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Posts Tagged “Layoffs”

the biz

Staff Layoffs, Sale Rumors At imeem

imeem, the social networking music site that last December entered into a lopsided licensing agreement with Universal and earlier this year snagged $15 million from Warner Music Group, today announced that it laying off a full quarter of its staff; Paid Content reports that the company is being said to have hired a firm to put itself on the sales block. Only five months ago, Maura mentioned that imeem was enjoying robust growth, with unique visits up 58%. I wouldn't even like to pretend to know how ugly the math on this must be. [Alley Insider]

4:00 PM on Wed Oct 22 2008
By Michaelangelo Matos
194 views, 1 comment

Latest by loudersoft: Surprised nobody has mentioned that one of imeem's founders went to work for WMG late last year. Possible this has something to do with that magical $15mil? more »

Chuck Phillips, the Los Angeles Times reporter who couldn't stop thinking that Diddy had something to do with Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder, is leaving the paper as part of its recent 150-staffer reduction of its newsroom. Also departing: longtime music scribe Richard Cromelin. [Variety via MTV]

5 comments

Following the layoff of the Kansas City Star's classical critic earlier, another McClatchy-owned paper, the Miami Herald, has offered classical critic Lawrence Johnson an "involuntary buyout" with eight weeks severance. While Johnson isn't blogging his layoff like his ex-colleague Brayden Simms, he has hit Blogspot to launch his own blog covering the local classical scene. [Musical America via The Music Press Report]

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The long-rumored layoffs at the retrenching EMI began today, and employees in both Blue Note and Caroline have apparently been affected; there is also word that there will be further layoffs, at Capitol and Virgin, coming down the pike tomorrow. [The Velvet Rope / HT The Daily Swarm]

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Newspaper conglomerate McClatchy has laid off Kansas City Star classical critic Paul Horsley as part of its latest round of cost-cutting. "I think it was a very 'corporate' decision... I think they eliminated the beat they thought they could most easily farm out." Well, at least his former bosses aren't making him blog the layoff process like they are with some other people, right? [Musical America via The Music Press Report]

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EMI is looking at another wave of layoffs in the near-to-immediate future, axing 1,000 jobs as it tries to bring its worldwide headcount down from 4,500 employees to 2,000. A source told the UK's Telegraph that EMI owner/Terra Firma CEO Guy Hands is still looking to make cuts because the company has "more employees generating less revenues than its competitors at Warner Music and Universal." Pretty sure this marks the first time that Warner Music Group has been shown in a relatively efficient light in many, many years. [Telegraph]

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layoffs

TVT Fires Most Of Its Staff, Is Expected To File Chapter 11

Last night, the New York-based label TVT Records fired the bulk of its staff, and it's expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection later this week. TVT, which started in 1985 as a label devoted to bringing the television themes of yore together on the Television's Greatest Hits compilations, had a roster of artists that at one time included Nine Inch Nails, and currently includes the Polyphonic Spree, Lil Jon, and the Ying Yang Twins. Trouble has been brewing at the label for a while: In 2005 Lil Jon had a public spat with label president Steve Gottlieb (although the two have since reunited, and TVT was supposed to release his forthcoming album Crunk Rock sometime soon), and a few weeks ago, another member of the label's roster, Pitbull, told his fans that they should download, and not buy, his recent album The Boatlift because Gottlieb didn't deserve to profit from his work: More »

8:53 AM on Tue Feb 19 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,313 views, 15 comments

Latest by cosmiclove: Gottlieb is a prevaricating sack of shit. I'm surprised he's lasted this long. TVT was due to go under years ago, but he got Zwirn's hedge fund to bail him out. more »

CBS Radio laid off dozens of employees this week, including on-air personalities and sales managers. Higher-ups in the station's ranks were also pink-slipped: three program directors in New York City—Crys Quimby at WCBS-AM, Tracy Cloherty at "K-Rock" WXRK and Rick Martini of "Fresh 102.7" WWFS—were let go, as were Pittsburgh GM Jim Meltzer and WXRT (Chicago) general manager Michael Damsky. [INSIDE MUSIC MEDIA]

1 comment

layoffs

EMI: The Cost-Cutting Continues, This Time In Layoff Form

In its continued quest to save as much money as possible before the market for recorded music completely dries up, EMI will cut "up to 2,000" jobs from its 5,500-member-strong employment rolls this coming Tuesday. Departments likely to be hardest hit: sales, marketing, distribution, and artist management. The Telegraph is also reporting that the company will "take a more focus group approach" to upcoming releases, quoting sources who are claiming that EMI is currently putting out records while being completely clueless about their appeal to the masses. Have fun figuring out who's going to survive that edict!
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7:42 PM on Sun Jan 13 2008
By mjohnston
698 views, 3 comments

Latest by okiedoke: Oh, those old fashioned sales, marketing, distribution, and artist management departments. All they really need is a couple of young bloods handling investor relations. That's the ticket. DRM = Deceased Recording Monoliths more »

Perez Hilton is reporting (and oh, you have no idea how much it pains me to type that) that the rumored closing of Geffen is, once the layoff dust clears, going to actually be a merger of Geffen and Interscope, one that was necessitated in part by the rumored $18 million spent on the most recent albums by will.i.am, Nicole Scherzinger, and Eve. $18 million! Who knew that Glamour Shots had such high day rates? [Perez Hilton]

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More layoffs at Columbia: Staffers in the marketing, publicity, and promotions departments were let go on Tuesday, although so far the online department seems to have escaped unscathed. [Billboard]

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RealNetworks laid off about 2% of its staff last week, including 35 job cuts in the company's Seattle headquarters. The layoffs were reportedly made to rectify "redundancies" that resulted from the company going on a mini-acquisition spree over the last two years. [Seattle P-I via paidContent]

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partings

Island Def Jam Lays Off Staff, Cuts Ultragrrrl's Label Loose

In addition to the rumors of layoffs at Sony BMG, another major label has started to shed personnel, with Island Def Jam letting people go on Friday; among the rumored departures are executive vice president of promotion Greg Thompson and A & R honchos Paul Pontius and Rob Stevenson. Island Def Jam has also severed its ties with Stolen Transmission, the "incubator" label that was run by Sarah "Ultragrrrl" Lewitinn, who addressed the situation in an upbeat post on AbsolutePunk.net: More »

8:30 AM on Mon Dec 3 2007
By mjohnston
3,225 views, 47 comments

Latest by the_j: Ultragrrrl, these guys are haters, the Oohlas rock, and you're kinda cute for a blogga. Holla! more »

In addition to possibly selling off its distribution business, British equity group Terra Firma may try and cut the budget of recent acquisition EMI by slashing the employment rolls at its recorded music and publishing divisions. Just in time for the holiday season! [Times Online]

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record labels

Warner Music Group Readies Axe, Inspiring Some To Double-Check Whether Sky Is Falling

Warner Music Group will allegedly be shedding 400 jobs soon, news that inspired a "state of the union"-type post on Hypebot. The post, which was helpfully subtitled "Is The End Of The Major Label Near?", runs down a few potential reasons as to how the big four got into their current mess: More »

4:45 PM on Mon May 7 2007
By mjohnston
1,257 views, 10 comments