EMI Chairman Levy: "The CD as it is Right Now is Dead"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 27, 2006 - 3:11pm.

London - Alain Levy, the chairman and CEO of major record label EMI Music, made the comment before an audience at the London Business School this week, MarketWatch.com reported.

"You're not going to offer your mother-in-law iTunes downloads for Christmas," Levy added. "But we have to be much more innovative in the way we sell physical content...By the beginning of next year, none of our content will come without any additional material." Levy stated that 60% of consumers now rip CDs to their computers for transfer to portable devices.

The head of EMI Music also said the company was continuing talks with Google on an ad revenue-sharing deal to license EMI content to YouTube, Google's recently acquired video-sharing site. EMI rivals Warner Music, Sony BMG and Universal have already signed licensing deals with YouTube.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/yf5ep4 (MarketWatch)
http://www.emigroup.com