EMI Music Lays Off 141 Workers

Record distribution veteran Russ Bach lost his job along with 140 other EMI Music employees Friday when the British conglomerate shut down its EMI Records and Enclave labels and began revamping its distribution and catalog sectors, sources said.

EMI Records President Davitt Sigerson, along with most of his 120-employee staff, were let go.

Some EMI recording artists will be slashed from the roster and others will be folded into EMI’s Virgin and Capitol Records divisions. Acts on the Enclave roster will be consolidated into Virgin with Enclave President Tom Zutaut and a handful of employees from that label staying on for a transition period to help manage certain projects.

Bach, president of EMI Music Distribution, will be replaced by Richard Cottrell, a British EMI executive. Sources said that changes also may be in store for EMI’s new catalog division.

In other music industry news, Trauma Records, which releases music by Bush and No Doubt, laid off half of its 15-employee staff this week. The layoffs followed a legal dispute between Trauma and its joint venture partner Universal Music Group-affiliated Interscope Records. Trauma sued Interscope last month to determine who owns the contract rights to No Doubt’s future recordings.