COMPANY SonyBMG Music Entertainment
www.sonybmg.com
POSITION Executive Vice President, Global Digital Business
LOCATION New York, New York

COMPANY BACKGROUND
SonyBMG Music Entertainment is a global recorded music joint venture with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars, as well as vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. The company is 50 percent owned by Bertelsmann A.G. and 50 percent owned by Sony Corporation of America. SonyBMG Music Entertainment continues to aggressively move its business from the traditional sale of product through traditional retail channels of distribution to new and evolving digital platforms.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS
The Executive Vice President, Global Digital Business will report to the President, Global Digital Business and US Sales.

RESPONSIBILITIES
The Executive Vice President, Global Digital Business will be responsible for the US business development team. He/She will oversee global deal terms (in coordination with Business and Legal Affairs); industry-wide projects, such as Total Music (a joint venture with another major record company), and build the company’s investments in independent companies, such as SonyBMG’s Music’s stake in DADA, MOG and others.
Specific duties and responsibilities will include the following:

• Identify opportunities, structure, negotiate and close deals;
• Develop and coordinate SONY BMG’s business model across multiple existing and new product and licensing opportunities around the world – formulate strategies about how alternative exploitation models and product windows affect each other; drive product/ business model innovation;
• Develop specific business opportunities/partnerships which can be implemented in the near term; creatively help existing partnerships evolve through the challenges and changes in product and usage right configurations;
• Submit sound and achievable budget projections and recommendations; ensure that the Company is managed with strong financial accountability and integrity;
• Create and manage deals that are going to make an impact on a global basis;
• Monitor and evaluate digital business operations outside the US on a consistent basis to ensure plans and objectives are met, expected results are achieved and digital deal guidelines and policies are observed;
• Prepare and distribute information up, down and across the organization to ensure effective communications and information flow and to enable informed decision-making;
• Recruit and train an exceptional team in accordance with the budget and strategy;
• Bring significant experience in developing and understanding businesses and will have a strong grasp of the overall internet and mobile landscape.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Prospective candidates will be seasoned “business development” oriented executive who does not necessarily come from the music business, but could. He/She will more likely be an executive from the more broad-based entertainment and media field, but with an appreciation for the unique characteristics of the music industry. The successful candidate should be a strong negotiator with an acute sense of strategy and strong business acumen. He/she should be a strong “closer” in terms of getting deals done and take a pragmatic approach of what can be done.
Specifically candidates will have the following:

• Outstanding negotiation skills;
• Ability to develop and continually refine a vision and to identify strategies, tactics, and the resources required to achieve that vision;
• Strong leadership and management skills which include a hands-on style and the ability to build alliances;
• Solid experience in business and relationship development on a global basis; the ability to forge new relationships in the broad-based entertainment and media sector;
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to enhance the organization’s culture;
• Highly capable of independently handling complex negotiation situations. Strong “closer” in terms of getting deals done and take a pragmatic approach of what can be done.
• Demonstrated “change management” experience.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND COMPETENCIES
Prospective candidates will be passionate, business development oriented executives who can articulate both the vision and market position in a clear and compelling way. Strong leadership characteristics are a must. He/She needs to be able to quickly grasp financial models and capable of rapidly and thoughtfully drawing conclusions about the viability of different alternative business models. With excellent judgment of people and the strategic opportunities, the candidate will have built and crafted an organization to achieve significant revenue goals while focusing on the efficient and effective operation of the business. The ideal candidate must be a focused, proactive and collaborative leader, who can refine and extend the Company’s vision.

• Be a strong contributor to the overall strategy in further developing the music business model.
• Be mindful of the longer implications of changing the company’s business models but also strongly focused on optimizing the short term.
• Have a keen eye to find money on opportunities at hand.
• Be an intelligent, decisive, quick, forward-thinking, strategic and tactical executive; bring exceptional business acumen, common sense, wisdom and insight;
• Have the proven ability to work across an organization at all levels with technical, creative and executive team members; have excellent diplomatic and political skills to build collaborative working relationships across a wide array of constituents.
• Have strong interpersonal skills, good judge of character and great at building lasting and productive relationships.
• Be a strong motivator for the business development team and have a high energy level to drive things forward.
• Be realistic and not over-promise, yet drive, communicate and believe in a bigger vision.
  Most importantly, the successful candidate will have an unquestioned level of personal and professional integrity, as well as an intuitive understanding of and unbridled enthusiasm for the challenges and rewards arising from this unique opportunity.

EDUCATION
Prospective candidates will have an undergraduate degree. An MBA is highly desirable but not required. Experience in the professional culture of a major consulting firm or investment bank would be a plus though again is not required.

