Warner Nationwide Restructuring Unlikely to Affect Nashville
A Warner Music Group reorganization is unlikely to affect local operations or lead to lay offs. According to multiple news outlets, WMG will be divided into the following three divisions in the U.S.:
• Recorded music—includes Warner Music Nashville, Atlantic Records and Warner Bros. Records.
• Music publishing and catalog development—will bring together Warner/Chappell and Rhino Entertainment under Warner Chappell CEO and chairman, Cameron Strang. This move is designed to spur catalog exploitation, which includes synch licensing. Rhino offers many music reissues, and has product by Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt, Randy Travis, Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Smiths, Chicago, Foreigner, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, The Monkees, The Stooges, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Tony Joe White and more.
• Label and artist services—home to distribution and other peripheral operations such as tour production, booking, artists services, event production and marketing, this includes WEA, ADA, 360° Operations and D2C. Matt Signore will lead the label and artist services division as general manager / CFO.
Billboard first broke the story, when it obtained an email from WMG CEO Steve Cooper to employees.
