Note the writer has no interest in what MIGHT have happened if JK had become global EMI boss in 2000!

www.thetimes.com/article/eaec89a7-2e48-4...78e0b5789f62013d2d8b

I do like your idea you had if you had the EMI job and that was doing deals with record shops for exclusives and merchandise.

I have said before when I visit independent record shops and HMV, the youth of today are buying albums from the 70s and 80s and early 90s. I am not sure where the 1980s revival come from, but it's like going back to the past in some areas.

Second hand record shop's can't fill up their racks quick enough with 80s records. You can get early stuff by Diana Ross easily but her 80s stuff is now expensive, same with 80s releases by Talking Heads and Bad Company.

Robert Palmer has now somewhat stalled same with Bryan Ferry.

UK music scene is pretty much dead as a dodo, arenas is where you see the massive bands but many of them are still from the past or from the metal scene. Smaller venues seem to be for tributes or the legendary artists from legacy bands Martin Barre and John Power from Cast come to mind. Tribute bands are now no longer cheap, for some reason they do keep theatre's going.

Yes I felt a strong EMI would benefit the entire music industry and retail was then (and should still be now) supported and encouraged with MASS APPEAL globally catering to everyone! A fan of an act like Taylor Swift or BTS can get merchandise and free stuff from dedicated sites (at huge cost) but by supporting retail in this way EMI, representing all labels, would assist not only in boosting employment but in encouraging cross over music and lovers are all types of sound.

Fans would have swamped HMV etc to get free swag but the same time making purchases.

HMV is pretty soulless these days, no organization in the racks, they seem to cater for fans who are into film and TV franchises. New vinyl is a rip off, albums are recorded digitally these on computer's. Wouldn't the songs sound the same on both CD and vinyl?

I've attended a gig last year, I got talking guy, who does bit of session work. He said no one really uses consoles these days its Pro Tools on a computer in a studio.

I do think fan clubs need come back instead of newsletters via email and Facebook pages. Fan clubs were more personal.

JK2006 wrote:


Note the writer has no interest in what MIGHT have happened if JK had become global EMI boss in 2000!



I worked in a senior position at one of the top music companies during the 80's, 90's and early 2000's
I can guarantee that in 2000 no chief executive hire could have survived at EMI.

The problem was that the overall market was shrinking fast and all the record companies were bloated and overstaffed. Technology changes were comining but at that time there was no clear and obvious path forward and all the options were expensive and untested.

Well BB my memo to Nicoli when he asked me to take over EMI said everything that years later You Tube, iTunes and Spotify have done. Except owned and run by EMI. Globally. EMI would be the music equivalent to APPLE if I'd been allowed to take over. I was quite good at reviving failed organisations. Look what happened when I took over Eurovision for the UK.

JK2006 wrote:
Well BB my memo to Nicoli when he asked me to take over EMI said everything that years later You Tube, iTunes and Spotify have done. Except owned and run by EMI. Globally. EMI would be the music equivalent to APPLE if I'd been allowed to take over. I was quite good at reviving failed organisations. Look what happened when I took over Eurovision for the UK.

It's interesting you say that, JK. The piracy boom did get phased out in favour of streaming, but physical media is popular. When people buy merch at shows they have both vinyl and CD, a lot of tend to buy the vinyl releases but to me it's still a con.

The problem with the UK music scene it's now catered for those with low IQ. In the pub earlier, I saw group of teens in Motley Crue and Iron Maiden shirts. You would have thought that in 2025, there would be a new generation of metal bands topping the UK charts. Don't say Ghost!

JK2006 wrote:
Well BB my memo to Nicoli when he asked me to take over EMI said everything that years later You Tube, iTunes and Spotify have done. Except owned and run by EMI. Globally. EMI would be the music equivalent to APPLE if I'd been allowed to take over. I was quite good at reviving failed organisations. Look what happened when I took over Eurovision for the UK.

As I said I don't believe anyone could have saved EMI
- Although EMI had a good UK presence they only had a worldwide market share of around 11%, not enough influence to push through market change and acceptance of a different business model
- None of the majors were going to licence their music rights to a competitor. They preferred to get screwed by a third party such as Apple, YouTube or Spotify than trust another record company
- Capital Records in the US were haemorrhaging money and the whole North American operation had been a shit show for years
- The total market was in steep decline in 2000 and would continue to be so. Everyone was restructuring salami style and it was a massive drain on management and financial resources
- The various label and country heads had very large egos and their default position would always be to resist change i

I'm sure that turning around Eurovision or the BRITS wasn't easy but the complexity of single event management doesn't compare to a multi national company with thousands of employees operating in many diverse markets

Well BB you may have been right but all those problems were exactly why Nicoli asked me to take over and exactly why I felt a major change was vital. Remember Napster? My ideas would have provided a music industry way of beating that - and the Apple/iTunes/YouTubes that emerged. YES the music industry was heading for the dumper. I still believe I would have saved it.