EMI to Cut 2,000 Jobs, 36% of Total Workforce

As the record industry continues to shoot itself in the foot, the outlook for the compact disc continues to grow far worse. According to EMI, sales of their albums have dwindled by 20% in the past year, and as a result, they are laying off 2,000 of their employees to help cut costs. They also plan to devote less money towards marketing for any given album in order to keep costs to a minimum.

EMI hopes that with these changes, they will increase profits by £100m by this summer – a lofty goal indeed. Despite not agreeing with most of what the record industry does, I hate to see the reality of a dwindling compact disc. No one really knows how things will be in the next five years, but given these recent trends, they will be far different than they are now.

As difficult as the cuts will be for EMI’s workforce, they’re not a shock. Every EMI employee knew that they’ve been part of Hands’ plans since his Terra Firma p.e. group bought the company last summer. And from an outsider’s perspective, they seem rational given the state of big music. When EMI released its last quarterly earnings report in August, it disclosed that CD sales had dropped 20%, and those numbers could get worse over the next few years.

Source: Alley Insider