New owner promises a tougher EMI

The new owner of EMI Group has said that he will drop artists he believes are not working hard enough and will overhaul the company’s executive pay packages.

Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. bought EMI, which has Coldplay, the Rolling Stones and Kylie Minogue on its books, for $4.9 billion in August.

In an internal memo confirmed by Terra Firma, the private equity group’s chief executive, Guy Hands, also threatened to withdraw stars’ lucrative advances if record sales were disappointing.

Hands said EMI would in the future be “more selective in whom we choose to work with.”

“While many spend huge amounts of time working with their label to promote, perfect and endorse their music, some unfortunately simply focus on negotiating for the maximum advance . . . advances which are often never repaid,” Hands said.

The memo did not name any artists, but EMI has been plagued by late delivery of albums by some of its biggest acts.

Hands also criticized EMI’s “compensation and management system put in place over the last 20 years which does not encourage the right behaviors or reward the right actions.”

“What worries me is that the existing structures have been put in over a couple of decades and unpicking them in a way that releases the good in the company is not going to happen overnight,” he added.