Mud Wrestling At Sony Music

Has Olympic level mud wrestling broken out at 550 Madison Ave.?

My phone has been ringing off the hook lately in response to a little item that ran in Hits Magazine last week trashing Rick Rubin. The item gives props to Adele for not only selling 10 million copies of 21 worldwide, but for also firing Rick Rubin from the project early on. According to Hits, Adele rejected the first version of 10 that was solely produced by Rubin opting to work with several other producers, who thus far have had the hit singles. The item goes on to say “Adele’s overruling of Rubin, who was not only a renowned producer but also Columbia’s Co-Chairman, turned out to be as brilliant as it was ballsy, further substantiating the foresight of label chief Steve Barnett in signing her, while deepening the perception that Rubin was a bust at Columbia.”

This runs counter to Rubin’s recent spin saying that he had slowed down the album making process to make sure that Adele got the best possible product. Rick famously believes “no wine before its time.”

So why does anybody give a damn about this? My Sony sources see a lot of underlying maneuvering in the planting of said item.

It’s no secret that Steve Barnett is and never has been happy with Rick Rubin. He’s bemoaned the large sums of money the company has lost on Rick and how he has had to, in some instances, defer to Rubin. Rick went so far as to insist that the newly laid carpet in the LA offices be changed, even though he never set foot in the place after that. Furthermore, another source inside 550 Madison told me “with no a&r experience or “ears” for that matter, Steve always felt that with Rick there, he would forever be the marketing guy and this prophesy looks to have been fulfilled.” However Barnett has never publicly trashed Rick. Until now, it seems.

One Sony insider told me that something is definitely underfoot. Even though the Hits item is conveniently unattributed, thus giving anyone at Sony complete deniability, Barnett has an unusually close relationship with the publication.  According to my source “Steve has given Hits a lot of cash over the years. Why do you think they are always touting Columbia’s so-called successes? And exactly who do you think Hits got that story from anyway?” You really can’t blame Hits for knowing where their bread is buttered. After all, they’re not the New York Times, and I’m not Bob Woodward, for that matter. So you can probably expect to hear a lot of logrolling from Hits thrown Columbia’s way for the success of the repetitive Tony Bennett album, appropriately titled Duets II.

Even though it is true that Barnett championed the Adele signing, another Sony source familiar with the Adele deal said “the fact is Columbia gets a very small royalty from the album’s US sales and absolutely nothing from sales outside the US.” Yet another Sony source said “It sounds like Steve is trying to take all the credit without sharing any of the credit. Adele is the only thing he can hang his hat on.”

Other sources say that Barnett and Rob “Fredo” Stringer seem to be getting along and treat each other with “deference”. But upon closer examination, it sure does look like Barnett is slowly pulling the rug from under Stringer. By trashing Rubin it serves to underscore the fact that Barnett didn’t hire him, Stringer did. And as yet another one of my inside Sony sources pointed out, “Barnett is trying to look strong and powerful in Doug’s eyes as he is responsible for signing nothing since being at Sony. They (Barnett and Stringer) don’t care about each other. They care about how Doug perceives them.”

As predicted, Doug Morris actually started the process by demoting Rob after taking charge. Everyone at Sony is still freaked out about getting fired. Just a week or so ago longtime Sony Classics exec Alex Miller was let go. There’s still plenty of fear among the executive ranks since many of Doug’s “guys” like Ron Fair and Sylvia Rhone are waiting in the wings. Not only that, but reality TV star and part-time Epic Records Chairman L.A. Reid is quickly establishing favorite son status and could easily expand his role to include all of Sony US, effectively taking Stringer’s old job and title. Historically, Doug’s modus operandi dictates that eventually he’ll replace the entire current regime.

So the mud wrestling has begun at 550 Madison Ave. and right now you’d have to score one in Barnett’s column. But who’s keeping score?

The question I posed to another yet Sony source was “Is Steve Barnett really that cagey, manipulative and duplicitous?” The answer was “Of course. He’s English.”

© 2011, Wayne Rosso. All rights reserved.

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3. Numbers Belie Sony Music’s “Success”
4. Productive First Day For New Sony CEO
5. Morris Unhappy With Status Quo At Sony

Tags: Adele, Columbia Records, Doug Morris, Hits Magazine, L.A. Reid, Rick Rubin, Rob Stringer, Sony Music, Steve Barnett, Tony Bennett