Perhaps! According to Digital Music News, the position of the label that launched Guns N’ Roses’ career within the Universal Music Group sphere is “being reanalyzed,” and there will likely be layoffs within its ranks before year’s end. There’s also debate over whether it’ll be shut down completely or live on only as an imprint that would basically exist for the sole purpose of “branding” certain artists, while having all its nuts-and-bolts functionality handled by other UMG divisions. Tips on what might be happening are, of course, always welcome–and we always keep them anonymous, too.
Question Marks Surround Fate of Geffen Records [Digital Music News]
I blame Puddle of Mudd.
R.I.P Geffen!
So basically, Geffen becomes the next A&M, an impresario-founded label that lives on in name only.
Geffen already was “an impresario-founded label that lives on in name only.” The label name was only reactivated a couple years ago when they shifted the MCA rock acts over.
What’s “Geffen” mean anymore? All the old MCA artists’ greatest hits packages are on Geffen now, including Steely Dan and Bing Crosby. So Geffen means even less than A&M, which, at least, survives because Herb Alpert was smarter than Universal.