You gotta Hand it to the Guy.

Guy Hands is the best thing EMI have had in ages. His 'revolutionary' slashing of the over bloated costs of marketing and having a look at the collection societies is sure to raise a few eyebrows in the music industry. Not to mention the swift adoption of an 'mp3' model for EMI labels. However he is only dealing with half of the problem for the major music industry. The other half has to do with getting the talent in the first place. There are opportunities out there for the majors to have an image makeover that would win them support from artists and fans alike. A move into a service oriented company will not only see their revenue skyrocket but avoid the need to cut out the talented marketers and staff EMI has. It will also boost their share price as well which is what Guy ultimately wants.

Mr Hands if you really want to now revolutionize your company then you must do one more thing. Set up a 'White Label' Service with the headline "NOW YOU CAN BE ON A MAJOR LABEL". Provide the back end support like Tunecore does, charge a similar fee and create your own charts. You can then pick up any artist and move them into a new 'partnership programme' with EMI and well put Universal, SonyBMG and Warners on notice that EMI have arrived. Spliting revenue from all aspects of their career. It is a win win situation for all. This isn't rocket science Mr Hands and you seem to be the only exec with the balls to do it.

This is how the majors MUST evolve if they are to survive. Youtube and others are creating more new stars than the music industry albeit one hit wonders with 15 seconds of fame. But market share is what they are after which they then can tackle the income side of things. Watch as Youtube becomes THE place to advertise your product in the next 5 years denting radio and TV in a big way.

Let's Hand it to the Guy because he is THE MAN !