline. Others considering second-round bids for Chrysalis, which owns the music publishing rights to artists such as Blondie and much of David Bowie's early work, include Warner Chappell and Sony ATV. (Times Online, Reuters)

Huge Entertainemt wins EMI task

EMI Music Publishing has selected digital entertainment firm Huge Entertainment to help expand its digital music services. The joint venture style partnership with Huge Entertainment will enable it to expand its income streams through maximising the potential offered by digital platforms such as online, mobile and digital television. (Net Imperative)

Universal cements music publishing lead: report

Universal Music's publishing division has overtaken EMI as the world's leading major music publisher, according to market research on Monday. Music & Copyright (M&C), which is published by Informa said Universal's market share among major music groups rose to 24 percent in 2007 from 11.9 percent a year earlier. (Reuters)

SendMe Strikes Strategic Mobile Content Deal With EMI Music

SendMe, Inc., a US mobile media company, and EMI Music, one of the world's largest independent music companies, today entered into a strategic agreement that gives SendMeMobile.com members access to EMI's full catalog of mobile content. With the touch of button, members will be able to choose from over 4,000 ring tones, and download some of the hottest songs and artists available worldwide. (PR)

EMI Music Publishing Promotes Leo Corbett to COO and Thomas Kelly to CFO

EMI Music Publishing, the world’s leading music publisher, has appointed Leo Corbett as Chief Operating Officer and Thomas Kelly as Chief Financial Officer, it was announced by Chairman and CEO Roger Faxon. Corbett, formerly Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the company, has spent the last twelve months overseeing the implementation of new global strategic and technology programs, working with EMI Music Publishing offices around the world. Thomas Kelly was Executive Vice President of Finance for EMI Music Publishing and will now manage the company’s financial operations on a global basis. (PR)

Can New EMI Owner Strike a Chord?

As the chief executive of Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd., Guy Hands controls companies that lease jets, operate natural-gas pipelines, and, most recently, sell music. The big difference among those businesses is Mr. Hands doesn't have to worry about keeping the planes or the gas happy. But the musicians signed with EMI Group Ltd. are a different story -- and they've been less than pleased with the British private-equity mogul. (Wall Street Journal)

Will corporate sponsors risk backing EMI's bands?

The idea of record companies linking brands with bands is nothing new. The New Seekers' hit I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing was adapted from a song composed for a Coca-Cola ad in 1971, while T-Mobile sponsored the Rolling Stones' 'Licks' World Tour in 2003. However, sponsorship of this sort has never been tried on this scale before, prompting scepticism from experts. (Brand Republic)