Everything is arranged ensures the record label

"There is still four months before the end of the fiscal year, but, so far, I think that, from an operational point of view, EMI Music will be profitable." After an encouraging first half, Elio Leoni-Sceti, the new boss of EMI Music, the disc of the British group division, is optimistic. For the British major, the problem remains of the growth of its turnover, in a sector that saw CD sales collapse for years with the explosion of illegal downloading on the Internet.

Newcomer in the world of music Guy Hands, the pattern of Terra Firma, the owner of EMI, picked up the specialist maintenance Reckitt-Benckiser , Elio Leoni-Sceti to look a nine on a loom in crisis. "This industry must reinvent itself completely and put consumers first, not last." "She also needs to get rid of heavy inefficiencies which paralysed him until then", he said in an interview with the "echoes". For him the solution is of course build on digital, in a future where the sources of income, the difference in the time of the single CD will be multiple. 20 In the first half, the new strong man of the major hopes to increase the part of the digital turnover of EMI Music 35 or 40 in three or five years. "Between the subscription, download or listen streaming, there is more use of digital models, so many ways to monetize the". "With respect to the physical market, I think that the fall will be slow," he added.

Drastic measures

In the meantime, EMI has taken drastic measures to reduce costs, which allowed him to see his accounts back into the green in the first half. At the beginning of the year, before the arrival of Elio Leoni-Sceti, the Group announced the removal of 1,500 to 2,000 positions, which should reduce its workforce between 3,500 and 4,000 employees by the summer 2009. If it is not question of touching the labels, the objective is to eliminate the "duplication" by a "how to work more effective..."

But new management methods imposed on EMI by Terra Firma does not appeal to everyone: beginning of the year, Radiohead, flagship of EMI Group, slammed the door after six albums to mount his own label, the Stones have signed with Universal Music and British singer Robbie Williams refused in January last to deliver his last albumeven to call Guy Hands of "slaver"... Everything is arranged, ensures the record label. However, EMI is pragmatic and will outsource what can be. In the United States, it will negotiate an agreement to subcontract the delivery of discs and plans to do the same in other countries. Several administrative functions will also be subcontracted.

"EMI Music is at the dawn of a new era." "We have relegated the past behind us," hope this Italian of forty-two years. On the merits, the takeover of the group by the investment fund Terra Firma change many things according to him. "We held all our commitments and the Finance of EMI are stabilized as ever they had been for years." With Terra Firma, we have a shareholder very committed and very useful. Our short funding over the long term and we offer time and space needed to reorganize ourselves. "It would be extremely difficult if we had remained a company listed on the stock market", he said.

Elio Leoni-Sceti wants to change the way to be EMI: he wants to do a major 'focus on the consumer ". In clear, apply even more to music methods of the consumer, which he has. "The relationship between artists and their fans and more consumers becomes increasingly complex and custom, estimet - it.". Our value added artists will be to help manage these increasingly multifaceted relations to more and more different and many audiences.

Concretely, this means including the creation of a cell "innovation." "It is necessary for us to regain control of our innovations, he adds." In the past, the main of them, like the iPod, have been launched by other players.