Mike Dungan To Leave Capitol For Universal [Updated]

Capitol Records Nashville President/CEO Mike Dungan will soon be moving over to Universal Nashville to take over as president.

Billboard.biz reported the news yesterday (Feb. 23), which MusicRow later confirmed. Longstanding Universal Music Group Nashville president Luke Lewis is rumored to be taking on a different role within the company.

The Tennessean reported today (Feb 25), an email was sent Friday to employees from EMI CEO Roger Faxon confirming Dungan’s departure to rival record label, Universal Music Group.

Among other details in their report, Dungan will leave Capitol/EMI on March 31 and join Universal a month later. “I would not be surprised that once the merger with Universal has closed, we will be linking up with Mike once again,” Faxon said. “But until that happens, while he will still be our friend, he will absolutely be our competition.”

Taking over from Dungan at Capitol/EMI is Bill Hearn, currently the top executive at EMI’s Christian music division according to The Tennesseean. Hearn continues to oversee the EMI’s CMG Christian group, but will also take on the additional responsibility of Capitol Nashville, Faxon said.

In mid-November, 2011, an announcement of the sale of EMI’s recorded music and publishing companies for a total of $4.1 billion to Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group ($1.9 b) and a consortium led by Sony Corp ($2.2 b) made headlines. The record label deal is partly based upon Universal’s expectation it can profitably exploit EMI’s extensive back catalog which includes acts like The Beatles.

The current proposed merger between both entertainment companies is still pending regulatory approval.