Ethiopia Habtemariam, who had been executive vice president of Motown, will become president. And Motown Records, which had been under Island Def Jam umbrella for the last several years after being part of Republic, will relocate to Los Angeles and become part of Capitol Music Group. Island will continue under its president, David Massey. As part of the reorganization, Steve Bartels, who had been president and chief operating officer of Def Jam, will become that label's chief executive. He has position Def Jam, Island, Motown and Republic to where they are today poised for even greater levels of success and wed love to keep him in family. Barry is an exceptional music executive, and I am enormously grateful for all of his invaluable contributions during the time of transition for our East Coast companies, Mr. But that venture is unclear, and many in the music industry expect that Mr. Weiss had stepped down from his position in order to enter into discussions with UMG about a new venture together. A Universal announcement on Tuesday said that Mr. He had been hired to run labels New York labels, which include Republic and Island Def Jam, but that job was ill-define, and the labels remain somewhat autonomous. Weiss, a highly regarded executive who came to Universal as part of a swap that sent Universal's former chairman, Doug Morris, to Sony, had never found a clear role at Universal. Changes to Island Def Jam also confirm what has been whispering about among music executives for months: that Mr. The fact is: No matter how much we might work to build IDJ as a brand, that brand could never be as powerful as each of IDJs constituent parts, Lucian Grainge, chairman of Universal, wrote in a note to employees on Tuesday. But the announcement on Tuesday serves as an acknowledgment that Island Def Jam no longer functions as well as it once did.
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Among these are Interscope Geffen & M, Republic and Capitol Music Group, which houses labels like Capitol and Virgin that Universal acquired as part of the breakup of EMI in 2011.
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#The island def jam music group series#
Since it was created in the late 1990s through a series of label deals and consolidations, Universal has been organized into separate divisions that each include several record labels. Instead, its constituent labels, including Def Jam, Island and Motown, will operate separately, with some changes in their leadership and operations.
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In reorganization, Island Def Jam Music Group, one of four umbrella units for Universals dozens of record labels, will cease to exist, according to a news release. Universal Music Group, giant record company that sells almost 40 percent of world music, made a series of structural changes on Tuesday, splitting up one of its major divisions and displacing Barry Weiss, former Sony executive who was brought in three years ago to run companys East Coast operations.