Extent to Which Record Label Artists can be Described as Talent

Describe about the performing a critical assessment of the given case on talent management at EMI?

Management of talent is an important human resource function that is required to be carried out by every kind of organisations. Human resources are highly crucial to an organisation because they are mainly responsible for carrying out the organisational tasks in leading it to higher level of success. It is therefore essential that there should be efficient management of talent that should be ensured so that higher level of success can finally become possible. The importance of managing talent is evident in respect to every kind of industry and with respect to music industry; the role of talent management is significantly higher and important. Talent is required in respect to every field and music industry also requires good artists that can take it to the higher level of growth and development.

This case study analysis is focused towards performing a critical assessment of the given case on talent management at EMI. The focus of the analysis is mainly towards assessing the management of talent that has been considered across the organisation. The strategic importance of talent would be analysed and finally, the role of HR in the management and development of talent would be performed.

Music industry is an important industry in the field of entertainment. There are large number of important stakeholders that account for efficiently managing the music industry in particular. The music artist in particular is responsible for recording and releasing music whereas the record label is considered as the brand or trademark which is associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. The role of record label artists is crucial in the performance of the entire music industry. This is mainly because the record label artists mainly accounts for composition of songs which are then released through the important labels in such industry performance. The artists actually responsible for the composing, recording and releasing songs are likely to be the core of the entire industry. Without the music artists, it would be difficult for the music labels to perform in an efficient way. This indicates that the role of music label artists is significant to the overall performance of such industry, and they are the important talents that are responsible for the overall growth and development of the music industry in particular (Wikström, 2014).

The importance of record label artists can be identified from the given case on talent management at EMI. It has been evaluated in the case study that the inappropriate considerations of talent in respect to EMI have caused heavily to it. The case indicates that the acquired firm Terra Firma has considered the application of a strategy that is quite unpopular to managing record label artists. The strategy seems quite unpopular and this has resulted into the significant losses being suffered by EMI. This proves the importance of talent management and the role of record label artists in the music industry. Their active participation and commitment is essential to the growth and development of the entire firm. Thus, in terms of extent of categorising the record label as talent, it is assessed that they can be categorised as talent and their contribution is massive to the growth and success of the industry. The proper management of such record label artists in the given case of EMI could have resulted into a completely different result.

Strategic Importance of Talent in the Given Case

The selected case study on talent management at EMI has the sole purpose of critiquing the role and importance of talent within such industry. The strategic importance of talent has therefore been adequately explained in the given case study and it is evident from the various such examples that have been quoted by the author in the case. As for example, the first major example is evident from the decision of Terra Firm to appoint professionals that do not have knowledge about the performance of music industry in particular. The firm has appointed professionals that are not from the music industry background and this has resulted into adverse overall performance of EMI in particular. The firm suffered a loss and this is mainly attributed to the inappropriate management of talent that has been considered at EMI after acquisition (Dyson, 2013).

This insufficient talent is evident in respect to the management process of artists as performed whereby they were treated as assets. Strategies such as downsizing of artists are applied with a view to perform the management of EMI and this has resulted into severe level of issues to ensuring the proper management of the firm. This discussion is made in the case study with a view to emphasise the importance of talents. A critical analysis of the given case study also indicates that the most popular artists such as Coldplay were thinking of leaving the label and by February 2011, the artists such as the Rolling Stones, and ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney had all left EMI. Their decision of leaving the label has put EMI into the situation of massive losses. This is the best example quoted in the case study that explains that there has been strategic importance of talent in respect to music industry in particular. The declining performance of EMI and its subsequent losses as suffered has resulted into the exit of David Bowie whose contract with EMI was due to expire. This shows the strategic importance of talent whereby the performance of the firm has started declining and the music artists have started eliminating their names with EMI (Taylor, 2002).

The case study indicated that talents are highly important in respect to every kinds of organisations and in the given case study organisation, the collapse of EMI in the form of its acquisition is mainly because of the fact that the talents are not given adequate level of importance. The success of any firm is highly dependent on the talents that are actually responsible for running the organisation. As a result, proper management of such talents is essential from the view of achieving organisational goals. This aspect has not given adequate level of importance in EMI and they are just considered as assets. They are not given proper respect and importance for which they are liable and this has contributed in an adverse manner towards the overall reputation and importance of the firm (Appleton and Yankelevits, 2013).

Overall, the case describes that the strategic importance of talent has been described to a greater level in it.

