Thursday, March 28, 2024

Music Biz: Sony and UMG Trading Execs–Doug Morris Going to Sony

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Reported elsewhere, but I’ve done a little confirming of my own:

If he can get out of his remaining contract at Universal Music Group, Doug Morris will become the head of Sony Music. Yes, he’s 72. He’s fit as a fiddle and wants the job, says my knowledgeable source.

Morris will then have run all the major companies–from Atlantic, to Universal to Columbia. Not bad.

L.A. Reid will stay at UMG and run his own label, I am told. He will exit Island Def Jam. He will stay under the corporate umbrella, and perhaps join “American Idol.”

Barry Weiss, of course, leaves Sony (really RCA) and becomes the head of New York operations for UMG.

Whew!

Morris is the perfect fit at Sony, and very close to Clive Davis, who’s had a bunch of hits this month with the likes of Rod Stewart and Santana. And Morris can figure out how to revive moribund (but not dead) Epic Records. They’re about to have a big hit with Michael Jackson‘s album. Maybe it will re-ignite the label.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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