Top Brass Shakeup At Sony BMG, Weiss In, Davis Out
Legendary and incendiary music executive Clive Davis is being replaced by Barry Weiss at Sony BMG, and taking a reduced role as Chief Creative Officer. Sony is positioning the new position for Davis as an über-A&R role, and certainly works to the 74 year-olds strengths.
Barry Weiss is now Chairman and CEO of the BMG Label Group, which includes RCA Records, Jive, J Records, LaFace, Arista, Volcano, Verity, GospoCentric and Fo Yo Soul. Weiss was formerly President and CEO of the Zomba Label Group, and will continue to captain the Zomba ship.
Weiss will report directly to Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, Chief Executive Officer of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The shakeup also includes pink slips. Chief Operating Officer Tim Bowen, and President and COO Charles Goldstuck, will be departing, and Richard Sanders, currently President of Global Marketing, will shuffle off to Head of International.
Davis became BMG’s label group after successfully starting J Records and Arista Records; decades earlier, he was head of Columbia Records. Davis has been credited with helping to launch the careers of acts like Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin Bruce Springsteen, and most recently Leona Lewis. He’s also acknowledged for breathing new life into the careers of Rod Stewart and Santana.
