A CHANGING OF PRIORITY?

During a conference call earlier today, EMI chief Ken Berry strongly implied that Priority Records would not be folded into Capitol Records, as he had indicated two weeks ago, after word leaked that Priority would be shut down. Instead, Berry suggested on the call, the Priority A&R, promotion and marketing departments would continue to exist as a separate entity housed in separate quarters, with back-office functions combined with Capitol and marketshare applied to the Capitol total.

Berry also told Priority execs to lock in their key people before other offers lure them away.

Priority founder and head Bryan Turner is likely to remain at the label through the transition, but he will definitely make his exit in the near future.

Berry’s statements suggest that Priority’s relationship with Capitol will be that of a Siamese twin, a la Reprise’s close connection with Warner Bros. It’s also reasonable to expect that rap and R&B releases from the conjoined labels would be the responsibility of Priority’s promo and marketing teams, while pop and rock records would be worked by Capitol.

Hey, we’re just guessing here—you ought to know better than to believe anything we say. Thank you. But we digress; back to the storyline.

Another big question looms: Who will replace Turner as Priority head? Berry admitted during the call that a decision has yet to be made on how to handle that issue. That said, there is a growing belief inside the two labels that, if Capitol head Andy Slater isn’t put in charge of both camps, it will become another bungle in the jungle—y’know, arguments about who works what, how and when, with all the attendant bitching and finger-pointing.

This one oughta be interesting...