THE USUAL SUSPECTS

 

Who's behind hip-hop
and other slop?

 

Warner Music Names U.S. Chairman and CEO
Reuters  Monday, January 26, 2004

NEW YORK—Former Universal Music Group executive Lyor Cohen will join Warner Music Group as Chairman and CEO of U.S. Recorded Music after the acquisition of the record label by a group of private equity investors is completed, the company said on Monday.

Warner Music Group, the music division of Time Warner Inc., is being acquired for $2.6 billion by a group of private equity investors led Seagram heir Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners.

Cohen developed and guided the careers of many early pioneers of rap music, including LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys. He's credited with expanding the influence of his label group, Island Def Jam, beyond hip-hop with rock and country stars Elvis Costello, Bon Jovi and Willie Nelson.

Warner Music Group, the world's fourth-largest music company after Universal Music, Sony Music and EMI Group Plc, includes The Atlantic Group, Elektra Entertainment Group, Rhino Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Records.

 

And WHO eats it up?