Member Article

Bdaily speaks to music industry mogul

Has the dawn of digital content and the proliferation of downloading killed the record business?

Bdaily recently met with Tony Wadsworth CBE, former Chairman and CEO of EMI UK and Ireland, and now Chairman of the BPI, the representative body of the UK recorded music industry.

Tony has held a number of roles across the UK record industry, including managing director of the Parlophone label, where he enjoyed success with the likes of Blur, Radiohead and Tina Turner.

As part of Newcastle University’s Convocation Weekend, he chaired a debate with the motion: “This house believes record labels deserve to die.”

The debate panel featured industry experts including Kerry Harvey-Piper of Red Grape Records and Management, and Newcastle University’s dean of cultural affairs, Professor Eric Cross.

It was decided that record labels do not deserve to die, as the winning team argued that labels facilitated less mainstream music and provided the initial investment required to make emerging bands a success.

Bdaily talked to Tony about the music industry, and asked whether running a record label was still a viable business. Listen to what he had to say here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .