Music Giant EMI Slashing 2,000 Jobs

The new owners of record company titan EMI are cleaning house, starting with the elimination of 2,000 jobs—a third of its workforce—in a restructuring that could also include dumping artists, reports the Wall Street Journal. The layoffs come as new owner, Terra Firma Capital, tries to rejuvenate the fourth-place company during an industry skid that saw album sales drop 15% last year.

Rocker Robbie Williams has threatened to withhold his next album in protest, while his manager blasted executives as “bean counters.” Terra Firma is announcing plans tomorrow to centralize EMI’s marketing department and trim spending. Artists aren’t exempt, the Journal notes. Close to 30% of the company’s 13,000 artists haven't yet released an album, and some of them could also be cut. (More EMI Music stories.)