Simon Gunning departs EMI

by Gareth Jones, Revolution UK 18-Jun-08, 17:00

LONDON - EMI's senior vice president of digital Simon Gunning has left the record label after less than a year, Revolution can exclusively reveal.

Gunning took up the newly created role last July with responsibility for heading up the digital marketing teams at EMI's UK labels, including Angel, Addictive, Parlophone and Relentless.

His departure comes as a blow to EMI, which is in the midst of developing a global digital strategy review designed to boost the role of the internet in creating fresh revenue streams from its artists.

Gunning had been working to enhance EMI's digital services to push fresh talent and increase income from its roster of existing artists who include Kylie Minogue and Athlete.

Prior to joining EMI, Gunning was director of entertainment at Yahoo!. He also worked as director of digital media at Celador International, before which he was head of business development and later controller of digital programming for Flextech, now known as Virgin Media.

It is thought that Gunning is planning to launch his own start-up venture.

Gunning's departure follows EMI's acquisition by private equity group Terra Firma for £2.4bn last year. Terra Firma chief executive Guy Hands plans to implement cost savings of £200m a year and cut up to 2000 jobs at the company.