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Virgin and Capitol are getting folded in together by corporate parent EMI. The famous Capitol Records building may be turned into loft apartments (sorry, Sinatra sex-pad already purchased).

In Friday's LAT, many expressed fear that all EMI/Capitol/Virgin operations for the US would be run out of New York:

Art Alexakis, singer of the band Everclear, which has been on the Capitol roster since the 1990s, said he believed that the move signaled EMI would be on the sales block soon.

"I think really it's no secret that they're bringing in people to get the place in shape so that they can sell it," Alexakis said. "The only way to make it look profitable on paper is to downsize. The heyday of the entire music business looks to be long gone, and so I think now you see companies trying to figure out what's next."

Even the guy from Everclear knows that newly ousted Andy Slater might have been the one guy keeping Capitol in their distinctive West Coast HQ. The new dude in charge, Jason Flom, will have no such nostalgia for the building. This also clears teh way for Warner Bros to team up with this new Capitol/Virgin unit.

What does this mean for music videos? Not sure, since Capitol was never a big believer in the power of videos to begin with. The Warners merger seems very likely now and the two smallest MV budget labels can team up like the wonder twins.

Entire LA Times article is here.

Labels: death, insider, label, media, music video