Clive Davis’ Ousted as BMG Chief

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Until this week, the rules of the music industry didn’t apply to Clive Davis. At 76, Davis held the top job at SonyBMG’s BMG Music Group, playing Svengali to teen idols like Kelly Clarkson and Alicia Keys. The legendary record man acted as if he’d be in charge forever, thanks to his uncanny ear for a gold record, to say nothing of his genius for self-promotion and his corporate survival skills, Fortune reports.


On Thursday, however, SonyBMG removed Davis from his post. He will now hold the amorphous title of “chief creative officer” at the company, and while still working with a handful of acts. But the BMG Music Group will now be overseen by Barry Weiss, CEO of SonyBMG’s Zomba label, who is younger — and presumably less expensive than his predecessor.


Why did Davis and two of his longtime deputies Charles Goldstuck and Tim Bowen have to step aside? No matter how hard they try, SonyBMG and its major label peers — Warner Music Group (WMG), Universal Music Group and EMI — haven’t been able to fix the structural problems afflicting their business. CD sales continue to decline. Meanwhile, record companies can’t move enough digital music to make up the difference.


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