EMI Cracking the Whip

The Financial Times reports that "EMI will drop artists it feels are not working hard enough and 'unpick' its own executives' pay packages, its new private equity owner has told staff." Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson writes,

Guy Hands, chief executive of Terra Firma, promised “fundamental change” in how EMI approached the music business, but warned that artists would have to meet their side of the bargain.

"While many spend huge amounts of time working with their label to promote, perfect and endorse their music, some unfortunately simply focus on negotiating for the maximum advance . . . advances which are often never repaid," he wrote in an internal memo this week.

The article adds that Hands wishes to "build a culture of 'honesty, transparency and performance.'"