GETMUSIC GETS LESS NIBLEY

Vivendi Universal announced that GetMusic chief Andrew Nibley has left the building.

Nibley had been with GetMusic since 1999, then a 50-50 joint venture between Universal Music Group and BMG Entertainment.

Nibley's departure came as VU announced it was trimming about 130 jobs, or 20% of total staff, from Vivendi Universal Net USA as part of the ongoing restructuring inherent in aggregating the company's U.S.-based online assets under one roof.

Just two weeks ago, VU announced it was lumping all its online properties—including MP3.com, Emusic.com, GetMusic, RollingStone.com, Inside Sessions, Flipside, Uproar, Iwin, Virtual Vegas and the "child and parent areas" of Education.com—under one roof (hitsdailydouble.com, 11/19) to be overseen by MP3.com CEO Robin Richards.

"It's time for all these companies in aggregate to create a path to profitability that's not way out there, that's coming in the near future," Richards said.

The layoffs, to be announced to staffers later in the week (so, we’re sorry if you’re hearing it from us first), will focus on eliminating redundant positions at the constituent companies, which include GetMusic, MP3.com, EMusic.com and Rollingstone.com. Among the departments to be affected are finance and accounting, human resources, technology, marketing and sales.

Vivendi Universal Net USA is the end product of a long netco buying spree by VU, which took advantage of the collapse in the dot-com sector to acquire talent and technology, as well consolidate the nascent online music business under its own roof. The combined entity boasts roughly 36.5 million unique users per month.