As expected, former Def Jam Records President Kevin Liles has followed his former Universal boss Lyor Cohen and joined the Warner Music Group. Liles quit his Def Jam job last month, and confirmed yesterday that he had accepted an executive vice president job at Warner, reported to Cohen.
Liles main job at Warner will be to develop new joint venture record labels akin to Roc-A-Fella, the JV with Jay Z and Damon Dash which Liles oversaw while at Def Jam. Warner Music recognises that joint ventures of this kind are a good way to attract and secure high profile artists who have bigger ambitions than just producing music.