Andria Vidler on… Crisis management, HMV and more

andria vidler emi
Andria Vidler, EMI UK chief executive

Crisis management

We’ve had a massive economic downturn, there’s been huge change in the music industry and on the high street and we’ve had uncertainty around corporate structure, so it could have been incredibly disruptive. But I’m very proud of the team because we restructured and refocused on creating a single strategy that is artist-focused but also consumer-facing.

Marketing music

Every single moment there is a dilemma of whether to go for awareness or whether to go for money and that juggle is one of the fantastic elements of this business. You can’t do without either but they need to be united and in the music industry the rate of change is such that marketing and commercial must work together to ensure we do the best for our artists.

Nurturing talent

We focus on having fewer artists and doing fewer artists very well. That means we can create a bespoke team for each particular artist. Having done that we create the right campaign or the right launch by stress testing every option internally with our artists and their management.

Music piracy

Fans of artists don’t normally want to steal from them. They’re fans and they appreciate the work and commitment that goes into making that creative product. But there is a lot more work that needs to be done to educate people about piracy and the fact that it is stealing. That requires government support.

HMV

We’ve all done everything we can to support the business. I absolutely believe that there is still space on the high street for a specialist that can advise people who don’t know exactly what they’re looking for when it comes to buying a music or entertainment product.

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