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The prerequisites for effective A&R are good ears and a good nose, and on that score it would be hard to top the recent performance of label veteran Daniel Glass,

I.B. BAD ON IMPENDING TUMULT
AT THE TOP AND THE ART OF A&R

Grainge and Faxon Settle In, While Anokute, Rosenberg and Glass Expertly Ply Their Craft
There’s an acute sense of impending transition in the air at three of the Big Four, as people both inside and outside the companies in question speculate about what changes might eventually go down. Not surprisingly, UMG heir apparent Lucian Grainge is studying the landscape of the music group he’ll eventually lead, as he acclimates himself to his new post as co-CEO—Grainge’s mere presence serving to ramp up the anxiety level in executive suites across the company. According to UMG insiders, Doug Morris’ hand-picked successor is now in the process of establishing his base in L.A., following his unexpected decision to set up shop here, and planning to start his review of the U.S. companies and their executive staffs… Meanwhile, new EMI overall chief Roger Faxon has spent his first couple of weeks on the job overseas, looking at his U.K. and European companies; his next move will be to repeat the same process with the U.S. companies, which will bring him to L.A. next week. Most believe Faxon will return the company to a more traditional model, scrapping the radical structure imposed during the Guy Hands regime, which separated A&R and marketing, while putting U.K.-based Nick Gatfield in charge of EMI’s U.S. A&R department. On the same subject, wonderers are wondering how EMI possibly could have allowed Chris Anokute, the company’s hottest A&R executive, to jump ship for Universal Motown, where he’s now the key piece in Sylvia Rhone’s plan to expand the label’s pop profile. In his three years of A&Ring projects for Capitol Music Group, Anokute helped transform little-known rookie Katy Perry into a major pop star, overseeing her 2008 breakthrough. In his last few months at CMG, he A&R’d Perry’s all-important follow-up album, Teenage Dream, streeting Aug. 24, including the smash lead single “California Gurls,” which is averaging 300k downloads a week, as well as the title cut, impacting radio Aug. 2... Is current Sony Music chief Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, whose deal comes up for renewal next March, conducting a P.R. campaign in an effort to keep his job? This would appear to be the case, as evidenced by a resoundingly positive piece last week in the N.Y. Times crediting the former TV and magazine executive with diversifying the music group’s revenue streams, to the tune of an additional $300m in revenue and $40m in profit by the end of 2010. As for who might be tapped to replace Schmidt-Holtz, the story floated the names of Rob Stringer and Barry Weiss, who oversaw a strong year of marketshare growth for the company, which is threatening UMG’s perennial dominance—though the mega-sales generated by Michael Jackson and Susan Boyle obviously can’t be duplicated. Some believe the power vacuum that would occur if Schmidt-Holtz departs would create some short-term instability, accompanied by an executive shuffle. If neither Stringer nor Weiss is chosen, which most believe will be the case, considering how well each is doing in his present role, will the parent company turn to Rob Wiesenthal, Sony Corp. of America’s CFO and primary dealmaker, to ensure continuity of direction?... Eminem has undergone a dramatic stylistic metamorphosis, the first two singles from Recovery (now at 1.3m, and well on its way to 3m), marrying his trademark raps with slam-dunk pop choruses, much as Jay-Z did on the Alicia Keys-assisted modern-day standard, “Empire State of Mind,” and “Run This Town,” with Rihanna supplying the chorus hooks. Recovery was A&R’d collectively, with key contributions from manager Paul Rosenberg, label A&R staffer DJ, Jimmy Iovine and Eminem himself, who for the first time was open to bringing in outside producers and writers... The prerequisites for effective A&R are good ears and a good nose, and on that score it would be hard to top the recent performance of label veteran Daniel Glass, who put his Glassnote label on the map last year by picking up free agents Phoenix, and following that coup with the breaking Mumford & Sons, who are signed to Island in the U.K. Glass is hitting a remarkably high percentage as he snaps up nuggets that the majors have passed on; critics see this inability to accurately assess the potential of the talent right under their noses as a fundamental flaw in the system. Some industry observers predict that it’s only a matter of time before the majors come after this super-hot indie executive, who has also scored with Bay Area-based Secondhand Serenade and Australia’s Temper Trap… Names in the Rumor Mill: Allen Grubman, Van Toffler, Zach Horowitz, Rick Rubin, Dr. Luke, Big Jon and Jeff Kwatinetz.
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