More chatter on those announcements regarding executive changes at SonyBMG USA last week which, now I've had time to think about it, were actually pretty major.
As previously reported, Barry Weiss was last week appointed as CEO of the BMG Label Group, which includes the US operations of all the record labels that were part of BMG prior to the SonyBMG merger. He takes over from record industry veteran Clive Davis, who got a new creative worldwide job instread. BMG Label Group President Charles Goldstruck, meanwhile, is leaving the company, as is SonyBMG COO Tim Bowen.
The New York Post has reported rumours that Goldstruck was sidelined because it was thought he had ambitions to take SonyBMG top guy Rolf Schmidt-Holtz's job. Fox News' Roger Friedman reports that Goldstruck was a close ally of Davis within SonyBMG, and claims that neither of them saw the executive shift that sees the latter sidelined and the former kicked out coming. Friedman writes: "I'm told that Davis and Goldstuck didn't know until it happened that BMG's Rolf Schmidt Holtz had pulled the trigger and that their careers had been uprooted. Even Davis's attorney, Allen Grubman, who knows everything, didn't realize what was happening until it was too late".
However, Friedman reckons that Davis will accept his new role, for the time being at least. Goldstuck, he says, is "one of the business' true gentlemen" and should land another big role sometime soon.
Schmidt-Holtz, meanwhile, is expected to take on a more hands-on role because Bowen will not be replaced.