EMI Group announced
today (Jan. 25) that the company is merging its Capitol and Virgin music labels
to form The Capitol Music Group, a new pop, rock and urban label that will comprise
the Capitol and Virgin Records imprint. The
new label group will also house the Capitol Nashville imprint, Caroline Distribution,
EMI Christian Music Group; EMI Televisa Music; and Mute. The
Capitol Music Group will be headed by Lava Records founder and former Atlantic
executive Jason Flom, who broke such artists as Kid Rock, Twisted Sister, Sugar
Ray, The Coors and others.Flom
joined EMI as Chairman and CEO of Virgin Records America in November 2005 and
will report directly to EMI’s chairman, Eric Nicoli. Flom
will oversee the combined Capitol and Virgin rosters in the US, which includes
artists like Chingy, Jazze Pha and Cee Lo Green, Cherish, Bubba Sparxxx, Letoya
Luckett, Korn, Lenny Kravitz, Robbie Williams."The
music business shows exciting growth potential, but the environment remains extremely
challenging," Nicoli said. "In order to thrive and meet the demands
of a rapidly evolving and dynamic music market, we must re-think our operations,
not only to make them efficient, but also more effective and focused on creative
excellence. By bringing Capitol and Virgin into one label group, we will be better
equipped than ever to promote and nurture artistic talent. We remain strongly
committed to developing artists in America in all genres as this is a key repertoire
source for the world, and to that end, we will maintain our A&R focus and
keep a presence in both LA and New York. This structure will also allow us to
further build our digital capability.”Capitol Records’ U.S. president/CEO
Andrew Slater will step down from his position, which he has held since 2001.
EMI is in the midst of being restructured, in an attempt to save $217 million.
