And more interesting developments from the wacky world of EMI.
Billboard has got its hands on a letter from the major's General Counsel, Chris Ancliff, to the boss of the IFPI, John Kennedy, tendering EMI's resignation from the global trade body. Guy Hands is wondering why he's paying to be in the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry when EMI haven't sold phonographs for years. No, not really, this is linked to the Terra Firma chief's recent whinings on the amount of money the record companies invest in their trade bodies, which Hands thinks is far too much.
The resignation is conditional, and won't come into effect until 31 Mar, but EMI's continued involvement in the trade organisation is dependent on reducing its costs, which requires agreement from the other three majors. While all the major record companies would, presumably, support cost cutting, insiders say Hands' proposals to cut costs are - as with most of the Terra Firma chief's proposals - pretty radical, basically involving the merger of the IFPI and the US trade body the Recording Industry Association Of America, certainly in part, possibly in whole (so that the latter would essentially become IFPI USA). And Hands seemingly doesn't just want a vague commitment to considering such a move, but a concrete timetable for how and when it would be achieved.
Billboard quote a source close to the negotiations between the record companies thus: "What can be accomplished by one global trade group would be preferable and more cost-efficient than two. The challenges are structure and operation: how the global group would communicate with regional groups, what their mandate would be, how they would be organized, who would lead it. The initial sense is it would be neither [RIAA CEO Mitch] Bainwol or Kennedy. But it's obviously very early in this process".
It is unclear if EMI plan a similar resignation from the RIAA if no merger agreement can be reached. And there is no word regarding the future of EMI's involvement in UK trade body the BPI, and whether Hands would subsequently look for a similar integration between IFPI and BPI if any IFPI/RIAA integration was achieved.