Billboard reports that after Erykah Badu tweeted "Motown folded" to her more than 300,000 followers on Wednesday afternoon, top executives at Universal have been rushing to reassure fans that while the label is undergoing restructuring in the wake of Sylvia Rhone's departure last month, it is not going under:
At the time of Rhone's departure, UMG planned to begin interviewing candidates to replace her, although what title that person will get depends on the qualifications he or she brings to the job. With Barry Weiss serving as the chairman/CEO of Island Def Jam and Universal Motown Republic Group, it is not clear that the replacement will hold the title of president, insiders said.
"They are searching for someone to bring in a senior creative role," one UMG insider familiar with the situation told Billboard.biz. "If it's someone that's really creative-oriented, then it might be a different title, but if they find someone creative" with business qualifications, then it could be president. GM Pat Monaco continues to oversee the day-to-day operations of Universal Motown.
Badu has done her part to clear up the confusion by retracting the statement, which she calls an "honest mistake," saying (also via Twitter, of course), "There must have been a better verb I could have used. "folded" seems a little … I don't know, cowardly, huh?"#Motown." Well, not so much "cowardly" as totally inaccurate … but we suppose it lent itself better to the 40-character limit than "is undergoing restructuring."
Read more at Billboard.
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