I can't help finding this fascinating. Could it be the start of the shake up that the majors needed. There was lots of entertaining news about EMI in the papers over the weekend. Stories of £20,000-a-month bill for ‘candles' and £200,000 per year to keep its Hammersmith head office in ‘flowers and fruit' (aka artists' partying requirements). All sounds quite restrained.

The FT think that Mr. Hands would like clear-out EMI 14,000 artists, saying just 200 of them made most of its revenues. About 85 per cent of artists lose money for their labels, he said, and EMI spends £70m a year subsidising the 15 per cent who never produce an album. The group has exceeded marketing budgets by about £60m a year, he added, and wastes £25m a year scrapping unsold CDs. I would have thought the model would be more cost effective in the download era where distribution costs and retail costs are minimal.

I'm sure the EMI artists are delighted to find that Mr. Hands is being advised by Allan Leighton, the Royal Mail chairman. Staff and managers expect to hear at meetings Tuesday that 1,500-2,000 jobs will go from EMI's music division.

There's also quite a few hints that this is just the start and what Mr. Hands is doing will need to be repeated across the industry.

Clear out 14,000 artists?
I don't think they've got quite that many.