Role of HR in Managing and Developing Talent

The Human Resource (HR) manager of an organisation is crucial to the efficient functioning of the business and this is applicable in respect to every kinds of business. Human resources manager are concerned with attracting resources and developing and retaining them so that they can contribute in an efficient way towards enhanced level of organisational performance. In respect to the music industry as well, the role of HR manager is crucial in the management of artists and retaining them with a particular label. As in the given case study, it has been identified that the management of human resources was not carried out properly. The importance of artists and their role in the industry was completely ignored and this has been the major factor that has given rise to the inefficient performance of business activities. There are employees being hired at EMI from different industry and they do not have experience of the music industry in particular. This is a clear indication of the fact that efficient HR management practices are lacking within the industry (Biron, Christiansen, Kuvaas and Farndale, 2012).

The role of HR is important in respect to music industry for the purpose of developing talents. They could establish policies and procedures to tie ups with great music artists and offer them good opportunities to associate with the music label as maintained by their company. Music artists are the crucial stakeholder to the performance of the entire organisation, and it is essential that there should be proper relationship that should be maintained with them. This is essential because a smooth relationship would allow for efficiently handling their association with the firm, and any kinds of issues or difficulties could be addressed in a better way. This has been the key factor to efficient performing of such companies. The role of HR manager in this context is crucial because they can ensure the management of positive relations with all the artists and could encourage them to contribute positively towards the efficient performance of the label (Tschmuck, 2012).

It is not only the management of music artists but the HR manager is responsible for the management of different important functional areas with a view to support the core offerings of the firm. By managing different organisational departments in an efficient way, they could ensure the smooth functioning of the core business processes. The employees at business affairs department, legal department, art department, marketing department, new media department and also the artist development department could be efficiently handled by the HR managers of the organisation. They can ensure the supply of relevant resources as needed in performing the management of such music business in particular. Artist development is crucial to the efficient performance of a music firm because it is their composition and releases that helps in building a brand (Lussier, 2011).

An important role of HR manager in the organisation is career planning whereby they plan the career of their employees. This has been an important motivational strategy in performing the development of talent within organisation. The HR manager can therefore ensure the development of talent in music firms by way of overseeing the career planning of the artists that have signed to the label. Although the technical knowledge about music might not be there with the HR manager, but they could collaborate with the Artist Development Department of the company and could account for better development of talent by way of framing efficient career planning strategies and policies (Scullion and Collings, 2011).

Overall, the analysis as carried out above has indicated the role of HR manager in respect to a music development company has been significantly higher. However, the HR manager in the context of given firm has not performed efficiently and the resulting impact is therefore evident in terms of inefficient performance of EMI. Even, it has been identified that the lack of appropriate policies in managing the employees has also contributed adversely to sustaining highly efficient artists, as there are majority of the music artists that have started eliminating themselves from the EMI label. This indicates that the successful management and retention of talent was not given adequate importance and this has caused significant level of negativity to the overall performance of EMI. The resulting impact was evident in the form of higher turnover rates of artists associated with the brand (Gary, 2010).

Conclusion

In this case study analysis, a critical evaluation has been carried out with respect to the given case of talent management at EMI and the conduct of analysis has revealed findings that that the record label artists can be described as talent to a greater level. The analysis has indicated that record label artists have the great potential and they could account for leading the entire organisation to higher success levels. The importance of talent has been identified as significantly higher from the case analysis as carried out. The analysis has also resulted into the identification that the case highlights about the importance of strategic talent in respect to such industry to a greater level. There are various such instances that have been described in the case and they have given a clear indication that the inefficient management of talent would lead to the collapse of the entire organisation. As a result, the strategic importance of managing talent has been identified as significantly higher. Finally, the role of HR manager in managing and developing talent within the music firm has been analysed, and it is evaluated that their role has been significantly higher, as they could tie up with different departments which could ensure the positive level of development and retention of talent across the organisation. HR

References

Appleton, D. and Yankelevits, D. (2013), ‘Hollywood Dealmaking: Negotiating Talent Agreements for Film, TV and New Media’, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

Biron, M., Christiansen, L.C., Kuvaas, B. and Farndale, E. (2012), ‘Global Human Resource Management Casebook’, Taylor & Francis.

Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Caligiuri, P. (2014), ‘The Routledge Companion to International Human Resource Management’, Taylor & Francis.

Dyson, J.P. (2013), ‘The MusicSocket.com Music Industry Directory 2014’, JP&A Dyson.

Gary, D. (2010), ‘Fundamentals of Human Resource Management: Content, Competencies And Applications’, Pearson Education.

Lussier, R.N. (2011), ‘Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. 5^th Ed. Cengage Learning.

Scullion, H. and Collings, D.G. (2011), ‘Global Talent Management’, Taylor & Francis.

Tschmuck, P. (2012), ‘Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry’, Springer Science & Business Media.

Taylor, S. (2002), ‘People Resourcing’, CIPD Publishing.

Wikström, P. (2014), ‘The Music Industry: Music in the Cloud’, John Wiley & Sons.