EMI lose another leader

Hey! Hey! You guys - let's stop worrying about Citigroup taking EMI over because we screwed up when we borrowed the money to buy the company. Let's just have some fun. I'll switch the lights off, we can all move about, and then I'll switch the lights on again and we can see who is going to be in charge for the next few weeks. Fun, huh? Alright... off go the lights...

... and on they come again.

Elio Leoni-Sceti has been dumped as CEO; Charles Allen out of the Twilight Of ITV moves from being a non-executive chair to executive chair.

There's an official statement:

Charles has been non-executive Chairman of EMI Music since January 2009, chairing its Board and supporting the transformation of the business. Elio Leoni-Sceti, EMI Music’s Chief Executive, who has successfully led EMI Music through the first phase of its operational turnaround, will be leaving the company on March 31st 2010.

Yes, Elio's been a rip-roaring success. So, erm, naturally, we're getting rid of him. It's what you do when someone's been successful in phase one - dump him and bring in someone EQUALLY SUCCESSFUL to look after phase two. And the guy who helped ITV Digital be all successful by losing £1.4billion, he's the guy for the job, right?

Charles said: “Elio has done a great job. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him; he is a very talented executive and we all wish him well in the future. Our goals for EMI Music remain the same. I will support and guide the group’s strong team, keep EMI’s focus on creativity and superb A&R, and deliver a digital platform. This is a great business – our task is to ensure it has a great future."

EMI has a focus on superb A&R? Or is Allen still being as satirical as when he claimed that Elio had done a great job?

Elio added: “EMI is a wonderful business with a great team and new creative and operational momentum. My job here is now done and it is time for me to move on. It has been a pleasure to work with Charles and so many other talented and committed people. I look forward to seeing the company go on to further success in the future.”

... the sort of successes that I have brought them. In other words, I hope they ALL have to cram their belongings into a filing box and shuffle out to the car park while someone - probably the drummer from Starsailor - unscrews the nameplate on their office doors.

Elio's departure may or may not be related to documents just filed in a US court which told a completely different tale. Business Week reports:

In a letter to Hands, part of court documents filed Feb. 4 in New York, Leoni-Sceti had written that morale at the company had reached a low and that artists were questioning whether to stay.

EMI is in talks with artists, “all of whom are questioning to some degree whether it is wise to continue a relationship with EMI,” Leoni-Sceti wrote in the Oct. 2 letter, saying their concerns were sparked by a Citigroup report on EMI’s prospects. Hands had named Leoni-Sceti to the top job in July 2008 with no music industry experience.

But - hey - it's all success, success, success if you ignore that.

Just to underline how successful EMI is with all these talented people running it, Business Week adds that OK GO have dumped the label and Queen and Pink Floyd are thinking of taking their back catalogue elsewhere.