In a music industry long dependent on black performers, the expected appointment of two African-Americans to top executive roles at the major labels is unlikely to be viewed as much progress.
The appointments will follow back-to-back exits by the industry's most visible black executives. They're also occurring in tandem with a decline in black music itself. Most likely, they will only spotlight the continuing disconnect between African Americans’ meager power in the industry’s management hierarchy and their sweeping artistic influence.
By month’s end, “Gee” Roberson (left) will be announced as chairman of Geffen Records, according to two persons close to the matter.
Having co-managed hip-hop newcomers Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Drake to pop stardom, Roberson now will turn to rebuilding a stagnant brand that once reigned in rock.
Roberson, who co-founded management firm Hip Hop in 1978, will succeed veteran executive Ron Fair (Christina Aguilera, U2 and Ashlee Simpson), who resigned in May.
Meanwhile, on or around July 1, Antonio “L.A.” Reid will resurface atop Sony Music Entertainment’s Epic Records, a person with direct knowledge confirmed to TheWrap.
The move has been widely speculated since March, when Reid -- a judge this fall on the music competition TV show “X Factor” -- vacated the chairmanship of Island Def Jam.
Also read: L.A. Reid Officially Signs on as Judge in Simon Cowell's 'X Factor'
Reid was followed out the door by pioneering black executive Sylvia Rhone, who exited as CEO of Motown Republic. Their departures were part of an ongoing management shakeup under Lucian Grainge, new corporate boss at Universal Music Group, which owns both labels. (The company has declined comment to TheWrap, beyond noting that it is slashing costs through a variety of means.)
At Epic, Reid (right) will report to incoming chairman Doug Morris, who in a similar position at Universal Music, had hired and championed Reid at Island Def Jam.
Reid's mandate: revive the moribound label.
After leaving Island Def Jam, Reid -- who broke performers including Usher, Tony Braxton and Pink in the 1990s -- was followed by rumors that he spent too much to break big acts.
While valid, the "overspending" rap seems to only dog the black executives -- including Rhone -- says a former strategically positioned African-American at Universal Music.
For example, Reid’s one-time mentor, the legendary Clive Davis, has a notorious reputation for outsized expenditures to break artists, yet his career over half a century has hardly suffered. The major labels “want us for our ‘flavor’ and ties to the street,” says a black music marketer who left the business in recent years. “But they don’t credit our business acumen.”
To be sure, an inexorably shrinking industry -- from $37 billion in music sales in 2000 to $16.7 last year -- is sparing no creed or color in job loss and disrupted careers. And, of course, a sprinkling of African-Americans does occupy senior levels.
