It looks like the head of EMI UK has stepped down and the firm are getting ready to lay off 2000 workers. EMI UK will be bought out by a financial investment group (yikes, they must've been in serious trouble!) and this has sparked a strike from Robbie Williams and quite possibly Coldplay which means - for you Coldplay fans - the possiblity of an album delay is quite high.

I wonder how this will affect other artists, as well as The Chems?

1. 
   

   AP wrote:
   
   LONDON - British music giant EMI Group PLC is preparing to cut up to 2,000 jobs, or about one-third of its work force, as part of a contentious restructuring plan being prepared by the group's new owner, Terra Firma Capital Partners, reports said Sunday.

   
   

   ADVERTISEMENT

   
   

   The Sunday Telegraph said most of the cuts would be made in marketing, and The Sunday Times said that Guy Hands, the equity group's chief executive officer, wanted to drop thousands of artists from EMI's roster.

   
   

   Terra Firma bought EMI, which has the Beastie Boys, Coldplay, the Rolling Stones and Kylie Minogue on its books, for 2.4 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) in August.

   
   

   Hands already has said he wants EMI to be more selective with its partnerships, telling artists they would be dropped if they did not work hard enough.

   
   

   The warning, from in a leaked memo, did not name any artists, but EMI has been plagued in the past by late delivery of albums by some of its most important acts.

   
   

   The Sunday Telegraph said Hands was hoping to more than double the company's profits. But some of the music publisher's biggest names are bristling at Terra Firma's attempt to whip EMI into shape.

   
   

   British pop idol Robbie Williams' manager said Williams, who reportedly signed an 80 million pound ($157 million) deal with EMI in 2002, was on strike in protest. The Telegraph said Coldplay also was threatening to withhold new records unless it received assurances about marketing.

   
   

   Both the Times and Telegraph said the announcement was expected Tuesday when Hands lays out his plans for the company's future.

   
   

   
   

   
   

Damn--what is it with the strikes and the entertainment industry these days? Fuck.

nice one. $4.9 billion.

This is Radiohead and Trent Reznors fault. Those poor bastards loosing their jobs. On the upside music is cheaper than it's ever been. Bonus!

P.S. Radiohead are hosting Zane Lowe's show this Thursday on Radio 1.

In rainbows has ads EVERYWHERE -- hardly anything special :(

- "Hands already has said he wants EMI to be more selective with its partnerships, telling artists they would be dropped if they did not work hard enough."

Guess Tom and Ed are gonna have to put out that 3rd single now huh?

Yah that brings the thought up if it's going to affect Tom and Eds 2008 at all. Will they possibly go through Astralwerks in the US if they were to release anything in 08 and leave you over there in the UK left to dry? I know it all comes back to Virgin/EMI in almost every market but the thought is out there.

That probably won't affect large artists with a consistent track record (i.e hitting #1 with every album...) and consistent schedule (an album every 2 years, sometimes 3).

EMI is teh suck. Copy Control up yo ass biznitches!