BMG Announces ‘New Structure’ Combining Local and Global Approach

Indie music conglomerate BMG announced a “new structure” for its staff across the globe today (Nov. 30), one which new CEO Thomas Coesfeld says is part of “a strategy for future growth.”

The plan, which BMG executives communicated to staff today, is part of a strategy that Coesfeld calls “local where necessary, global where possible,” and will move BMG’s catalog, sales and marketing teams in its recorded music division into global roles, joining its investments, technology, rights and royalties functions, which already have a global purview. In local markets, artist relations and marketing campaign managers will be able to tap into those global teams for analytics, content creation and media planning and buying, the company said.

“We are changing the way we do things,” Coesfeld said in a statement. “We will combine creative intuition with data-driven insights to deliver the best service for our clients and customers.”

Additional changes outlined by the company include a new global catalog team based in Los Angeles; a “recalibration” of its presence in continental Europe in line with the new local-global emphasis, which will involve focusing on “functional centers of excellence within Europe,” as well as aggregation of budgets and expertise; a further acceleration of its investments in tech and its myBMG system for artists; and the clarification of roles and structures that the company says will make it “more accountable to its artist and songwriter clients.”

“Fifteen years after the emergence of streaming, music is going through another tectonic change,” Coesfeld said in a statement. “It is vital we now reengineer our business to make the most of that opportunity. BMG has challenged the conventions of the music industry ever since we began, bringing music publishing and recordings under one roof with a distinctive service-orientated and transparent approach. Now new ways of creating and consuming music and looming changes in streaming economics are challenging us to do even better for our clients.”

The new structure is the latest move that Coesfeld has made since taking over from longtime CEO Hartwig Masuch in July. The biggest change involved ending its distribution agreement with the Warner Music Group’s ADA and bringing its digital distribution in-house, while striking a deal with the Universal Music Group for its physical distribution. Then, last month, BMG laid off around 40 employees, which involved discontinuing its international marketing department for recordings, its television, film and theatrical departments and the shuttering of its Modern Recordings label, and saw executives like executive vp of global repertoire Fred Casimir and senior vp of global repertoire Jason Hradil leave the company.

The news means that “a number of existing positions will end,” the company tells Billboard, while Los Angeles will now become the primary hub for catalog. The company says that the approach aligns recordings with its existing strategy in its publishing division.

“This is a strategy for future growth,” Coesfeld added. “But in a business in which change is a constant, we ourselves need to change to grow further. Standing still is not an option if we want to deliver for our artist and songwriter clients.”