L.A. Reid Staying at UMG?

GETTING A REID ON L.A. SITUATION: While there’s been no official word on the subject, the smart money is now on L.A. Reid getting a new deal to stay on at UMG. With new ruler Lucian Grainge rumored to be drawing up the blueprint for a remodeling of the company’s East Coast operations, most believe he would be loath to lose one of UMG’s most prolific rainmakers. “Why would Lucian not want L.A. on his team?” stated one attorney. “He made some of the biggest albums of the last 20 years.” Reid’s impressive CV includes TLC (whose biggest album sold 7.3m in the U.S.), Toni Braxton (with two 5m sellers), Usher (9.8m),OutKast (5.7m) and Pink (5.5m) at LaFace; Avril Lavigne (6.8m) and Dido (4.2m) at Arista; Mariah Carey (5.9m), The Killers (3m), Kanye West (3.2m), Rihanna (2.6m) and Justin Bieber (1.9m and counting) at IDJ. The still-unresolved situation begs the question: What would IDJ look like without Reid? (11/4a)