Why hasn’t Sony Music Australia hired a new CEO yet? & More News Here

Denis Handlin exited Sony Music Australia June 21, 2021. As of penning this, we’re 11 months on and Sony nonetheless hasn’t appointed a alternative, so the query is: why the fuck not?

In September of final yr I wrote an op-ed titled ‘Sony Music Australia’s path out of turmoil’. In the piece, I famous that if Sony Music Australia’s enterprise didn’t rebound—and rebound shortly—those that might undergo most could be the artists signed to their label, notably those that simply signed longterm offers proper earlier than shit hit the fan.

Nearly a yr on since Handlin’s sacking, that prediction appears to have come true.

I’ve spoken to a variety of artist managers who’ve artists signed to Sony, and all however one have reported a important drop off in pace, communication, proactive technique and funds stage approvals. It could possibly be mentioned that Sony is, by a number of stories, a catastrophe for some artists proper now.

I wish to be clear, there are a nice many gifted professionals who work at Sony Music, however even the perfect would really feel underwater at this second with exit after exit and no new (or little) hires to assist. It’s telling that the one artist supervisor who had nothing however good issues to say about Sony manages what could be one in all Sony’s highest-earning home artists.

Maybe the staff that’s left within the Australian workplace solely have sufficient bandwidth to handle a few key relationships successfully. This isn’t a surprise.

One query that involves thoughts is: who’s approving budgets as of late? TMN can’t appear to get a straight reply; it appears to be a mixture of funds approvals coming from both Gordon Pitt or direct from NY relying on the ask or the artist, and most managers are confused as to why essentially the most trivial prices are at the moment now not being accepted.

This is regarding, to say the least.

Sony Music appear to be subtly indicating that they’re near a rent, which I hope is true. Although no people or Sony have confirmed this with us instantly, sources have advised TMN that Kim Boshier (Sony Music MD of New Zealand) has completed a variety of interviews for the position. Sources have additionally advised us Sony is trying to rent a girl from exterior the Australian music trade, albeit near it.

If not Boshier, Jennie Sager and Jane Huxley come to thoughts when fascinated about this hiring temporary, with hypothesis within the biz that each could possibly be on the checklist of potential candidates.

Regardless, we’re nonetheless met with the identical query: Why the fuck hasn’t Sony hired an Australian CEO but?

There are 4 potential causes for the delay:

1. They had little visibility of Australia for 38 years

From an operational standpoint, I’m undecided how a lot Handlin was capable of cover from Sony’s head workplace. Did they ever audit or care about each line merchandise of price? Unlikely.

My guess is that over the 38 years Handlin held the highest place, there have been prices and liabilities that crept into the enterprise which may have grown to staggering quantities.

Whether they have been merely bloated salaries of underperforming and dependable executives , or extreme luxuries that weren’t operationally required or useful to run a document label, solely Handlin and the NY head workplace know the extent of the surprises right here. Whatever the case, if NY didn’t have visibility (or turned a blind eye) to a lot of unorthodox prices or liabilities, it will take some months to each absolutely uncover and take care of them earlier than they may appoint a new boss.

This doesn’t even issue within the HR rigidity. Who at Sony was truly including worth vs. simply working as one in all Handlin’s cheerleaders?

Perhaps the NY workplace needed to deeply perceive each participant at Sony Music Australia so they may know who to exit, who to maintain and who to advertise earlier than they threw a new boss into the deep finish.

This technique is likely to be the kindest for the new boss, nevertheless it should rob them of the chance to come back in and make the evaluation for themselves. A new boss coming in to make swift however significant modifications could be an extremely efficient assertion to each the trade and their workers as to what Sony Music 2.0 will stand for. Maybe, Sony HQ is robbing their future Australian CEO of this chance.

2. A strategic financial EBIT resolution

There is a business incentive for holding out on changing Handlin for so long as potential.

Sony is probably going saving $10-$20mil per yr with the exit of all of the latest executives and the inactivity on new signings. Have Sony made much less income throughout this time? Hell no. Gang of Youths, The Kid LAROI, and Amy Shark are nonetheless releasing data and doing massive numbers, and their important again catalogue (Adele, Beyonce, Lil Nas X et al) will nonetheless stream hundreds of thousands day by day whether or not there may be a new boss on the helm or not.

From the P&L perspective, the working revenue of Sony Music Australia is likely to be wanting the perfect it has within the firm’s total historical past. So it stands to motive that if Rob Stringer is on a bonus construction of world revenue, holding out a yr or two earlier than re-starting an funding in Australia could be very fruitful for each him and Sony shareholders within the quick time period.

The much less cynical perspective could be that there have been undoubtedly monumental redundancy and exit packages paid to not solely Handlin however the many different senior workers that left Sony. Maybe this killed the Australian funds for a yr or two and we simply want to sit down and look forward to the P&L to get well.

3. A PR technique

During the announcement of Handlin’s exit, Sony Music was being crucified at virtually each dinner desk, tabloid and information present. Their alleged sins have been horrific, it was not solely a dramatic time within the firm’s historical past but in addition drove important site visitors and boosted rankings for media.

If Sony acted shortly, it might need saved the story and curiosity going for longer, it might have put the new boss underneath better scrutiny and judgement.

Perhaps Sony’s PR technique is to easily bore us to loss of life, and deliberately turn into irrelevant over the subsequent yr or two earlier than they rent a new boss who can then re-build the corporate in a much less tense and watchful surroundings.

4. Lack of urgency and precedence

The final potential clarification is the one I sincerely hope isn’t the case.

Perhaps the primary three causes outlined above are merely giving Sony’s head workplace an excessive amount of credit score, it would simply be that they merely simply don’t care concerning the Australian territory sufficient to behave shortly to make sure this market doesn’t miss a beat.

Only Stringer and his friends would know if that is true.

It ought to be talked about that there are winners to come back out of the truth that Sony Music Australia at the moment has no chief. Those are the 2 different majors (Warner and Universal) in addition to the bigger independents (Mushroom, Unified, BMG, Chugg Entertainment/City Pop and PIAS).

Why? These labels have one much less competitor with deep pockets to bid towards them when artists are on the lookout for a dwelling. One much less formidable adversary within the weekly chart race, and one much less govt with an excessive character to consider.

The ones that lose are the artists; each the artists signed to Sony presently, and people on the lookout for a new dwelling with one much less bidder out there.

One factor is obvious: the territory wants a vibrant Sony Music Australia comeback.

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