EMI MOVES TO MANHATTAN

In a memo sent to the worldwide staff, EMI Recorded Music CEO Ken Berry says, "in order to achieve the level of new repertoire success that we need," he is moving the worldwide head offices of the company from London to New York early next year.

The announcement comes as the EMI Group released its half-year results (see related hitsdailydouble.com story) and enters into negotiations to merge its music holdings with BMG, its second proposed partner over the past six months. A planned pact with the Warner Music Group fizzled when Mario Monti and the European Commission turned thumbs-down on the deal without significant concessions, though talks are apparently continuing.

Acknowledging the ongoing discussions with Warner and Bertelsmann, Berry announced EMI Recorded Music's move to New York as a way of "clarifying our commitment to developing our share of the U.S. market" and said he would be bringing "additional executive talent to our company in order to help us address the need to expand our business."

He reiterated that this did not mean a "wholesale move of executives out of London, which will remain a key location for our business.... It is important that we make it clear both internally and externally that we are prepared to put the right resources into the U.S. market to address the territory that has traditionally been our Achilles' heel."

There had been speculation about Jive/Zomba's Clive Calder, who had his label distributed by Berry's EMI before returning to BMG, having a significant role in a merged EMI-BMG.