DreamWorks, the conglomerate
owned by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, have agreed to
sell their music division, home to such acts as Mystik, Q-Tip, Sleepy Brown, Vishuss,
Floetry and Nelly Furtado.
Sources stated
that the recorded business will be gobbled up by the mammoth Universal Music
Group for $100 million dollars.
Universal is expected
to make significant cuts to the 120 person staff at the Beverly Hills based
record label, including the head of the label, Mo Ostin.
The 76-year-old
Ostin is legendary in music business circles, developing such artists as Neil
Young, Jimi Hendrix, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and others.
The music industry
is coping with the worst slump in 30 years, blaming rampant internet piracy
and a culture of bootlegging as the main reason behind the downward spiral.
Recently, Sony
Music was swallowed by up BMG and Warner is attempting to sell their music group
to British conglomerate, the EMI Group.
