EMI announces plans to reposition itself, appoints Roger Faxon as group CEO

EMI unveils restructure plans

LONDON — British recording company EMI Group PLC said Friday it is planning to reposition itself as a “comprehensive rights management company” and has appointed Roger Faxon as group chief executive.

EMI said the reshuffle means it will combine under one global head EMI Recorded Music, the record label, and EMI Music Publishing, which makes steady profits from owning the rights to a vast back catalogue of songs.

Faxon has since 2007 been chairman and chief executive of EMI Music Publishing, which has been more stable than EMI’s troubled recorded music arm.

“I believe that the two divisions working in concert with one another as a global rights management business, can and will deliver,” said Faxon.

Charles Allen, former EMI Music chairman, will become an adviser to EMI and its shareholder, Terra Firma.

EMI — home of the Beatles, Lily Allen and Norah Jones — revealed last month that financier Guy Hands’ private equity firm, Terra Firma, was investing additional money to fend off foreclosure by its main lender, Citigroup.