No Rock And Roll Fun

EMI DOUBLE-DECIMATE: EMI have announced 1500 job losses worlwide, the vast majority coming as they outsource CD production in Europe and America. At the same time, they're going to drop one in five of their artists - mainly "niche" and "underperforming" acts (but what happened to the record labels investing in bands that didn't sell very many? Wasn't that the justification for the exhorbitant cost of CDs?)

It's worth remembering that EMI is expecting to make a profit of about GBP300 million this year, and saw its share of the growing US market increase by one percent. So this isn't the actions of a company on the ropes - it's actually a simple cost-cutting at the expense of the workers move. Alan Levy, head of music at EMI, is expected to take home 20 million quid this year.