Sony Entertainment’s music division, which encompasses the 125-year-old Columbia Records along with labels RCA and Epic, is but a blip in the Tokyo-based electronic giant’s balance sheet — the company recorded overall revenue of $66.1 billion in 2013 but is anticipating a $2.15 billion loss for the fiscal year ending in March. But with such superstar acts as Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Adele and Justin Timberlake on its roster, and a market share of 27.5 percent so far this year, it’s one that has eyes peering toward the top of 550 Madison, where Doug Morris, soon to turn 76, sits perched as Sony Music CEO three-and-a-half years into a four-year contract.
Multiple sources tell Billboard that a shift in top brass has been discussed with two names bandied about as possible heirs apparent, one being Columbia chairman Rob Stringer. No longer under the shadow of his brother, Howard Stringer, himself given the emeritus title of Sony Corp.’s chairman of the board, and having seen a string of recent successes with the likes of Daft Punk and Beyoncé, “he’s the only internal candidate that makes sense,” says one informed insider. Another source points to executive vp/general counsel Julie Swidler as having “the inside track.” (Sony would not comment for this story.)
But the prevailing thought is that Morris isn’t leaving. Says one executive of his fellow colleagues: “They talk like Doug will be running the place for another hundred years.” Indeed, Morris’ tenure has seen music-division profits rise more than 70 percent, according to one insider, with successes on the RCA roster (Miley Cyrus, Sia and “Weird Al” Yankovic among them), credited to CEO Peter Edge and president/COO Tom Corson, along with a recent hot streak by Epic, run by chairman L.A. Reid and president Sylvia Rhone, with Meghan Trainor and Bobby Shmurda.
The same can’t necessarily be said for Dr. Luke’s label, Kemosabe, which sources contend has Cyrus to thank for being in the black, but otherwise burning through some $20 million with only modest hits by Becky G., whose “Shower” moves 28-34 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Sept. 27, and girl group G.R.L., who recently suffered the suicide of one of its members, to show for it. As for Luke’s own songwriting efforts, he has notched four No. 1s in a row, but not all for Sony artists. His last: Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” (for Capitol) exited the top 10 in June. Luke’s longtime manager Mark Beaven defends that his client’s career is “patterned” this way, where he’s “incubating the next generation of hits” and has spent the last six months digging into a slew of Sony projects. “Luke promised Doug that he would spend time on Kemosabe acts.” If the age-old adage that you’re only as good as your last hit still applies, some investors might be concerned — but not Sony.