EMI Group has confirmed that Roger Ames will join the major in a consultancy role. The former Warner Music Group chairman/CEO has been appointed as a senior advisor, reporting to EMI Recorded Music chairman/CEO Alain Levy and vice chairman and North America chairman/CEO David Munns.
Ames is familiar with EMI’s operations. In 1999, he led an ill-fated attempt to merge Warner Music and EMI. The deal was scrapped when it became apparent that it would not bear up to scrutiny from the European Commission. Ames last worked under Levy when the pair were high-level executives at PolyGram Music Group in London in the 1990s.
Ames was chairman/CEO of New York-based Warner Music Group from August 1999-March 2004. He severed ties with Warner Music last August, just six months after it was sold by Time Warner to a private investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr.