Doug, Sylvia & Waterloo
"Sylvia, my little bialy. Meet me at the Tour Eiffel and we'll make audacious music together."
audacious
intrepidly daring : adventurous ; recklessly bold : rash
contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum : insolent; marked by originality and verve
–Merriam-Webster Dictionary
In the case of Sylvia Rhone’s new Sony-financed label, it’s certainly daring and recklessly bold but far from original. Rhone has named her new venture Audacious Music. Sounds…very audacious! However Grammy-nominated producer & DJ Dave Audé might think differently. Audé has done remixes for the likes of U2, Madonna, Sting, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, One Republic, Puff Daddy, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, LeAnn Rimes, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Depeche Mode, Coldplay, Pussycat Dolls, Beyoncé, tATu, Nelly Furtado, Donna Summer, and Korn. He’s had 79 Number One’s on the Billboard Dance Charts, some on his own label that he formed in 2008—Audacious Records.
“This is just Sylvia’s first boneheaded move of many more to come,” said a former Rhone co-worker. “[Sony Music septuagenarian CEO] Doug Morris had better keep a very close eye on her. She must have something on him because she’s incredibly inept.”
Sources with knowledge of Rhone’s label deal say that although it is fully financed by Morris, her staff will be limited and will have a small A&R team. She’ll be reliant on a lot of services from L.A. Reid’s Epic Record Group. However there is evidently no love lost between the two. According to a well-informed source, a number of Epic execs went into Reid’s office complaining about having to work with Sylvia. Reid’s response was to tell the execs to forget about doing anything for Rhone or her label.
According to my Epic Records sources, people there were stunned to discover that within ten days of starting at Sony, Rhone made her first major business decision for the label: a trip to Paris where hopefully she at least met with the head of Sony France between visits to Vuitton, Chanel and Louboutin.
Thus far no one seems to be very impressed with Sylvia or Audacious’ prospects. “The only way she has ever had any semblance of success is through joint ventures,” claims a former Rhone confidant. “She’s got tin ears and she won’t have deep enough pockets to get back into the joint venture game.”
“For some reason Doug is very loyal to her.” says the source. But another highly placed exec thinks that the Sylvia deal “will be Doug’s Waterloo.” Others say that Morris is merely “throwing her a bone and will not be sinking a ton of cash into the label.”
Either way Sylvia Rhone will still be riding in her limo to work every day and taking company-paid shopping trips to Paris, but she may have to start staying on the Left Bank now to show that she’s cost conscious.
Related posts:
- She’s Baaack!
- Rat Pack Reunites at Sony Music
- THE LONG GOODBYE
- BREAKING NEWS: UMG REORGANISATION
- Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: Updates on Morris, Sony and UMG
Posted by Wayne Rosso
on Apr 30 2012. Filed under featured, Labels.
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