Year end cuts continue in the music industry. Days after the first wave of cuts were made at Def Jam Records and Sony BMG, Real Networks announced that it was trimming a hundred of employees to clear out “redundancies” within its infrastructure. A representative for the company characterized the layoffs as trimming employees that had essentially the same job description to increase efficiency. Thirty-five of the cuts were in the Seattle area, while the other employees came from Europe and Asia.
Personnel reduction is also still looming at Geffen. Though only one
employee has thus far exited from the Interscope/Geffen/A&M unit, there are
thought to be more layoffs on the way. There is also some speculation that
the label could be all but shuttered in a larger restructuring of its parent
company. The move is intended to allow Interscope/Geffen/A&M to maintain the artist equity and name of the label while cutting much of the cost associated with operating it. [Digital Music News]
