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If CD sales continue to lean Pop/Adult, does Iovine feel IGA needs to further establish itself in that genre, and that Ron Fair is the guy to do it for them?

I.B. BAD SCOPES OUT THE NEW INTERSCOPE GEFFEN A&M

Does Iovine Believe His Long-Dominant Empire Needs to Change Its Tune?
With Interscope Geffen A&M coming off a gigantic year on the 2005 charts, people are asking, “If it’s not broke, why fix it?”

Will Eminem really retire? Will rock continue to slump? The key to those two questions could just be the answers to the question about fixing Jimmy Iovine’s domain. If CD sales continue to lean Pop/Adult, does Iovine feel IGA needs to further establish itself in that genre, and that Ron Fair is the guy to do it for them? The successes of Pussycat Dolls, Black Eyed Peas and Mary J. Blige present a pretty good case for Fair.

The bigger question remains, is Iovine about to change the nature of the company to make it a more Pop-centric label? Crosstown rival and former ’Scope colleague Tom Whalley's success in rock and pop is working for him at Warner Bros. Records, but IGA remains more oriented to the Rock/Hip-hop model. Jordan Schur will continue to carry the Rock crown for Iovine with his new label, which is said to be a joint venture of some kind.

The other big unanswered question is, will a new deal be worked out for Polly Anthony that fits into the new structure? Fair is now supposedly OK with an arrangement that will give Polly a seat at the newco. The title and nature of her new gig has yet to be clearly defined, but Fair, who had been opposed to Anthony staying on in a major role, has been convinced to give it a try. Oddsmakers say that Polly will stay, but if not, look for others who have coveted her music biz expertise to come with hats in hand and checkbooks flapping. Many consider Polly one of the top marketing and promotion executives in the business. She may not be the best identifier of talent, but put her in a room with an act, and she can be a major-league closer

Most believe that, in retrospect, the idea of splitting the Geffen presidency in two was ill-conceived from the get-go, as a shotgun marriage of two strong personalities both used to being the boss rarely succeeds. How could you take one of the strongest promo execs of the modern era and not have her own label’s promotion team report to her? Most people are unaware that the Geffen promo staff reports to Brenda Romano, Prez of all IGA promotion. Not having promotion report to Polly was like having Shaq play point guard. It just doesn't make sense. Speculation is also rampant that the reorganization could lead to some staff cuts in the near future.

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