Guy Hands Attacks 'Lazy' A&R Men

EMI boss Guy Hands has once again enamoured himself with his employees by calling the label’s A&R men “lazy”.

Hands says he wants the job of spotting new talent to be handed over to “the suits” because they work a lot harder at selling the music.

Hands was speaking at the Super Return private equity and venture capital summit in Munich when he said : "The power and the decision has sat with the A&R man, who is someone who gets up late in the day, listens to lots of music, goes to clubs, spends his time with artists and has a knack of knowing what would sell."
 
Hands added: "What we are doing is taking the power away from the A&R guys and putting it with the suits - the guys who have to work out how to sell music."

He also castigated some of EMI’s imprints for the money they spend on marketing, saying: "You might as well have put a £50 note on the CD - it probably would have done better."