NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — According to the Nashville City Paper more layoffs hit Music Row this week when Word Entertainment let go the president of its Word Label Group, Barry Landis, and six other staff members.
The restructuring at the Christian music label also affected Mark Luck, senior vice president of marketing and artist development, and five other sales and marketing people, confirmed Jules Wortman, senior vice president of publicity at Warner Bros. Nashville.
The changes come about a month after Jim Van Hook, who is also a dean at Belmont University, stepped in as chief executive officer at Word Entertainment.
Word’s parent company, Warner Music Group, was sold by Time Warner last March for $2.6 billion to a private investor group headed by former Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr.
At the time, the reorganized company instituted worldwide cutbacks that resulted in the departure of Jim Ed Norman, the long-time president of Warner Bros. Nashville.
About 30 jobs at that time were lost at Word Entertainment, including Landis’ former boss, Malcolm Mimms, who was president and chief executive.
Van Hook, former chairman of Provident Music Group and a fixture in the Nashville music scene for more than 20 years, was named the first dean of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University in August of 2003. He will retain those duties, Wortman said.
