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Tony Wadsworth to depart BPI

By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 20 March 2014

UK record industry trade body the BPI has announced that its long-serving Chairman, the former EMI UK boss from back before “the Terra Firma incident”, Mr Tony Wadsworth, will step down later this year.

Though before you all start saying “a-ha, so he is joining Sony Music UK in a senior role as was rumoured by American music industry website Hits Daily Double just last week”, you could not be more wrong. Even if you made a t-shirt bearing the slogan “I AM more wrong”, you couldn’t actually be more wrong. Plus you’d now be dealing with trademark lawsuits from both Pharrell Williams and Will.i.am, by which point Wadsworth’s future work plans probably wouldn’t be a top concern. Unless he’s planning on setting up a Fighting Ridiculous Trademark Claims consultancy. Which he isn’t.

Anyway, we’re really all here today to read a lot of quotes remarking on how fab Tony is, each noting what a marvellous job he’s done as BPI Chair since taking on the role in 2007. But first let’s hear from the man himself, who confirmed this morning that he will exit the trade group later this year, once a succession plan has been worked out with the body’s Council and CEO Geoff Taylor. Though Wadsworth does plan to retain two roles with BPI affiliated organisations, as a BRIT Trustee and BRIT School governor.

Wadsworth: “After almost seven years in the role, I have decided to make 2014 my final year as Chairman of BPI and BRIT Awards Ltd. It has been a real privilege to be so involved in industry issues over this period of radical change and transformation and to sit around the Council table with colleagues who have such an amazing wealth of knowledge, experience and passion for our business. [But] in recent years, since leaving EMI, in addition to my BPI activities I have enjoyed getting involved in several new ventures, commercial and non-commercial, but all music related. By relinquishing my duties at the BPI, I hope to make more time available to focus on these and selectively add to the portfolio”.

The aforementioned Taylor paid tribute to Wadsworth for his time at the head of the BPI, telling CMU: “It has been a great privilege and pleasure to work with Tony over the last seven years. His encouragement, support and advice have been fantastic as we have developed a forward-looking agenda for the BPI and sought to help our independent and major members in practical ways. Tony’s wise counsel and experience have helped us to navigate radical changes in the industry and to steer the business towards a future which feels genuinely brighter and full of possibilities”.

Meanwhile the BPI’s Deputy Chairman, Dramatico chief Mike Batt, said: “Tony has been a fantastic Chairman for the BPI. The fact that we were able to retain him as Chairman after [he departed] EMI is testament to the high regard in which he is held amongst his colleagues here. I shall personally miss him not only as a strong Chairman but also for his wisdom and cheery personality. I wish him the best for all of his ventures and hope that we can call upon his talents and authority in the industry from time to time in the future”.

The BPI provided other quotes from British record industry bigwigs too, but we all know you’ve left this report already to go order your “I AM more wrong” t-shirt, so we’ll call it a day. See you next week in the Legal section when that Will.i.am lawsuit arrives.