So, there was a long article in the New York Times last week assessing progress over there at EMI Towers, with new owner Guy Hands having been in place for ten months now, the big job cut looming, and one of the biggest EMI releases since the new regime took over - Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida' - out last week. Most of the article is a review of the ten months so far, going over familiar ground, though in there were some interesting points.
First, more claims that early rumours that EMI were trying to hold on to the boss of the major's Capitol US division, respected A&R Jason Flom, were untrue, and actually they are busy negotiating their way out of their current contract with the senior player, keen to remove the bigger names at the top of EMI US ahead of the arrival of the new head of A&R for UK and North America, the recently appointed former Island UK chief Nick Gatfield.
Second, allegations that after its acquisition of the major Terra Firma found that EMI had lost £750 million from selling new music in the five years prior to the takeover. It claims the major's recorded music division had managed to hide the turmoil by classifying new catalogue releases as new music, so that lucrative catalogue projects filled the hole left by disastrous new signings. The Times says that Hands was already aware when he bought the major that EMI Music Publishing was where much of the company's value lay, but that even he was surprised just how badly the recorded music bit of the operation was doing.
And third, there is more discussion about the pressure that may or may not be coming from Hands' primary backer Citigroup, who, according to various reports, rather regret loaning Hands £2.5 billion for his EMI purchase just before that credit crunch kicked in. The official line is that Terra Firma and Citigroup remain on good terms regarding the loan, but The Times references rumours that the bank may force the private equity outfit to get out of the music business quick if EMI's fortunes aren't looking rosier by the Autumn - most likely by engineering a quick merger with Warner Music, who, of course, tried to merge with its UK rival several times ahead of Terra Firma's acquisition last year.
All of this is speculation of course, but if you're a fan of speculation, or fancy a summary of EMI: The Terra Firma Months, then check out the article here.