http://www.nytimes.com/20...ref=slogin

In a shake-up that reflects the end of an era, the music giant, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, said Thursday that the longtime industry executive Clive Davis would relinquish daily control of his label, the RCA Music Group, and take a creative post at the company.

Producer Clive Davis and singer Usher, right, arrive at the 32nd Annual American Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in November 2004.

As part of the restructuring, Barry Weiss, the chief of the company’s Zomba label, will succeed Mr. Davis as chairman of its BMG unit, overseeing an array of labels and artists that include Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, OutKast and Kelly Clarkson.

In addition to representing a generational shift in the corporate ranks of the music business, the move signals yet another major change for Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann that has occasionally been rankled by infighting.

As part of the latest move, the company’s chief operating officer, Tim Bowen, is leaving, as is Mr. Davis’s chief lieutenant, Charles Goldstuck, president of the RCA Music Group.

The timing of the announcement came as a surprise to many in the industry since the No. 1 album this week is “Spirit” by Leona Lewis, the latest in a long string of divas that Mr. Davis has signed and shaped. The new album from Alicia Keys, another singer that Mr. Davis mentors, has sold 3.4 million copies since its release last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

But other high-profile projects did not fare as well. And, perhaps more importantly, the pop hits that Mr. Davis is known for delivering require the kind of expensive videos and marketing campaigns that record companies can no longer afford.

Mr. Davis, who started in the music business in the 1960s at Columbia Records, when it was owned by CBS, is one of the few currently active executives who played a role in creating the modern music business, and Sony BMG’s decision to promote Mr. Weiss underscores the challenges facing the company.

Mr. Davis is known for his “ears,” his ability to hear a potential hit, match singers with songwriters and create the kind of best-selling albums that major labels rely on to compensate for projects that do not fare as well in the market.

Like other executives of his generation, he became something of a rock star in his own right, commanding a rich compensation package, cultivating a high profile and throwing an annual pre-Grammy party that became as important a social event as the awards ceremony itself.

But the problems that face the music business may have more to do with its reliance on hits than the ability of any individual executive to deliver them.

Mr. Weiss, 49, who also oversees many creative decisions, has enjoyed his share of chart success with acts like Chris Brown and T-Pain.

But he has a reputation for tightly managing the Zomba Label Group’s expenses, and being savvier about the digital transition that faces recorded music. T-Pain’s hits, for example, have had considerable success as ringtones, the kind of high-margin, low-glamour products that are becoming more important to a record company’s bottom line.

Mr. Weiss will now have to apply his touch across a far larger organization. “People are going to have to step up and sort of pick up the slack,” he said. He played down suggestions that the shake-up would lead to a wider restructuring or combining of the company’s labels.

“The goal is to maintain separate label identities, but maybe we can bring some of our business-minded, entrepreneurial approach to the other side,” he said, referring to Mr. Davis’ RCA division, “and maybe there are some lessons from their side that I can bring to our side.”
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Leona Lewis was his downfall.

Timmy84 said:

who is leona lewis?

heybaby said:

She was the British X-Factor winner last year if I'm not mistaken and she's got the current No. 1 hit, "Bleeding Love". Her album, "Spirit" debuted at No. 1 here. And she's a label mate of J/RMG, where Clive Davis led before he was told to step down.

Clive Davis is like 127 years old...it's time. Just like it was past time for Bob Barker and Dick Clark to step aside...I stopped tuning into the Dick Clark New Year's Eve show for fear that one year he was going to keel over dead right before the ball dropped.
[Edited 4/17/08 18:44pm]

This is going to be interesting. They're ALWAYS trying to kick Clive to the curb and his old ass always fights tooth and nail to remain boss. Usually they come up with a hefty compensation/severance package disguised as another comapany and he delivers another internationally selling artist with longevity as revenge...I wonder what gives this time...? Weiss can meet the challenge of the stuff that appeals to younger people with shorter attention spans (good grief, T-Pain ), but will he be able to deliver entertainers that can give you albums with strong worldwide sales over a 5 year+ period and fill concert stadiums. OR, is it that record labels want to concentrate less on creating international megastars, because as we know, once artists start making the mega-moula internationally, they get leveraging power at the negotiating table, and in many respects aren't always at the mercy of their labels.

I imagine if instead you can just churn out music stars with limited market potential, milk every buck you can that benefits the record company (using the new technology that's breaking the industry down), while ensuring that they are in fact so limited that you practically need to enslave them to keep them doing cheap tacky stuff for them to have any market at all...I imagine it will keep costs waaay down, they'll be able to make their profits, and when one T-Pain is used up they're easily disposable and REPLACED because the had no reach, or leveraging power to begin with

In any event, I'll be waiting to see if Vanity Fair does an article about this

Timmy84 said:

I have a feeling it's more about Kelly Clarkson's album being such a failure.
[Edited 4/18/08 1:58am]

Timmy84 said:

How is a US No 1 single and album going to lead to his downfall?

Shapeshifter said:

Yeah. This is the kind of thing that's in the works well before a song/album has a chance to catch on and hit #1.

THE INDUSTRY DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT CLIVE DAVIS!!!!!
IT'S ALL ABOUT A "FAST FOOD FIX"
AND 90% OF THE CONSUMERS NOWADAYS ARE "CRACK BABIES"
WITH SHORT ASS ATTENTION SPANS!!!!!

a few thoughts....

***Now maybe Carlos Santana can make a "real" Santana album without all the guest stars.I blame Clive for taking Carlos in this commercial direction.

***What's gonna happen to Whitney Houston? Isn't Clive guiding her and preparing her big comeback? Can she do it without him?

SoulAlive said:

BOTH GREAT THOUGHTS!!!!! MR. DAVIS TRIED THAT "SANTANA" SH*T W/OUR HOMIE P, AND WHAT A FU**IN' DISASTER!!!!!

woogiebear said:

Exactly.Clive Davis only cares about making money,even when it compromises an artist's integrity.His strategy is....bring in alot of "hot" artists and fill your album with guest rappers.Remember Luther Vandross' last and final album 'Dance With My Father'? Every other song is a collaboration with a "hot" artist or rapper Clive is responsible for that fiasco.

SoulAlive said:

WORD!!!!! CUZ LUTHER IN HIS RIGHT MIND WOULDN'T HAVE COLLABORATED W/BUSTA RHYMES OR FOXY BROWN!!!!! WTF!!!!!

woogiebear said:

Exactly! I'm sick of Clive Davis and his crazy style of "marketing" music.Good riddance to him.

SoulAlive said:

Clive's done more than many of us know to destroy the record industry as wel know it. He's one of the ones responsible for the talentless pool of "artists" these days, not so much him himself, but people trying to emulate his style.

He did some great things back in the 60's and 70's, but from the 80's on it was straight garbage.

guitarslinger44 said:

80´s > whitney houston - garbage???

myloveis4ever said:

Ask vainandy.