Robbie Williams' manager Tim Clark has been talking to Music Week about their plans for new business relationships once the singer's current mega-bucks deal with EMI is complete.
Only one more new album is required to fulfil Williams obligations to the major, and work has already begun on that from a songwriting point of view, and it's thought Robbie will go into the studio in March to begin recording.
Asked whether Williams will re-sign to EMI or another major, Clark told the trade magazine: "I don't think anything is out of the question. For David and myself, how we'd like to see things is pretty clear. First of all we start from the very simple place, which has almost become a cliché, source and destination - artist and fan - and the people in the middle are simply the gloop and have to justify the roles they have".
However much EMI or one of their rivals could justify their roles, they are unlikely to win actual ownership of Williams' master recordings in any deal.
Adding that the rights to the albums created under Robbie's second EMI deal (the much reported on multi-million pound one) will revert to the singer, he said: "It's a foolhardy artist who allows their rights simply to be owned by a record company. The old-fashioned record company deal is not something Robbie Williams would consider".