Hollywood Reporter business editor Georg Szalai interviewed Jean-Bernard Levy, chairman and CEO of the management board of Vivendi Universal , about the French media concern. During the CEO expressed strong confidence in his top ranked Universal music division. “Do we not have the right management and do we need to change that through the stock market? No. Do we need to trade shares of the company because we need capital for acquisitions? No. So, what would the benefit be? Why should we deprive the shareholders of Vivendi of the value that the management of Universal Music is creating every day,” levy told HR.
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The FADER magazine announced its foray into the international publishing community with the launch of FADER Japan. Set to hit in September 2006, the magazine will be issued six times a year and will be distributed through a licensing deal with Blues Interaction, Inc., a Japanese publishing company. Under the terms of the deal, FADER Japan will be comprised of 70% translated material from FADER and 30% original. The original material will feature undiscovered and emerging Japanese artists. The initial term is for two years.
– The New York Times reports on how often musicians don;t plan for their financial future, “The music business, or any fast business, has a lot of money up front, and slowly but surely it trickles down to nothing,” said (music business accountant Bert) Padell, whose clients have included Madonna, Tupac Shakur, Alicia Keys, Rakim, T-Rex, the Kinks, Ben Vereen and Alice Cooper. The problem is, Mr. Padell said, you can’t really get a rock star excited by traditional long-term investments.
