The new owner of EMI has said he will drop artists the music group believes are not working hard enough and will overhaul the company’s own executives’ pay packages, the Financial Times reported.

EMI, which has Cold Play, the Rolling Stones and Kylie Minogue on its roster, also threatened to withdraw stars’ lucrative advances if record sales are disappointing.
CEO of Terra Firma Guy Hands said the company would in the future be “more selective in whom we choose to work with.”

While many spend huge amounts of time working with their label to promote, perfect and endorse their music, some unfortunately simply focus on negotiating for the maximum advance … advances which are often never repaid,” Hands said.

The company, which Terra Firma bought for $4.9 billion, has been plagued in the past by late delivery of albums by some of its biggest acts.

Hands also criticized EMI’s “compensation and management system put in place over the last 20 years which does not encourage the right behaviors or reward the right actions.”

“What worries me is that the existing structures have been put in over a couple of decades and unpicking them in a way that releases the good in the company is not going to happen overnight,”.

The bottom line: What is he really saying? That he paid to much for EMI? Basically, he spent 4.9 billion dollars and he can’t get the biggest acts to record and put out music. Hands is crying because he has to pay more and motivate artists to put out records in a shrinking business.