Caresse Henry reacts to Warners public praise
“The efforts by the Warner Music Group to publicly praise Madonna while privately suing her company are shameless. If this is the way the new regime treats artists, it’s a sad, sad day in the history of Warner Music.”
This is Caresse Henry recent comment on the battle between Madonna and
The article also reports that top music industry managers are girding for battle with new Warner Music Group lead partner Edgar Bronfman Jr. – and the money men behind him led by Thomas Lee – to protect their clients from the kind of rough treatment Madonna is getting.
The giant music company sued Madonna last week after months of bickering over the value of her label, Maverick Records, which is owned jointly with Warner Music. Bronfman tried to sugarcoat the bare-knuckle tactic by having his spokesman declare “the company’s deep respect for Madonna.”
Madonna hit back the next day with her own lawsuit, which claims that Maverick generated $100 million in profits for Warner since it was founded in 1992 with such artists as Alanis Morrisette and Michelle Branch. The fraud suit alleges that Warner Music CEO Roger Ames “engaged in a pattern of false promises and misrepresentations of fact” aimed, sources say, at pitting Madonna against Maverick CEO Guy Oseary.
“It’s a free-for-all over there,” said one music veteran. “There are a lot of big egos clashing. Artists are very unhappy.”
“If the new regime is treating Madonna this way, then all other artists and managers need to read the sign on Edgar’s door very, very clearly: beware,” said one industry insider. “His ‘music people’ have become pawns to his accountants.”
Warner Music, which laid off 800 recently, is in the same boat as EMI, which just cut 1,500 jobs, and the other record companies hurt by digital piracy. “Business has been so bad, they don’t have any choice,” said another insider. “The big pay days are over. Artists aren’t going to be coddled anymore. Music is as popular as ever. The music business is in trouble.”
Warner Music Group had no comment.
Source: The New York Post