[FA Worldmusic] V2 fires staff

[Dmitri Vietze]

Under the previous thread of what the hell is happening to the music/recording
industry... interesting news about big label group V2/Sheridan Square. The
company that gobbled up world music label Triloka and spit it out, is no
spitting everything out. While some will add this to the "freak out because
the sky is falling" score, others will see this as evidence that the new music
economy just doesn't allow for spending lots of money without a clear
vision/strategy. When Triloka got absorbed by Sheridan Square and decided not
to pay us for many, many months, an insider told me, "I wish there was
something I could do, but they have put a hold on all checks ever since we
paid Jack White his million dollar advance." As the Hypebot blog put it:

"It would not be surprising if in the coming months, investors in other music
companies also become disillusioned with the cost of doing business vs.
declining sales.   This is not good news for musicians or the music industry.
But one can expect the void to be filled by scrappier entrepreneurs and an
increase in D.I.Y. activity."

Here's to Scrappy!

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=musicNews&storyID=2007-01
-14T122836Z_01_N14354932_RTRIDST_0_MUSIC-V2-DC.XML&WTmodLoc=EntNewsMusic_C1_%
5BFeed%5D-4

V2 fires staff, splits with White Stripes, Moby
Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:28 AM ET



By Ed Christman

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Indie record label V2 North America, home to such acts
as the White Stripes, Moby and the Raconteurs, laid off its staff Friday and
will primarily become a catalog label.

The label's parent company, Sheridan Square, also plans to focus on digital
distribution. About 35 people, including president Andy Gershon, are believed
to have lost their jobs as part of the restructuring.

The company will retain the White Stripes catalog, but will no longer issue
new music by the duo or other frontline artists such as Moby or the
Raconteurs, sources say. The only genre the company plans to participate in
going forward is gospel.

In addition to the catalog, the company is looking for ways to grow business
digitally. Part of that is said to be in talks that could include a merger or
investment with a company that is pursuing a similar strategy in the video
business.

V2 was founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson in 1996. New York-based
Sheridan Square bought the North American assets in February 2006.

Sheridan Square's principals include Joe Bianco, Anil Narang, Joe Pretlow, and
the Stephens Group, which bought into the company last July during a financial
restructuring.

Since 2003, Sheridan Square has spent an estimated $43 million acquiring indie
labels V2 North America, Compendia and Artemis; distributor Musicrama; and
certain catalog assets of Tone-Cool Records, Triloka, Ropeadope Records and
Vanguard Classical.

Reuters/Billboard