MUMBAI: The EMI Group has announced a series of changes within its Recorded Music division including developing a new partnership with artists and bringing together the group’s sales, marketing manufacturing and distribution units into a single division with a unified global leadership.

They expect the restructuring to help capture significant efficiencies and cost reductions which are expected to reduce costs by up to £200 million per year. The restructuring is also expected to lead to a worldwide headcount reduction within the group of between 1,500 and 2,000.

EMI Group chairman Guy Hands has announced the changes, including repositioning EMI’s labels to focus on A&R and helping artists monetise the value of their work by opening new income streams such as enhanced digital services and corporate sponsorship arrangements. They also plan to bring together the group’s sales, marketing manufacturing and distribution units into a single division with a unified global leadership.

The changes will be implemented over the next six months. The restructuring is being carried out following an intense three-month consultation review of the business by Terra Firma since it acquired the business last year and many of the measures being implemented have come at the suggestion of staff, artists or their managers.

Hands commented, “We have spent a long time looking intensely at EMI and the problems faced by its Recorded Music division which, like the rest of the music industry, has been struggling to respond to the challenges posed by a digital environment.”