X Factor judge and music executive, L.A.Reid has been taped to run Epic records. The newly restructured Epic Label Group will combine the rosters of Jive and Epic and reunite Reid with Usher and Pink, two artists he discovered and helped develop. (Read the entire story at THR)
It’s also anticipated that Reid will steer the company towards more urban releases, which doesn’t bode well for the label’s rock acts, including Incubus, whose first album since 2006, If Not Now, When?, is due out July 12, and Augustana, whose Epic debut was released in April after Ghost’s tenure sidetracked the band.
As for the Jive Records roster, Epic will absorb some of those artists, including Pink and Usher, both originally signed through Reid’s LaFace Records, which entered into a joint venture partnership with BMG-owned Arista Records in 1989. Other marquee Jive acts, like Britney Spears, will likely stay with the RCA half of the former RCA/Jive Label Group. Another name staffers are curious about? Outkast, and whether the duo will reunite with Reid, who ran Arista Records from 2000 to 2004 (during which they won six Grammys), and at long last release new music.
Reid is expected to take over just after the July 4th holiday. So Idol fans. How do you think this new configuration will affect current Idol Jive artists like Kris Allen and Crystal Bowersox? Also, there’s a possibility that Simon Cowell’s X Factor contestants could end up on the Epic label.
Interesting.
