Hmmm, it seems almost everytime Prince hooks up with a major label something funky happens...EMI went out of business during Emancipation, Clive Davis got the oust from Arista during Rave, Red Ant went belly-up during The Rainbow Children...

Anyway, Universal's two presidents are splitting the company in half. This actually looks good for 3121, as each half is getting its own advertising/marketing team. The two halves are roughly split between rock and R&B acts. Maybe it's a telling sign of the promotion Universal wants to do that Prince has been given to the rock side.

This artcile was posted on www.hitsdailydouble.com:

Sylvia Rhone and Monte Lipman to Run Their Own Dedicated Labels Under Mel Lewinter

February 23, 2006

Mercury’s Ed Eckstine and Mike Bone, Virgin’s Phil Q and Nancy Berry or Roy Lott and Matt Serletic, Geffen’s Jordan Schur and Polly Anthony, IDJ’s Lyor Cohen and Jim Caparro. These are just a few of the shotgun label-head marriages that proved to work better on paper than in reality.
Now add Universal Motown Records Group’s combo of Monte Lipman and Sylvia Rhone to the list.

With the failure of so many other presidential pairings at labels over the years, UMRG Chairman Mel Lewinter and shrewd UMG boss Doug Morris have now acted to give Lipman and Rhone their own sandboxes to play in.

UMRG is being split in two, with Lipman and Rhone named toppers of a pair of full-service label in Universal Republic and Universal Motown, respectively. Both will continue to report to Lewinter.

The labels will each have their own dedicated promotion, A&R, marketing and publicity staffs, which will soon be expanded, while they will share sales and back-office functions. The expressed rationale for the move is to broaden the labels’ artist development activities, as well as expanding their presence in the artist community and marketplace.

The creation of a Universal Republic will allow Lipman to head up his own label, one with a distinctively rock flavor, with a roster including Jack Johnson, Damian Marley, Godsmack, 3 Doors Down, Hinder and 10 Years, all acts he was directly involved in bringing to the label and/or breaking, plus the recently signed Prince.

Rhone will inherit the R&B and rap sectors of the roster as head of Universal Motown, including Nelly, Stevie Wonder, India.Arie and Chamillionaire, as well as labels such as Steve Rifkind’s SRC (Akon, David Banner, Remy Ma and Pharoahe Monch), Cash Money and Barry Hankerson’s Blackground (Toni Braxton).

You made a post for each half

NouveauDance said:

Sh*t, beat me to it!

NouveauDance said:

That's funny.

It seems like Prince should be in the r&b section, he has more in common with those artists than the rock ones.

AlexNevermind28 said:

I almost agree, but he doesn't really have a designated genre.

I had made a thread earlier on this topic:

http://www.prince.org/msg/7/178826

...and I included a later report from Reuters/Hollywood Reporter that clarified the point that the two labels spinning out of the split were going to be non-genre specific and that both Prince AND Tamar were going to be with Lipman's Universal Republic.




[Edited 2/28/06 9:04am]

*cues Bell Biv DeVoe's Poison

*hits Ricky Bell's high note*

ah-HUUUUUH ahuuuuu-uuUUUuhhh

[quote]

renfield said:

damn! our mans a jinxx!!

Moonwalkbjrain said:[quote]

I was initially concerned, but once I got the second report that stated that both labels could handle both rock and R&B projects and that Tamar and Prince would both be out of the clutches of Sylvia Rhone I felt better about it. The initial industry rumors were that Lipman was going to forced out of the picture entirely at Uni and that Rhone would be given the whole shebang. Lipman was reportedly the one to convince Prince to sign with Universal, so the fact that the Prince and Tamar projects are staying with him and that he will have more resources of his own to work with can only be a good thing.
[Edited 2/28/06 22:43pm]

redflag said:

wait, by sign do u mean he now has a record deal or does he still have the distribution deal?

Moonwalkbjrain said:

I meant signed with Universal for a promotion/distribution deal.

redflag said:

ohhh ok thanks