COMPENSATION
Compensation will be competitive and commensurate with experience. A customized package, including base salary and incentive bonus will be developed to attract the finalist candidate.

(Photo by pgoyette)

With Douglas Merrill's hiring of Second Life cofounder Cory Ondrejka at EMI, at least one label is wising up to the fact that making music more difficult to buy and find is no way to compete with online file sharing. Say what you will about Second Life, but within the context of the virtual world it was very easy to participate in the economy (maybe even a little too easy) and buy and sell ephemeral, digital goods.

Now that labels have realized that their core business will no longer be moving units through outlets like the now-defunct Tower Records, they're moving towards "360 degree" deals that ask for a piece of event income, licensing and merchandising. Which in the old model used to be the artist's bread and butter, as musicians didn't actually see much of a cut from album sales. The album was, as they say in Hollywood, a "tent pole" upon which other business opportunities were supported — and now the labels want the whole tent.

Reznor had the foresight to go independent as the old circus collapses around him. Owning his own production studio and promoting and distributing his content digitally means his costs are minimal. And production, promotion and distribution was exactly what labels used to lured artists into contractual cages. Reaching beyond the concept of moving units in mass volume and instead servicing hardcore fans with what they want, when and where they want it while making it easy for people to find and listen to his music, Reznor's got an opportunity to make a lot more money for himself than he ever would have with a label — and more creative flexibility as well.

It wasn't the interview with now-former CIO Douglas Merrill, which served to convince me that the Canadian-nice Merrill will get eaten alive by the music industry. It wasn't the moment when Jim Killeen of Cobe, Ireland, a Catholic priest, argues the Pope's position on human sexuality with Jim Killeen of Denver, Colorado, the swinger and self-described "tranny chaser."

It was a few minutes into the film when noted Scientologist and Earthlink founder Sky Dayton makes an incongruous appearance to muse on the business of moving bits. Later on, the filmmaker Killeen intereviews his schizophrenic brother and sister about their experiences with psychiatrists and the medications they're currently taking, proclaiming that he feels they'd be better off without psychiatric care. Finally he declares on camera that he's a Scientologist, confirming my suspicions based on Dayton's appearance and the anti-psychiatry agitprop.

But that's just a side note in a watchable and somewhat entertaining but otherwise forgettable documentary. The best moments are the man-on-the-street interviews where people from around the world describe their own experiences running a vanity search for their name on Google. But it doesn't succeed on the same, earnest level that 24 Hours on Craigslist did, probably because what it has in geographic scope it lacks in range of characters as subjects.

It's called radio, and more recently, music videos. In both cases, record labels basically paid to promote album sales — either through payola, in the case of radio, or through seven-figure film budgets, in the case of music videos. The content itself was given away for free. Thankfully, digital tools make recording and mastering that much cheaper as well. The only change in thinking (and artist contracts) required is to see the recordings themselves as a loss leader for stuff you actually can sell, like tickets and T-shirts, fan club memberships and licensing rights.

The new MySpace Music, like industry-backed efforts with MusicNet, PressPlay and Bertelsmann's Napster, is doomed to failure because the labels persist in seeing recorded music as a profit center, not as a promotional platform for leveraging artists' brands. Of the four majors, only EMI hasn't signed on with that effort yet, and if former Googler Douglas Merrill has any sense, he'll tell the company not to bother. (Photo by AP/Peter Kramer)

Jones's article starts with a sensationalist portrait of Google's kindergarten-like campus — "a sinister and secretive commune" — and ends accusing Google of trying "to be the Internet, rather than be a part of it." So don't take the Daily Mail's Google coverage too seriously. Go there instead for the same reason we do: up-to-the-minute news on Cindy Crawford's stretch marks.

Notorious nobody and Star magazine editor-at-large Julia Allison has swanned her way in, as has Erik Sofge of ... Popular Mechanics? So much for the event's glam factor. Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer is being held at the door in, after receiving a self-righteous lecture at the hands of a very nice if overly empowered Google staffer. Also in: Sam Gustin of Portfolio.com, and vlog-hot Caroline McCarthy of News.com, who'd rate as one of the Valley foxes if she weren't based out of Gotham. Apparently, though, the business reporters who get past the gate are being told not to take pictures. Got more reports on who's in and who's out? Let us know.

Update: Google executive Marissa Mayer, another overly empowered sort, has shown up wearing what sounds like a hideous outfit: "black pants black shirt with purple and bue polka dots and black shoes that show off red toenails," according to one eyewitness. Anyone daring enough to violate Google PR's photo ban and send in a pic?

Update: Douglas Merrill, Google's VP of engineering, is wearing a "hideous red paisley shirt," our unofficial fashion correspondent reports.