Breaking news. Well, it would have been breaking news if there'd been a Friday afternoon edition of the CMU Daily. Anyway, Ged Doherty will succeed Rob Stringer as CEO of SonyBMG UK when Stringer takes over the top job at Sony Music Label Group US in New York in September. Doherty's appointment was announced internally by SonyBMG COO Tim Bowen on Friday, and some kind of formal external announcement is expected today. According to Billboard, Doherty will report to Bowen in the new job.
Doherty benefits from having worked for both of the major record companies that made up SonyBMG prior to their 2004 merger. After working in artist management, he joined Sony Music in 1992, initially in an international marketing role in New York, but later as MD of Columbia Records in the UK. He moved to BMG in 1999, initially as MD of Arista Records, but then as President, BMG Music Division, a role that expanded to cover the whole of SonyBMG post merger.
Oh look, in the time it took me to write this story the formal external announcement just arrived. In it the aforementioned Tim Bowen says: "Ged is the ideal person to take the company forward. He has great knowledge and a real feel for the future direction of our business. He also recognises and understands that artists need space and time to make their music as well as the level of guidance and direction that we can provide as a company to bring that music to the widest market. I wish him the greatest success in the future."
While Doherty responds thus: "I can't exactly claim that my history is that of a typical label chairman but I hope it means that I understand artists, managers, lawyers, promoters and the whole creative and commercial process better than most. I feel very proud in taking on this job. Whilst there is a huge responsibility at all times to treasure the catalogue, our future lies in our ability to develop as a fully rounded music company working for all our artists in taking their music, videos and creativity to consumers across the widest spectrum of platforms."