SONY BMG DUMPS LACK

A couple of years ago, Andrew Lack was seen as the man who would salvage Sony's decidely shabby music business. He wasn't a music industry insider, and the idea was that his outsider's eye - he'd most recently been running NBC - would allow him to spot the problems in the machine without being too emotionally involved.

Didn't work; so now Lack's out, replaced by Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, who has some music background (he had been Sony-BMG chairman) but a heart in TV and magazines. Lack, meanwhile, becomes chairman of the board instead, with some sort of responsibility for a film division. Why Sony-BMG feels the need to have a film division is anyone's guess, but it's the sort of shrewd decision making that will probably delight the Sony proper board. Assuming they've forgotten they have a proper movies business and don't really need their music company blundering round in competition.

music sony bmg andrew lack