Hits Cure Cancer: The music biz was shocked last week when hit maker Clive Davis was forced to give up his corporate role as head of BMG only to be replaced by Barry Weiss who is known for signing talent and cost cutting.

The New York Times says, “the pop hits that Mr. Davis is known for delivering typically require the kind of expensive videos and marketing campaigns that labels are reluctant to finance at a time when music sales have been sliding. Sony BMG’s decision to promote Mr. Weiss underscores the idea that hits alone cannot save the industry”.

The New York Times should have said HITS combined with erratic spending cannot save the industry. Major music labels definitely need breakout artists and Clive Davis along with his guardian angels know and understand the formula. Hits are the cure…

Ousting The Man Behind The Current #1 Album: Fox’s Roger Friedman said ‘the situation with Clive Davis at BMG Music on late Thursday caught all of us unawares —including Davis himself, his loyal lieutenant Charles Goldstuck and everyone else at Sony/BMG’. On BMG’s part, it was a brilliant stroke of deception.

Seven years ago, when word leaked out that Davis would be ousted from Arista Records, journalists like myself and Mitchell Fink — then of the New York Daily News — were able to raise a ruckus.

This time, the people arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic-like recording business moved swiftly and without one bit of thought about the larger picture.

Friedman says the “larger picture” is the bottom line, the succession of executives and who gets a bigger corner office. It has nothing to do with the future of the record business or any passion for the music. Otherwise, Schmidt Holtz and his other cronies wouldn’t have made such a miserable showing of ousting the man behind the current No. 1 album (by Leona Lewis), the biggest album so far of the year (Alicia Keys) or the one man with whom anything positive about the business is still identified.