Sony Baloney

SONY BALONEY? With Sony Music Entertainment boss Rolf Schmidt-Holtz’s contract up at the end of the year, speculation continues to heat up as to his successor. Insiders are debunking the report by The Daily Beast’s Peter Lauria that Sony head Howard Stringer is choosing between his own brother, Columbia/Epic Label Group head Rob Stringer, and RCA/JIVE Label Group head Barry Weiss for the post. Lauria claims the two camps have already begun positioning themselves, with Weiss being Schmidt-Holtz’s pick to succeed him and Rob the logical move for the elder Stringer, citing the label’s recent run of hits with Susan Boyle, Glee, Sade, MGMT and the AC/DC Iron Man 2 soundtrack. Despite the speculation, the word is neither exec is in contention, citing the possibility that Schmidt-Holtz’ deal could be extended or that Stringer will go outside to fill the post. Would either Rob or Barry like to be head of the North American label group? Well, that's a different story. (5/13p)